Plasmanet Thinks - Tuesday 27th May 2008

In this months CorpComms magazine Clare Graystons highlights her Top Ten Tips for maximising awareness and minimising risk around regulations and compliance. In a business world where statutory and regulatory requirements are increasing apace, compliance and liability are issues that should be of concern to every employee. Businesses are open not only to substantial financial penalties but also negative publicity and damage to their reputation.

Of the 10 Top Tips Clare raises for managing these risks, five are of particular interest to Plasmanet;
1- Follow the Boy Scouts example: be prepared. This sounds like a no-brainer – make sure everyone knows which rules they need to comply with, and how they need to comply. But Clare notes that within her firm over half the employees polled didn’t realise the business was regulated by the European Commission, the Health and Safety Executive, the Office of Fair Trading or the Pensions Regulator.
2- Know the industry-specific rules....its not enough to know about what’s happening in your business’s vertical. You and your staff also need to be aware of, and respond to, what’s happening in your department’s specific vertical too. Your department needs to set a process in place to manage this overview and make sure that the relevant people are aware of changes to practice
3- Communicate internally. When a regulatory or statutory audit kicks in, your business needs to be confident that every employee knows what the processes are and how to manage them. And, of course, its important to make sure that all the relevant participants know when the process has been instigated, and when they need to respond
4- Do not overlook the front line. Don’t forget that every chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Your business needs to take responsibility for every link in the chain. As Clare notes, receptionists and your switchboard can play as important a part as your MD in making sure that your response processes work immediately and effectively.
5- Get everyone on message. Integration and consistency. The watch-words of all communications specialists, whichever field they’re in. Clare reiterates how important these elements can be in managing compliance and the law. Everybody in your organisation needs to be clear about the policies in your business, and their implications to the way they work.

The overall message is about making sure that your employees know what the issues are and how to manage them – not just for the couple of days after any briefing or training session, but day after day, and every time they are at risk of exposing the business.

Of course, in essence, all the points above can be managed with an effective internal communication strategy. Not only to communicate the message, but to ensure it is received by the right audience and to track engagement in the mid- and long-term. A solid comms strategy needs to encompass not only the content but also the delivery mechanic. In other words, an internal comms tool that is manageable, immediate and appropriate.

Clare Grayston is partner at Nabarro and was talking to CorpComms magazine, Issue 28

Charlie Tonkin
Marketing Manager

Published: 2008-05-28