By Adam Turteltaub

Compliance programs start with the laws and regulations, but compliance failures begin with people. That’s why, argues Jochen Vankerckhoven (LinkedIn), founder of Antwerp-based Compliance Explained, that it is essential to take an audience-driven view of compliance programs.

What that means in practice is designing and implementing a program that is suited for the people who are the intended audience. It also means valuing your audience and realizing it is one of the main pillars of a successful program.

Think, he advises, of your compliance program as having two parts: a front and a back end.  The front end is what the workforce sees. Then consider what the right message is and the right time to deliver it so it has the most meaning to your audience.

Be reasonable with your communication goals. Strive for a not a deep understanding of a topic but awareness of an issue and where to go to get help.

On the backend, have the right controls in place and recognize that it is better to prevent a problem in the first place than to rely on those controls.

Listen in to learn more about this unconventional approach to thinking of compliance programs.