By Adam Turteltaub

Compliance can’t and doesn’t go it alone in an organization, even though at times it can be a very lonely job.  Legal, audit and HR are all essential partners.

Amii Barnard-Bahn, an executive coach and leadership consultant knows this well from a career which has included extensive work in both HR and compliance.  As she explains in this Compliance Perspectives podcast, one of the challenges in the relationship between compliance and HR is that the two sides often don’t appreciate how alike they are.  They share many of the same challenges in gaining sufficient resources and getting a seat at the table.

At the same time, there are substantial differences between the two.  Compliance is just a part of the areas that HR focuses on, and the two departments have overlapping but different mandates.  In addition, often the personalities of compliance and HR personnel are different, she believes.

To help overcome the differences and work together more closely, each has to have empathy for the other and build trust.  That means compliance should invest, for example, in taking the time to understand HR, much like they take the time to learn the business.

To learn more about how to build a successful relationship with HR, take a few moments to listen to Amii’s thoughts.