Don't Just Tick The Box

If you work in financial services you’ll be familiar with mandatory online compliance training. While it’s safe to say online training has transformed the way we learn, FNZ’s Gordon Rice asks: is it really driving the right behaviours?

Published by

Gordon Rice

Global Head of Talent Management

Picture the scene…

It’s 1.25pm on the last day of the month. You have five precious minutes at your desk before your next meeting. Do you:

quickly eat your lunch – after all, you skipped breakfast for an early meeting
return an urgent call from a client
proof-read a report for your boss
complete your mandatory online compliance training?

We’ve all been there – and we’ve all crammed A through C into our five minutes and stayed late to squeeze in the mandatory training before leaving for the weekend. And that’s fine – the training is done, the box is ticked and the organisation remains compliant.

But does this kind of training drive the right behaviours – or the right results?

The online revolution

In such a highly regulated industry, mandatory training is incredibly important. It’s usually:

related to a regulatory update or rule;
assessed or measured to demonstrate understanding; and/or
reported on to evidence compliance.

Moving this kind of training to online platforms has brought enormous benefits in terms of cost, time, logistics, reporting and distribution. But are we missing something? Can this kind of approach to regulatory and governance training ever deeply engage our people?

What’s the alternative?

Off the shelf packages and solutions dominate this space and it seems clear that few organisations want to return to the traditional, expensive and time-heavy ‘chalk and talk’ methods. But is there a middle ground? Surely this kind of training is too important to become a briskly transactional activity? Are we creating an ethos of passing the test and ticking the box, rather than the deep engagement the subject deserves?

As learning and development professionals we have a responsibility to drive change, creating a learning culture which will help our organisation thrive. With all training, the objective is to engage and ensure knowledge is retained – mandatory compliance training is no different.

Mandatory training deserves time, effort and attention; don’t let the regulatory content drive you away from innovating your approach.

Gordon Rice, Global Head of Talent Management

Mix up your mandatory training

While there’s no desire to move back to old methods, there’s no need to get stuck with an off the shelf tick box approach either.

Engage with a bespoke solution which allows for internal creation, local voice over and content from known experts;
Retain using situational learning, compliance awareness sessions and shadowing to make it real, helping your people connect with a blended solution;
Gamification helps break learner monotony very effectively, which makes it ideal to include in compliance training.

Mandatory training deserves time, effort and attention; don’t let the regulatory content drive you away from innovating your approach. Use blended learning to engage your audience and situational learning (like shadowing or subject matter-led sessions) to develop real understanding.

You never know – they might even enjoy it!

Gordon Rice is Global Head of Talent Management at FNZ. He works closely with FNZ colleagues to provide them with a framework for personal growth, global development opportunities and knowledge sharing activities.