It’s not the training’s fault; it’s ours.

“Most compliance training is awful.” This drum has been beaten way too much… 

🥁🥁🥁

And, yeah, it is.

But no more victim shaming here! Time to look ourselves in the mirror and take responsibility. It’s not the training’s fault. It’s ours. 🪞 

Training gets criticized in lots of ways. It’s boring or silly; it wastes time; it doesn’t make sense; it doesn’t help do the job. And the sad truth is, all these things are probably true for much of the training out there. That’s not good, but it’s not the root problem either. 

The problem is when WE don’t think about training in the right way. 

Raise your hand if you thought I was gonna use a Taylor Swift gif!  | Source: Only Murders in the Building, Hulu, via Giphy.com

We’re the Problem. Here’s the SMART Solution.

A lot of what we call “training” is built as a top-down, academic exercise in learning. Learning isn’t a bad thing, per se. It’s just not the optimal thing when it comes to doing a task compliantly. When the focus is on learning instead of training, concepts are more difficult to understand, actions are more difficult to remember, and results are nearly impossible to measure. Effective compliance training, on the other hand, solves these problems by influencing behavior, which is the real goal. 

Think about driving a car: You learned all about it in your drivers’ ed classes, and while that knowledge is valuable, you didn’t actually implement any behavioral changes until you started behind-the-wheel training. Only then did you develop the muscle memory to use your blinker, check the speedometer, and put your foot on the brake before shifting to reverse. In other words, training taught you how to drive properly (“compliantly”). 

But it didn’t teach you how to be a cool cat behind the wheel … That was all you! 😎  | Source: Giphy.com

With these key differences in mind, to create training that actually is “training” and not “learning,” we need to consider our SMART goals. You’ve probably heard of them; they’ve been around since the early ‘80s. But if you haven’t, here’s a quick primer. ⬇️

While there is some variation here and there, SMART generally stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. The idea is that if you build your goals with these attributes, you’ll actually be able to a) achieve them, and b) test their effectiveness. 

Now, let’s look at how we apply SMART goals to compliance training … (I’m gonna flip the letters around a bit just to keep this blog from being a mile long so bear with me! ) 

Specific & Relevant: Frame it around what people do.

When we train on a topic, our goal should be to get people to do specific, defined things, not to impart abstract knowledge. The latter is education or learning; again, a good thing on its own, but it’s not training. 

Because we want a specific result or action, the messaging cannot be solely at the abstract level. Instead, training should break down those abstract concepts into specific, real-world things that people do in their day-to-day work. This might look like, “review this checklist before heading out on a business trip” or “check expense reports for these red flags." ⭐

Here are a few contrasting examples of “S” and “R” in action: 

This approach puts things in a real-world context, making it relevant and easy for employees to comply because it specifically impacts the job tasks they perform. We need to remember that applying abstract frameworks to fact patterns is our job, so forcing employees to think like this only works to distract them from their jobs.

Does that mean employees should never learn about these abstract concepts? Absolutely not! If they are interested and engaged in finding out more, that’s awesome! 😻 It means you’re doing such a good job that your employees want to dive deeper into compliance. But that’s a learning exercise for another time. And speaking of time … 

Time-bound: Deliver it as close to real-time as possible.

I love a good schedule. It keeps me organized and helps me not be a roadblock to others (most of the time anyway; just ask the other Broadcats 😉).

Training really doesn’t work like that. (The exception is new employee onboarding, but even then, it should only be a high-level overview and info related to their jobs.) When training is scheduled for a few afternoons once or twice a year, you’re left hoping employees will remember it when they need it. On the other hand, effective training is built into the business process when risky behavior is likely to crop up. 

Here’s what that can look like:

Instead of requiring employees to sit through an ABAC module in January because that’s when you published it, employees get a push message in the T&E approval workflow reminding them to check all expense reports for red flags before hitting the “submit” button. The push message should include a link to a training guide reminding them just what to look for.

Timeliness matters because memorization in itself is hard, and issue-spotting by memory is even harder. Delivering training on a schedule might be easier logistically (for you!), but it makes complying difficult (for them!).

Measurable & Achievable: Check it against business outcomes.

Every other department in your org measures what matters to them. And you should, too. It’s how your leadership evaluates your contributions. I know, that might sound a bit harsh, but it’s the reality. You need to defend your program’s value, and to do that with your business peers, you need data. 

Here’s the good news: Measurability is already one of the vaunted seven elements on which you’ve built your program! Monitoring and auditing is where you get your data points. Use your SMART training program to help drive those numbers! 📈

When you frame training around a specific behavior (S), provide it to the relevant audience (R), and give it to them as close to real-time as possible (T), your training is now rationally connected, both in time and in concept, to what they are actually doing. Which means, when you check if those tasks were done correctly (M) you’ll be able to see if your overarching program worked (A). If it did, great! Move on to the next thing and do it again. If it didn’t, dig into why not, pivot, and reassess. 

And that’s what we call SMART!  | Source: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, NBC, via Giphy.com

Regardless of the outcome, you’re able to show your business that you either mitigated risk OR identified something risky and are actively working to correct it. And because employee behavior and time is translatable to dollars, you can tie your efforts to the ROI of your program. 

Keep It SMART: Your training will solve the right problems.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to help employees act compliantly. It’s not easy, but it is possible. 

Stop trying to turn everyone into a compliance pro. That’s your job. 

Developing and delivering truly effective training doesn’t require a huge budget, team, or technical know-how. Yeah, those things can make it easier, but you don’t need a lot to get this done.

All you need to do is get SMART (and we already know you are 😃).

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Looking for some tools to help make you even SMARTer? Reach out; we’re happy to chat!