By Walter Johnson
On Sunday, the SCCE Compliance and Ethics Institute offered a Pre-Conference Workshop focusing on interpersonal skills. The presenters included Jenny O’Brien, Kristy Grant-Hart, Angelika Flamm, Samantha Kelen Greves, Kyle Zamcheck, Dan Roach, and yours truly, Walter Johnson. The topics included Influencing Others, Listening Skills, Collaboration, Contacts and Networking, Communication, and Negotiation.
It was a pleasure to be included in this line-up. All presenters shared experiences on how applying interpersonal skills strategically can influence the results of a scenario. This was an amazing line-up because it included compliance and ethics professionals from different career levels and different industries. From healthcare to consulting to utility to federal government contracting organizations, there was a wide range of experiences. Although the presenters prepared their presentations separately, you could see that we were similar in our beliefs with the importance of interpersonal skills.
Just knowing the how to implement and manage a compliance and ethics program is not enough. Knowing how to research a regulation or interpret the law is not enough. Navigating your organization in any industry requires continuous development and application of interpersonal skills. This will continue the evolution of the role of the compliance and ethics officer within any organization.
This was a great way to begin the conference and I look forward to seeing this in future association programs.