In the hustle and bustle of today’s business world, speed often takes precedence over everything else—especially in the world of a compliance officer. As regulations change or investigations are needed, we often get pushed to work faster, meet tighter deadlines, and juggle multiple tasks simultaneously.
While this approach might seem efficient on the surface, it often leads to several downsides—burnout, decreased productivity, and a decline in the quality of work.
Here are five tips to help you and your compliance team slow down:
- Lead by Example
One of the most effective ways to encourage employees to slow down is for compliance leaders to model this behavior. If compliance officers see their leaders constantly rushing, overworking, and neglecting their well-being, they will likely feel pressured to do the same. On the other hand, when compliance leaders prioritize quality over quantity, take time for thoughtful decision-making, and emphasize work-life balance, their employees are more likely to follow suit.
What does “lead by example” look like in practice? It all starts with being intentional, focusing on one task at a time, and openly discussing the importance of pacing and taking breaks.
- Define Productivity
Sticking with the theme of intentionality, it’s also essential to define productivity for your compliance team. Instead of measuring success solely by how much work is completed or how quickly tasks are done, emphasize the importance of quality and sustainable performance to your team members. For example, whenever appropriate, encourage them to take the time needed to produce high-quality work rather than rushing to meet an arbitrarily imposed deadline. Also, recognize and reward your team members for things like their attention to detail, innovative thinking, and problem-solving skills.
- Set Realistic Expectations
Unrealistic deadlines and excessive workloads are major contributors to a rushed and stressful work environment. To help your team members slow down, it’s important to set realistic expectations, based on risk to the organization, for what can be accomplished in a given timeframe.
For example, internally consulting to an operational leader on a proposed business deal should not take precedence over responding to a government audit deadline. To help set realistic expectations, work closely with your team to understand their workloads and help prioritize tasks.
- Encourage Regular Breaks
Another approach is to advise your team members to take regular breaks. You can encourage them to take time out to work on another project, stretch, walk around, or even just step away from their computer screens. Doing so helps maintain focus and prevent fatigue, especially in the context of working through a complex investigation or audit.
- Educate Them on the Importance of Quality Over Speed
Emphasize to your team that the quality of their work product is more important than the speed with which they turn it around. As you communicate this message, educate them about the pitfalls of prioritizing speed over quality: that rushing leads to mistakes, and questions are not asked that should be. In these cases, this ends up creating more work for everyone in the long run.
Compliance work is complex, and in today’s environment there is a constant push to be faster. If you follow the approaches outlined above, you will help your employees find a more balanced approach to their work and improve the efficiency and overall performance of your compliance program.
Jay is a compliance professional and consultant in Colorado. He is a healthcare lawyer with significant industry knowledge of the U.S. healthcare market. Over the past 20 years, he has worked for large for-profit and non-profit health systems and small physician-owned entities. In tackling the countless regulatory and operational issues for these diverse organization types, he has developed a deep understanding of the business of healthcare and the regulations governing the industry.
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