By Roy Snell
roy.snell@corporatecompliance.org
I just bought a Keurig coffee maker. It uses a little single serving plastic cup. I wondered if you could use K-Cups twice because they are expensive. So I tried it. You can use a K-Cup twice but you probably won’t like the second cup. It will be diluted and not as satisfying. Similarly if you do conventional ethics training over and over, the effect will become diluted. Code of Conduct… it’s been done. The CEO, “We are an ethical company” video…, it’s been done (by Ken Lay no less). “We are an ethical company” email signatures…, it’s been done.
I once suggested that some CEO should be videotaped opening a window and screaming into the dark of night, “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.” The point would be…. I’m not going to take unethical behavior any more. No employee would ever forget that video. The water cooler talk would all be about the ethics video. Unconventional messages are stronger. The 23rd message, “We are an ethical company” might taste like the 23rd use of a K-Cup. The problem is that it takes a lot of nerve to be different in corporate communications.
You have to overcome the traditional communication approach. You have to think like an unconventional marketing professional. Traditional communications folks have stuck their neck out and been criticized. They have been conditioned by reward and discipline to look good rather than do good. If someone doesn’t occasionally say your ethics training is silly, unconventional, or that they don’t get the message… you are probably boring. You cannot be interesting without the occasional criticism.
Barbara Harmon from the Alyeska Pipeline Company is the best I have ever seen at this. She is out there. Barbara and I grew up in an era when a lot of people were… “out there.” It never left her. Not everyone gets each message she creates. Not everyone thinks all her ideas are funny or interesting. It doesn’t matter, the employees notice and pay attention to the message because they are different. Her employees have not been lulled to sleep by the same message over and over and over again. Her employees pay attention. Barbara’s message is always fresh. You could not ignore Barbara’s “We are an ethical company” message if you tried.
If you have seen an example of unconventional ethics training please share it in a comment below.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Have You Seen Unconventional Ethics Training? @RoySnellSCCE” quote=”Have You Seen Unconventional Ethics Training?” theme=”style3″]
At our company, we use story to bring context and address the nuances of compliance policies–good stories that involve relatable characters and strong conflict. We use real employees as the actors. We use stick figures. We use animated video. I like that our training is surprising. Could our story-telling platform get old? Could it become the second K-cup? It’s possible. Hopefully, not under our watch. Just last night, my family was discussing why sequels are usually not as good as the original movie. We all had different reasons. But perhaps Mr. Snell has hit the nail on the head: sequels are conventional. They follow the same pattern as their predecessor. There’s less surprise.
Thanks for sharing. I particularly like the use of employees rather than actors. In fact, I love it. What they lack in acting skills they make up for in credibility. What I really find problematic is using people who you know are pretending to care. It just doesn’t work for me.
You are right about that, Roy. The genuine support of our employee actors (from all levels of the company) comes shining through in the course (computer-based). We have found some innovative ways to tell the story so that employees only have to focus on one thing at a time (action in front of the camera or line delivery). The best part is that the 70+ members of this group have become everyday Ethics & Compliance ambassadors to the company. They are an extension of the department and provide valuable insight about what’s happening on the ground. Employees throughout the enterprise actually look forward to the stories in the next training. The challenge? Making the sequels better every year!
Comments are closed.