3 steps towards an effective compliance training strategy
If you’re thinking about how to enhance your compliance training strategy across your firm, you may want to consider these three tips.
Take a risk-based approach
Go back to your compliance and financial crime risk assessments – they will help determine the range of topics you need to cover. Then think about the different roles within the organisation – in particular, what knowledge and skills they require.
These two factors can provide the foundations for your training strategy. From there, you should consider any specific events that may create a training need – for example, new regulations, fines or a specific issue within your firm.
Taking a risk-based approach will enable you to design training interventions that are tailored to the risks, roles and responsibilities within the organisation.
Think about your delivery mechanism
There are lots of ways to deliver training these days – eLearning, videos on-demand, face-to-face, virtual. Each has specific advantages and disadvantages. Consider the features of each delivery mechanism - how might it achieve the outcomes you’re looking for?
Increasingly, firms are using a blend of approaches. Generally, eLearning is used to provide a consistent, tracked message for all staff. This is often supplemented by live training for higher risk staff or individuals in particular roles, who would benefit from a more personalised solution, incorporating discussion and collaboration.
Click here to explore the delivery mechanisms that may work for your firm.
Keep it practical
Whichever way you deliver your compliance training, it needs to be engaging. But that doesn’t mean you need to fill it with gimmicks, such as badges or games. In fact, sometimes these can be a distraction.
Engagement is achieved by recognising and rewarding the time people invest in training. So, the most important thing is to ensure that your training content is practical and relevant, for example by incorporating case studies and real-life scenarios to help learners apply the content to their job.
Remember, a key measure of success will be whether the training has a positive impact on staff behaviour and helps them manage risk.
See our range of courses, from general compliance awareness training for your front/back-office staff, skills-based training for your Compliance/FCC team, or focused briefings for your senior management.
About the Author
Michael Sacks started his career as a lawyer, advising on UK and international regulation. In 2005, he set up a global compliance training provider which developed online and classroom training for major financial groups, regulators and multi-national companies. As one of the lead subject matter experts, he delivered compliance training on a wide range of regulatory topics, including financial crime, market conduct, information security and conduct risk.
Michael has worked with regulators and industry bodies, including the FSA (now FCA), the JMLSG and the BSR/UN Global Compact, to develop training and awareness initiatives in relation to major legal and regulatory events. He is also the author of ‘Financial Services Regulation - A Practical Guide’ which was endorsed by Sir Callum McCarthy, former Chairman of the FSA.
