top of page

Five Principles of Compliance Program Success

Updated: May 19

Following these principles has and will increase the probability of compliance success across all domains (safety, security, sustainability, quality, regulatory, cyber, environmental, etc.) by helping organizations develop and execute credible program plans.


ree

To achieve compliance success we recommend you work through these principles with your team to come up with compelling answers for each question.

PRINCIPLE

PLANNING QUESTIONS

EVIDENCE PRINCIPLE IS FOLLOWED

​1. Define what compliance looks like.

  • Where are we heading?

  • What are our goals and targets?

  • What are our obligations & promises?

  • How will we know when we are in compliance and when we are not?

  • Program Scope & Context

  • Obligation / Promise Register

​2. Develop strategy and create plan to realize and sustain compliance.

  • ​How will we meet all our obligations?

  • How will we keep all our promises?

  • How will we always stay between the lines?

  • How will we manage change?

  • How will we improve?

3. Resource the plan.

  • ​Do we have enough resources (people, technology, knowledge, capabilities, capacity etc.) to satisfy the plan?

  • Program Resource Plan

4. Estimate and handle uncertainty.

  • ​What impediments or opportunities will we encounter?

  • What could go wrong?

  • What needs to go right?

  • How will we recover when boundaries are breached?

  • What is the nature of uncertainty (aleatory, epistemic, ontological, etc.)

  • What is our risk appetite?

  • What is our risk tolerance?

  • Risk and Opportunity Register

  • Risk Management Plan

  • Risk-adjusted IMP

5. Measure progress.

  • ​How will success be measured? (MoE)

  • How will performance be measured? (MoP)

  • How will conformance be measured? (MoC)

  • How will risk be measured? (MoR)

  • How will assurance be measured? (MoA)

  • Benefits realized

  • Outcomes advanced

  • Risk ameliorated

  • Promises kept

  • Obligations met


If you are looking to improve your compliance program we offer four strategic Rapid Improvement Engagements (RIE) – Kaizens – to help you elevate your compliance and stay ahead of risk.


Each Compliance Program Kaizen improves an essential aspect of compliance for vital programs that include Safety, Security, Sustainability, Quality, Ethics, ESG, Regulatory, AI, and others.


Find out more here:


 
 
© 2017-2025 Lean Compliance™ All rights reserved.
bottom of page