Innovation in Compliance with Tom Fox Separate the Message from the Delivery Mechanism with Ronnie Feldman
Today on the show, we have a guest who isn’t your typical compliance professional. Ronnie Feldman is the President and Creative Director at Learnings and Entertainments… and a comedian! Ronnie and his team help clients communicate more effectively through humor and entertainment, and when it comes to a subject as serious as compliance, Ronnie shares that laughter may be the best teacher.
Engaging employees with comedy
Treating a serious subject seriously is a surefire way to make it boring, pedantic, and to lose your employees’ attention. You have to separate the message from the delivery mechanism. As compliance professionals, employees might dislike or be afraid of you, so there needs to be a friendly and positive way to approach these subjects.
Also, a majority of employees don’t think about these issues regularly, if at all, and this is mostly because we aren't communicating effectively. A better approach is to treat the subject matter like advertisers: things like helpline jingles might be weird, but it sticks out, it’s catchy, and it helps people remember them.
Compliance needs a makeover
There is a need to rebrand Compliance and Ethics from the perception of it as a scary, finger-wagging police force. Even if your e-learning needs to be more serious, you can still play around with campaigns: these could be videos, posters, GIFs, memes, or any other communication channels that say: the compliance team is available for advice and support, and we are here to help. These messages should be continually reinforced all the time because you’re undoing the preconceived notion that you’re all scary people.
Why it’s a good idea
Ronnie makes a few arguments for the efficacy of this unorthodox approach:
People are forgetful. A lot of corporate learning is lost after initial training, and people need regular reminders and reinforcement.
It helps create a social environment where people police themselves because that’s the kind of company you are.
It combats messaging fatigue and keeps people interested instead of tuning out.
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ResourcesRonnie Feldman (LinkedIn)