Donnetta Horseman (donnetta.horseman@moffitt.org) is Chief Compliance Officer at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, FL.
Welcome to the new year! Hopefully 2021 was good to you and yours, and you are ready for a new year with new or updated awareness and training ideas and materials. Before you embark on a new calendar year of training, evaluate last year’s training and awareness activities to determine what to carry forward, what needs updating, and what to scrap.
Seek feedback
If you didn’t ask for real-time feedback throughout the year, consider sending out a brief survey to key groups. Was the training effective? Was it easy to understand? Was it engaging? What topics would employees like to learn more about? Don’t forget to include senior leadership and your compliance board committee in the feedback loop.
Mine your data
Look at internal and external audit results, hotline calls, requests for guidance, and investigations from the past year to identify trends or hot topics that you should focus on. Are there repeat offenders or departments that need focused training? Ask department leaders to assist in identifying problem areas or trends to uncover targeted training needs.
Newbies
Don’t forget about new employees, leaders, board members, departments, locations, or service lines. Is there an opportunity or need to focus training for these groups? Do they need something more than just the standard new-hire or annual mandatory compliance and privacy training? Are there new regulations that need attention? Do you need to make any revisions for full-time remote employees? Review your standard training and awareness materials to see whether they need to be refreshed in any way.
Recycle and repurpose
Look back at awareness and training materials you may have used in the past. Oftentimes the core content can be reused. Update case studies and scenarios to ensure the content is relevant. Review the regulatory and legal content to make sure it is current. It is also a great time to review and update any posted notices, such as your notice of privacy practices and other required signage posted throughout the organization.
Finally, engage others in the organization to help with compliance training and awareness activities. Consider developing training tool kits for managers that contain materials they can use at department meetings, in department communications, or post in breakrooms.