Sensitization for whom?
In short: for everyone! In my daily work of preventing, detecting and reacting to compliance violations and other economic crimes, I often hear from my clients that it is completely enough if only they (i.e. the board of directors and/or management) are sensitized. I have a different opinion!
Do we want to use people as success factors with our potential? Yes? Then it is time. An immense potential lies fallow. In many organizations. I like to compare it with the following metaphor: The person sitting in front of the PC, not knowing how to switch it on, desperately reaches back for the slate. This is what fraud management in a figurative sense still often looks like today. Reason: We don’t use the resources. We don’t find the “on-button” because we are looking for it in a completely different – often wrong – place.
Sensitisation is something that concerns each hierarchical level. Just like the corporate strategy. Or what good reasons would there be for not communicating this to the people to whom we entrust our company by assigning them important tasks?
Exploration tour with «Thinking like a Fraudster»
Culture of trust. That is the value that many people in positions of responsibility tell me. From corporate groups to small and medium-sized enterprises. Gladly. But how do they protect all the trustworthy employees from those who don’t take integrity so seriously?
Your employees want to contribute to the company’s success. This is what we can rely on. Why do we use this willingness and ability only minimally? Let us see the potential from the perspective of risk management. No, by definition risks are not bad, but value-free. You have an “upside” and a “downside”. Let’s focus on the upside. Every employee has a risk manager. Everyone, without exception. Of course with different socialization, experience, and cognitive abilities. What would these employees say if they could get involved?
Not a single one has yet refused to support the company. Loyalty is still high. May trends and studies point out to us that loyalty is decreasing, we can still rely on a high level of commitment.
“Thinking like a Fraudster” is just one of our established and tested methods for integrating employee potential into corporate risk management in an exciting, strategic way. Voluntarily and with a steep learning curve. Everyone involved learns a great deal about functions, roles, responsibilities, leadership and risk management. We reduce it to the lowest common denominator – which will determine the future:
Integrity Matters
The strategic competitive advantage begins and ends for every company with integrity. Irrespective of the business model, integrity forms the basis of all future-oriented actions. The Fraud Awareness Week showed me once again how many people are already aware of this and are therefore on their way. It was a great pleasure to read the many feedback messages, answer questions and interact offline as well as online with the responsible people and their crews. It is everybody’s business!
In this sense of sensitizing, enlightening, revealing and investigative
Yours
Sonja Stirnimann
