Contributed by: Nick Gallo, ComplianceLine Co-CEO and Chief Servant
Since the mid-90s, ComplianceLine has helped organizations execute their compliance initiatives and programs by establishing true partnerships and focusing on the long-term. Today, our mission – “Empowering caring leaders with actionable information to manage risk, reinforce culture, and improve their organizations.” – is the path we run on in pursuit of our vision of becoming the best company in our space.
Our values and brand promise are what guide us along this path. While every company has a set of ‘Core Values’ hanging on their wall, what separates us from others is our ongoing commitment to take these values off the wall and live them out each day.
For a true partnership to be successful, both parties need to care about the same things. If they, at their core, don’t care about the same things, then the semblance of a partnership is transactional at best, and, at worst, inauthentic and artificial.
Our ‘special sauce’ is that we care. If we didn’t actually care, then the chance of decades-long partnerships with like-minded organizations would be lost and we would be drowned in the din of typical providers. Our Brand Values guide our actions and service delivery each day for each client. Below, we outline this promise and provide some detail around what ‘caring’ means in the context of our client partnerships:
C – Client-First: means we put your needs first and focus on the long-term. Sometimes we will forego what is best for our bottom-line in the short-term for what is best for the partnership over the long term.
A – Accountability: means we are accountable for our actions and responsible for our impact. This means consistently delivering on our commitments and owning mistakes when they occur with transparent, candid communication.
R – Responsiveness: refers to both the micro and the macro: The micro is around being quick to respond to questions and to provide information or results to our partners, because you need actionable info to do your job and the longer it takes for clarity, the longer risks exist in your system. The macro refers to responding to the changing risk and regulatory landscape as your organization grows and both requirements and best practices change.
E – Excellence: Leading with quality solutions that are both sustainable and thoughtful. Doing the right things right.
S – Servanthood: Selfless elevation of the needs of others.
While the paths that lead us to the compliance or HR field are extremely diverse, the common quality that all successful people in our field have is: caring. This caring shows itself interpersonally as empathy, and professionally as a quality commitment.
Actually caring – about your partners, about the job you do, the organizations you touch and the people in them – is a basic, traditional concept that seems radical in today’s transactional, tech-based culture. But getting back to those basics make a world of difference.
