MgMt iaNCe;MaNageMeNt
By Carl G. Pry, CrCM
6 tips for Keeping local compliance
Groups Growing, Relevant
a
These groups take many forms, from
formal organizations that regularly conduct
official meetings, collect dues, and bring
in subject-matter experts for presentations
(some even have their own trademarks,
publish newsletters, and more), to informal
get-togethers of compliance professionals
working at banks within a local area. But
whatever form these groups take, they all have
a common goal: make the time and effort
it takes to meet relevant and beneficial—in
other words, maintain a valid reason to keep
things going. So if you’re a member or leader
of such a group, or are thinking about starting
one, how can you do that? Here are some tips.
➊ Have scheduled meetings.
This doesn’t necessarily mean having a rigidly
scheduled meeting on the second Tuesday
of each month, but some degree of formality and planning is a good idea. We’re all
extremely busy, and the ability to carve out
a regular time known well in advance makes
follow-through a lot easier.
Face-to-face meetings are always preferable to conference calls (how many times
have you tried to get a word in edgewise on a
conference call but weren’t able to?), but having a call if a physical meeting isn’t possible is
better than not meeting at all, just to keep the
consistent connection.
as Co MPlianCe offi Cers, we’re always on the lookout for any help we can get:
help figuring out the content of new regulations, help deciding how things should be
implemented, help determining what the regulators are doing at the moment, and so
on. there are great resources out there that provide such help, including the many
tools and publications the aBa and similar organizations offer, plus Web sites, blogs,
and myriad seminars, webinars, and conferences available to keep us up to date. But
there is another valuable but sometimes-overlooked way compliance professionals can
make their lives easier: participation in a local compliance organization.
➋ Keep on point.
One of the biggest organization-killers
is lack of clarity of purpose. Put
differently, is coming to
the meeting a worthwhile use of your
time? Although
there is always
value in getting
together with
like-minded individuals just to
commiserate and
share stories, make
the best possible use of
the group’s time.
This means planning and set-
ting an agenda for each meeting, Have
a purpose, whether it’s to discuss the latest
regulatory change, dissect risk assessment
methodologies, or share tips on what examin-
ers are currently focusing on. This also means
someone must take the reins and volunteer
to be in charge, if only on a rotating basis.
Having someone define the purpose of each
meeting makes it more likely that interest in
the organization will remain steady if not
increase.
