The Grace Hill training tip this week focuses on the importance of keeping up with ever-changing rental housing compliance laws at federal, state and local levels.
Ever-changing compliance news is a challenge to keep up with.
One of the trickiest things about compliance training is keeping up with changing compliance laws, rules, and regulations.
You can create a great compliance course, assign it to your learners or set a date for training, and a month later, it needs to be updated. This can feel like an endless, overwhelming cycle.
To help, here are some practical tips for managing the ever-changing compliance world.
No. 1: Make a plan to keep up with changing compliance laws
In compliance training, change is a given.
Since you know it is coming, build change into your plans.
Make a plan to update training regularly. Have processes in place and resources set aside so you aren’t repeatedly scrambling for time or budget. Identify a mechanism to get information out quickly (for example, an email or an alert in the LMS) if something critical comes up between scheduled training updates.
Training people to always anticipate change regarding compliance laws is key.
No. 2: Make “change” a big idea in training
“The world of compliance is ever-evolving” is a fundamental concept that is important for learners to understand.
Providing learners with big ideas like this equips them with a framework around which they can learn in a coherent way.
Make “change” a theme in your compliance training and revisit it periodically. This may help learners better understand and appreciate the importance of engaging in regular compliance training.
No. 3: Be proactive and keep with with changing compliance laws
To avoid surprises and the scrambling that inevitably results, block time on your calendar every week or two to scan HUD, EEOC or state agency websites for important compliance news.
Set up a Google alert, or something similar.
Subscribe to key email lists and newsletters. Sorting through the information takes time, but planning it into your schedule and leveraging technology will make it a more manageable task.
No. 4: Retain an expert
If you have the resources, retaining an expert such as a law firm for legal compliance or a CPA for compliance with the tax code is very useful.
Work with them to identify priority issues so you aren’t overwhelmed with information you may not need. Have them create short summaries of why the change in law, rule, or regulation or other information is important to your business specifically.
As a trainer, your work is never done.
This is one of the most challenging aspects of your job, but it can also one of the most invigorating.
Actively managing the changing world of compliance can help you be ready for whatever the compliance world throws your way.
Read Ellen’s full blog post here.
About the author:
Ellen Clark is the Director of Assessment at Grace Hill. Her work has spanned the entire learner lifecycle, from elementary school through professional education. She spent over 10 years working with K12 Inc.’s network of online charter schools – measuring learning, developing learning improvement plans using evidence-based strategies, and conducting learning studies. Later, at Kaplan Inc., she worked in the vocational education and job training divisions, improving online, blended and face-to-face training programs, and working directly with business leadership and trainers to improve learner outcomes and job performance. Ellen lives and works in Maryland, where she was born and raised.
Photo credit Nick Youngson via creative commons license.
