Why animation and compliance?

By Nicole Rose
CEO of Create Training

https://vimeo.com/143062009

I will start with a personal reason: I am an artist and deeply interested in how art and illustration impacts people.  I am also a lawyer and, therefore, deeply interested in how we can engage people with ethics and compliance.

Movies, film, cartoons and animations have all successfully moved, touched and engaged people for centuries. I believe that if we can do the same at work (touch, connect with and entertain people), it is more likely that people will understand, remember and identify with important compliance messages.

Over the last century, cartoons and satire have allowed serious issues to be presented in a manner that is not just funny, and socially acceptable, but also highly influential. The political cartoons emanating from the First and Second World Wars are case in point. Today, you only have to open a newspaper to find the latest scandal or political issue turned into a cartoon.

The idea of taking a serious topic and making it palatable to talk about and engage with is as important today as it ever was. With FIFA, the arrest of the former UN Assembly President, the Vanuatu bribery scandal (14 MPs in jail), and numerous other cases that are equally damaging to individuals and multinationals, it is clear that the war against bribery and corruption is nowhere near won.  These events demonstrate that we need to think of compliance as beyond a set of rules and procedures.

So why not fight it using the best possible methods to help people to learn, understand and act? These methods have been used by the advertising, film and animation industries for decades. Are we not plied with adverts and promotions designed to persuade us to buy or do something. Why not do the same with compliance?

Also, we live in a world of self learning: people teach themselves using YouTube, TED talks, podcasts and a heap of other online short, sharp, effective material. Why not teach people the same way at work as being more than running your typical on-line, boring and too oft-ignored training video?

We have worked to convert long, monotonous, legalistic compliance topics into short, sharp, engaging animations and graphic novels that spark interest and enthusiasm about compliance. Yes, excitement about compliance! The learner engagement has been overwhelmingly positive. Here is a video about “ethical decision making” that shows that ethical trainings can be interesting and engaging.

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