So, you’re thinking you might enrol in the Manage Compliance Course?
Maybe you’ve come to read this because you have been dubbed the ‘Compliance Expert’ at your workplace. Maybe you have been asked to help the ‘Compliance Expert’ or perhaps you are thinking of becoming the crowned ‘Compliance Expert’.
Whatever your reason for reading this post, I hope it provides insight into the Gray Management Systems Managing Compliance course and the compliance journey we promise to take you on.
My compliance management experience began over 10 years ago. I was working as a Trainer and Assessor for a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), training Veterinary Nurse and VET in Schools Students (working with animals AND children). The RTO I was working for went through a re-registration audit. While they were successful in obtaining re-registration, the audit was a reminder to the organisation that more resources were required to support an effective compliance management system. Hence, I was lucky enough to be appointed the compliance officer. Soon enough I was crowned the ‘Compliance Expert’ and the go-to for every compliance related matter you could think of.
I’m still unsure if my appointment was due to the foreseen skills I had to manage compliance effectively or it was my ability to say ‘yes’ to the jobs that no-one else seemed keen for (see the line above about working with animals and children).
On a serious note, I struggled in the early years of my compliance role to truly understand the purpose of my position. I knew the name of our regulator and how to find their regulatory guidance documentation. I taught myself to read the regulator documents and cross check the workplace procedures, to ensure what was required by the regulator was included in our documentation and processes. I upskilled and learnt how to conduct positive and purposeful internal audits that value added to the organisation, rather than audits just to satisfy the regulator. I mentored and educated my co-workers of the regulatory requirements, the internal processes and systems implemented to support their roles whilst ensuring a culture of compliance was embedded into the day-to-day activities.
While I was working within a team that supported the compliance role, it was an isolating position and I learnt so much from networking with others in similar compliance positions within other businesses. This feeling of isolation was not uncommon. Even now in my current role at GMS, I consistently come across clients and students who report the same thing. They are carrying the compliance burden on their shoulders and I take great delight in working with these people to share that heavy load. I am here to help. I have been in your position before. You are not alone. Let’s work together on this.
The one thing that I really needed that would have helped my work life easier, was a course that was available in my early compliance management years. A course that would help explain what effective compliance management was, how to identify the rules/ laws/ standards businesses were expected to follow, how to embed these requirements into everyday processes and then how to be assured what we were doing was not just compliant, but sustainable, effective and added enormous value to the business and improved the outcomes for stakeholders.
As a student on the 3 day Managing Compliance Course, you can expect that we will:
- help you to identify and interpret your workplaces compliance obligations,
- provide you with strategies that will assist you to plan and implement the compliance obligations
- provide examples of activities you may undertake in your workplace to monitor compliance and
- include strategies to use when things don’t quite go to plan.
To register, please click here.
I hope to work with you or your colleagues in the future. Until then, if you would like more information, don’t hesitate to give us a call on 1300 906 003 or send an email to elise@grayms.com.au.
See you soon, Elise
(Gray Management Systems Educator and Auditor)