Lean Compliance Blog Posts

Compliance Agreement Acceptance Strategy

Crossing the ethical chasm of data - a compliance perspective

Sep 10, 2018
1 min

Crossing the ethical chasm of data - a compliance perspective

"Compliance, in many ways, is about doing the right thing at the right time in the right way. Collecting evidentiary material is an important aspect in providing assurance, and for many companies, it is a way to improve compliance. This evidence often comes in the form of data and plenty of it. Companies measure, gather, and store data of all kinds and in increasing amounts. In fact, as companies continue their digital progression, the amount of data is expected to balloon. A

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Confessions of a QA Manager

Aug 20, 2018
3 min

Confessions of a QA Manager

We thought we were doing OK. We really did. I guess we were wrong. We consider ourselves an ethical company and take quality very seriously. We have someone assigned to all the typical compliance areas: quality, safety, environmental, and regulatory. We thought we had it all covered. We always conduct our periodic audits and pass all our certifications. Auditors always find something, but that's normal. Auditors always need to find something, right? Nothing big mind you. Ju

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To Succeed You Must Aim - The Higher You Aim The Better The Outcome

May 21, 2018
2 min

To Succeed You Must Aim - The Higher You Aim The Better The Outcome

"We must make decisions, here and now, even though the best means and the best goals can never be discerned with certainty. An aim, an ambition, provides the structure necessary for action. An aim provides a destination, a point of contrast against the present, and a framework, within which all things can be evaluated. An aim defines progress and makes such progress exciting. An aim reduces anxiety, because if you have no aim everything can mean anything or nothing, and neith

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The Human Side of Compliance

Mar 29, 2018
2 min

The Human Side of Compliance

The purpose given for companies is often stated as making profit. However, companies can exist for a greater purpose. They can exist to create opportunities for people to work so that their potential can be realized to some degree. The greater the degree, the more humanized the workplace becomes. However, when workers are used like “machinery” the work becomes dehumanizing. There is always a tendency (for the sake of efficiency) to separate humanity from the mechanics of busi

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Tyrannical Compliance

Jan 29, 2018
3 min

Tyrannical Compliance

Companies often say that compliance is a "necessary evil." They feel that they are forced to comply with arbitrary rules that have little correlation with the outcomes they are trying to achieve. When committees use excessive audits and controls, no wonder, these are viewed with contempt much like when police use speed traps to enforce speed limits. Instead of functioning like a GPS that guides a driver to its destination, compliance has become, for these companies, a tyrant

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Crossing The Ethical Chasm of Data Mining

Jan 17, 2018
5 min

Crossing The Ethical Chasm of Data Mining

Collecting evidence is an important aspect in providing assurance of compliance. This evidence often comes in the form of data and plenty of it. Companies measure, gather and store data of all kinds and in increasing amounts. In fact, as companies continue their digital transformation, the amount of data is expected to balloon creating even more opportunities for data mining. All this data will be analyzed and patterns will be discovered. This will help in updating our system

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Are You Being Nudged Into Compliance?

Jan 8, 2018
5 min

Are You Being Nudged Into Compliance?

The answer is yes and you have been for some time. Nudging is broadly used today in many domains including: government to addresses policy effectiveness and regulatory gaps, private companies to make employees more ethical, and in compliance to change safety, quality, and environmental cultures. Nudging can be effective and justified to get us to do what is good for us such as investing more for our retirement. Nudging can also be used to exploit our behavioral biases to achi

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Ethical Compliance

Dec 6, 2017
7 min

Ethical Compliance

"It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good." – T.S. Eliot Technology is advancing faster and further than our ability to keep up with the ethical implications. This applies also to the systems using them that: govern, manage, and operate the businesses we work for and this includes compliance. The speed of technological change poses significant challenges for compliance and its function to regulate activities of an organization to stay within

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