For any healthcare compliance officer, so much of the job is literally carried out in front a computer. For example, conducting research, updating policies, reviewing audit reports, and investigation files that require documentation. In our world of compliance, we focus a lot on how to make our programs more effective, yet there is one simple strategy that I think often gets overlooked: visibility.
When operational leaders and frontline staff see you regularly, talk with you informally, and experience you as a business partner, genuine trust begins to grow. Over time, that trust becomes a foundation that leads employees to proactively report concerns, and allows your advice to be acted upon, both of which are key indicators of an effective program.
This article will cover the importance of visibility for the success of your compliance program, and how it can also help you navigate the corporate politics of healthcare.
Visibility Creates Familiarity. Familiarity Builds Trust.
In a healthcare organization, most leaders spend their days solving technical operational challenges. For example, navigating patient workflow issues, managing staffing shortages, and balancing clinical priorities. If the compliance officer only appears during times of investigations, audits, or trainings, frontline staff and leaders are likely to only associate you with negativity (i.e., a disruption or correction).
Increased face time changes this dynamic. When workforce members see you regularly, (in their environment), the relationship has more of a human element to it. For example, a five-minute hallway conversation about a documentation issue can be far more impactful than an email explaining a billing requirement.
So why does face time change this dynamic?
Because its creates familiarity for them, which builds trust. In my experience, familiarity tends to reduce anxiety by creating a safe space for workforce members. One that lowers the psychological barrier to asking vulnerable questions. Think of it this way...when workforce members think about compliance, familiarity means they are thinking about it as a person and not a department.
Visibility Helps You Understand How the Organization Really Works
Another benefit of visibility, as it relates to the effectiveness of your program, is that you learn how the organization functions. And by that, I mean “actually” functions.
Policies can look straightforward on paper, but healthcare operations are complex, and may tell a different story. For example, processes often evolve due to changing resources and workarounds that develop over time. When that happens, there is a strong likelihood the processes have fallen out of alignment with a policy, yet the policy wasn’t updated to match.
When you consistently spend time in different areas of the organization, you start to see the pressures that operational leaders face every day. You observe how timing is impacted by patient flow, how staffing shortages shape decision-making, and how clinical priorities compete with administrative tasks (such as documentation).
Having a firsthand perspective allows you to help them identify whether their policies need updating, and frame your compliance advice in ways that acknowledge their operational realities.
When leaders know, that you know, how their departments actually function, they are far more likely to trust your guidance and be engaged to the compliance program.
Visibility Encourages People to Speak Up Earlier
Another way visibility aids the effectiveness of your compliance program is that people are more likely to raise concerns early—before they turn into a more serious compliance issue.
I think in just about every organization I’ve worked in, there’s been a population of employees hesitant to contact the compliance officer unless they were absolutely certain there is a problem. The reluctance could be traced to worry that they might be overreacting, or assuming the issue is too small to mention. And sometimes staff simply do not know whether a situation even falls within the compliance officer’s role, or some other department (e.g., risk, legal).
Now, add invisibility to this equation.
If the compliance officer mostly exists as an email address or a hotline number, these uncertainties compound the potential to create silence. Visibility will change that dynamic, for many of the same reasons as I mentioned above with visibility creating familiarity. When staff members have seen you in their department, or better yet, have spoken with you in person, it becomes much easier for them to raise a question or concern.
And when concerns are raised early, they are almost always easier, (and less costly), for the organization to address.
Visibility Strategies.
If being more visible is a goal you’re after, below are some tips that will help.
Small, But Consistent Steps. Stepping away from your desk doesn’t have to require large blocks of time, the key thought is consistent efforts. For example, schedule a few minutes once a week to round in different departments or have an informal coffee conversation.
New-to-You Department or Leader. If there is a new leader, or department you’ve not worked with, take the initiative to set up a 30 minute meet & greet, or walk-through in the department to understand their operations.
Set a Small Goal. Set a personal goal to have ___ many in-person conversations per day, or per week. These don’t need to be deep conversations, rather “How are things going in your department”, or “Is there any questions you have that I can help or support you with?”
Attend Operational Meetings as a Listener. One of the simplest ways to become more visible is to periodically attend operational meetings across the organization that it’s appropriate for you to attend, just to meet others and listen in (e.g., all-staff meetings, service line meetings, department manager meetings).
Volunteer. If there are opportunities to volunteer for an organizational or community event, those can also be moments to capture that improves your visibility.
While I recognize that some of the strategies are directed to an environment where the compliance officer is onsite. Given that compliance officers do work remotely, you can still move forward with many of these strategies, but adjust to fit a remote worker. For example, instead of an in-person conversation, you make it a video call, or a phone call vs. an email.
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**Note: Visibility is exactly the type of unwritten rule that I help coach compliance officers with inside my course. If the “people part” of the job is an area holding you back, join us inside the course today. **
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Pulling it All Together
One of the most simple, yet powerful, strategies available to improve the effectiveness of a compliance program is visibility.
When compliance officers spend part of their time where healthcare operations actually happen (e.g., patient care areas, administrative offices, and meetings), workforce members see you regularly, which establishes familiarity, and that builds trust.
Visibility can also help with navigating the compliance program through the corporate politics of healthcare too. For example, when you regularly interact with workforce members, you begin to understand the informal influence networks within the organization, which can help you advance a compliance program initiative.
While the keyboard is necessary for the accuracy of our work, real trust is created through visibility because workforce members are more likely to listen to someone they know.
