What the DOJ wants from your training program: Going beyond checking the box

In our last blog, we looked at the key things the Department of Justice looks at when assessing compliance programs for efficacy. One of the most consistent themes throughout the latest DOJ guidance is that a “one-and-done” program doesn’t work. Organizations may be content to merely fulfill compliance training requirements that meet laws and guidelines, or perhaps they offer basic learning and believe that’s enough for employees to make good compliance decisions.

We see a pattern of program pitfalls among organizations that prevent them from reaching beyond ‘checking the box’:

Training with more of the same: Compliance best practices — and the threats those best practices are intended to mitigate —are always evolving. If training doesn’t keep up with the changes, employees will receive substandard learning and miss out on the things they must know and react to in their day-to-day.

Asking the right questions to the wrong employees: One-size-fits-all compliance training gets only a few relevant points to each user and potentially subjects them to an overload of information that
doesn’t apply to their jobs.

Employees don’t engage: If users don’t see the value or have a vested interest in compliance training—either before or during the session—they’ll speed through it, clicking as fast as possible just to get it over with. Subsequently, employees don’t digest anything they need to learn and are even less likely to apply the training in everyday compliance situations, especially ones that are pressurized.

Escaping The Box

Capture stronger data

Your journey to escaping the box starts with generating, capturing, and assessing data beyond hindsight data (e.g. completions, helpline, etc.). Look for ways to generate predictive, behavioral data that can help you assess engagement and retention, uncover your risk blind spots, and drive a strategy for a more effective future program.

Create a role-based learning experience

By individualizing and personalizing the experience to the learner, role-based learning ensures the right courses and learn-by-doing scenarios are given to the right users. No valuable learning time is wasted, and employees are exposed to the information most applicable to their jobs. A good rule of thumb – work backward from the risky tasks your employees are doing (who is doing those risky tasks) and train them to do those jobs the right way. Focus on employees with supervisory authority, those with approval authority, or gatekeepers in a process or function.

Build an ecosystem of engagement

A comprehensive training ecosystem that incorporates other tools, such as microlearning, job aids, and videos help you operationalize your program by continually engaging employees and targeting specific areas in which certain employees have demonstrated clarity or readiness issues in simulation.

Download our guide to discover what the DOJ wants your training program to accomplish in 2023 and our methodology for helping clients align with DOJ guidance more easily than ever.