The Art of Higher Education Compliance: Cultivating Buy-In
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve chatted with people who work in all different kinds of industries, but who all face a similar dilemma. Whether it’s a university struggling to get faculty and staff on board with accreditation efforts, an IT team at a Fortune-500 company asking their employees to adhere to new cybersecurity guidelines, or a lab manager asking their scientists to submit documentation for their lab certification, one key theme emerges: getting people to buy into your compliance efforts can be extremely difficult. In our field of higher education accreditation and compliance, we hear about these challenges often, but it's clear that no matter the sector, the struggle is real. How can you get the cooperation and support that you need from your team? Every organization is different, but today we’re going to look at three practical approaches that will help you engage your team and build buy-in more effectively.
1. Build Relationships
If the first time you have a multi-sentence conversation with someone is to ask them to do a bunch of extra (or what they will perceive as ‘extra’) work, you’re already off to a rough start. Humans are social beings, and mutual respect and connection are vital to getting people on board with your organization’s goals. I am not talking about bribing your coworkers or emotionally manipulating them. I am talking about building trust and forging meaningful working relationships with them so that they feel seen, understood, and valued before you ask them to support an initiative you’re working on.
One Way: One of my first jobs out of college was as an administrative assistant at my alma mater. I did a lot of answering phones, making copies, and talking to students. One day, one of our IT managers (who I had spoken with maybe twice in my life) dropped by and told me that they were changing the college’s telecom software to be more secure, and that the new software would require me to wear a headset that would automatically answer incoming calls. He asked if I would be okay with him installing it later that day. Because a large part of my job was talking with students who walked in, I was not okay with that and did everything I could to forestall his efforts as long as possible. He was just doing what he had been told to do, but I didn’t feel like he understood my job and I didn’t feel like he cared to understand that what he was doing would make my job harder. This bred a bit of distrust and resentment. Eventually, through much communication, we worked it out, but the process was much more stressful than it needed to be for both of us.
Better Way: My husband now works in IT at that same university (it’s a small world), and one of the first things he did when he started was introduce himself to all of the faculty and staff he supports. He asked them what he could do to make their lives easier, made sure that they knew how to contact him if they had any issues, and checked in with them regularly. Now, two years later, he is overseeing a major software change for his entire college, and people aren’t freaking out. He’s established trust, reliability, and rapport with his team, and they know he’s not out to make their jobs harder.
2. “What’s In It For Me?”
Compliance is tricky because people tend to mostly look at the negatives—that is, what will happen if they don’t achieve their goals. “If we fail our certification, we’ll have to close the lab!” or “If we lose our accreditation, we’ll lose our students and have to shut down.” These threats are motivating, but only to a point. We’ve known for a while that positive reinforcement is a better long-term motivator for behavioral changes than punishment, yet this is almost criminally underused in most workplaces, probably because it’s harder to do. Instead of trying to persuade people to support your compliance efforts by telling them what will happen if they don’t, explain how they, specifically, will benefit from your success.
One Way: Demetria works in a lab conducting cutting-edge medical research. One day her boss walks in and tells her that she has 6 weeks to complete lab safety training, and that if she doesn’t, the lab could fail its certification and lose all of its funding, leaving her without a job. Demetria, now annoyed with both her boss and the idea of certification in general, hurriedly completes the training. She’s accomplished the task, but she’s now concerned about her long-term employment and starts wondering if she should be looking for another job.
Better Way: Demetria’s lab manager asks her to complete her lab safety training within 6 weeks so that the lab can renew its certification. The manager explains that their certification will be good for 2 years and, once they have renewed it, their lab will be eligible for additional grant funding, which will allow Demetria to pursue a new line of research she’s passionate about. Of course, Demetria knows that certification is good for the lab, but understanding how these efforts will affect her, directly, is much more motivating. Now Demetria can happily complete the training; she knows she’s ultimately helping herself.
3. Make it As Easy as Possible
People who live and breathe compliance often forget that, to most people, it’s almost like a foreign language. Decoding the prompts in a self-evaluation is almost second nature to many of us, so it’s easy to get frustrated when you ask people on your team to contribute data or content for your report and get either radio silence, 15 follow-up questions, or the bare minimum effort. You know that they know the information—why can’t they just give it to you? It’s not that difficult… or is it? Yes, they are the ones who have the information, but you may need to help them communicate it. Whether it’s breaking prompts down into smaller, shorter questions, or helping them talk through complicated processes by asking questions. I know this is going to sound overly simplistic, but one of the best ways to get people to do difficult things is by making things feel less difficult.
One Way: Your publishing company has signed an autobiography deal with (fictional) international pop sensation Tyler Steele. You tell him that the book’s content needs to cover his early childhood, teenage years, rise to fame, relationships, musical process, personal philosophy, and hopes for the future. You give him a six-month deadline to submit the chapters to his editor. At the end of 6 months, you’ve got nothing. You reach out to Tyler, but he says he didn’t know where to start, wasn’t sure how to talk about those things, and is currently in the middle of a world tour. You’re frustrated because only Tyler can provide the content you need, and Tyler’s frustrated because he wants to give you what you’re asking for but doesn’t know how.
Better Way: Your publishing company is waiting on content from Tyler Steele for his upcoming autobiography. You know that Tyler has an incredible story to tell, but you also know that he’s a pop star, not necessarily an introspective thinker or a seasoned writer, and he’s in the middle of a whirlwind world tour. Instead of asking him to scrawl out the details of entire epochs of his life, you ask him if he’d be willing to participate in a series of interviews that you can record to use in the book. You prepare questions that guide Tyler into discussing the key themes and time periods that the book will cover. You ask follow-ups that help him expand on interesting ideas and stories. At the end of this process, you have the content you need from Tyler in the structure that you need it in, and you’ve given Tyler a way to authentically share his experiences with your readers. Everybody wins.
Each of these strategies are different but powerful approaches to the same goal—building an environment where honesty and collaboration prevail, and where challenges and lapses are met with support and teamwork rather than blame and punishment. Whether you’re working on higher education accreditation, a new telecom software, or a popstar’s memoir; empathy, communication, and clarity are critical to getting your team’s support. It still may not be easy, but it’s absolutely worth the work. Because getting your team to support your compliance efforts not only allows you to achieve your goal, it creates a culture of openness, continuous improvement, and collective success.
