What Comedy Pros Can Teach Compliance Professionals

Originally printed in Compliance Week

By Tom Yorton

In the entertainment world, success is measured in lots of ways, but playing to a packed house can be a misleading indicator—as counterintuitive as that might seem to outsiders. Professionals like to play to full houses, but they love to play for a “hot” house, where the audience has completely and enthusiastically bought into the show. So to us, getting people into to the theatre is only half the battle; what really matters is winning the audience. 

And to that point, a term common in comedy circles is “killed”—as in, “We really killed tonight.” Translation: “We had them rolling in the aisles and they ate it up.”

So, before I lose you, the question I often ask compliance professionals is this: Have you killed lately—are your audiences totally buying into your programs and asking for more? 

Compliance issues are very important; professionals in the field certainly don’t need to be reminded of that. The problem is that despite its importance, compliance programming at most companies often fails to win an audience—the critical stakeholders that are make-or-break. Just because programs are mandatory, that doesn’t mean that people are enthusiastically buying in to them, much as a full theatre doesn’t always translate into a hot house. Compliance issues are often dealt with in ways that are boring, pedantic, artificial and, in some cases, even insulting to their audiences. 

Let’s just say that the reviews are in—and most employees are giving a thumbs-down.

Who am I to say? Well, I help run one of America’s great comedy institutions, The Second City, and its innovative business solutions arm, Second City Communications. Before my time at Second City, I was an officer in two Fortune 500 companies, where I participated in lots of compliance programming, including training and internal communications. With Second City Communications, I have collaborated with many companies to help take their compliance programming to a different level. 

What does a comedy company have to offer ethics and compliance training? We are 50-year experts at engaging and building audience. We know how to pack a house with shows that use humor to reflect shared truths and connect to people’s lives, make them laugh, and make them think.

We don’t profess to know everything there is to know about compliance. But we do know that employees tune out a lot. The challenge is to reach people with fresh, relevant content that fosters open, honest discussion about tough topics and issues, especially those “grey-zone” issues where even well intentioned employees can get it wrong. You need to meet your people where they are—and you need to get them wanting more. In fact, the most successful compliance programs involve a regular stream of ongoing communications and conversations—as opposed to a one-time activity. 

Some tips for engaging people effectively: 

Humor Gets to the Truth

Compliance topics are too important to be conveyed through boring programs and dull content. Most companies would do well to find a way to get real with a little comedy. We often say that something’s only funny when it’s true. Think about it: Most of the things you find funny are grounded in some undeniable reality. When we laugh at something together, its laughter of shared recognition.

When it comes to compliance-related communication, we’ve seen that humor is a great way to tee up tough issues and challenges honestly and openly, and people on the receiving end of the communi-cation appreciate the candor. 

Clients sometimes wonder if humor is risky. In our view, it’s not risky if the situations we depict are grounded in a reality that people in the organization recognize. In fact, the real risk is to create material that reads as phony, stiff and wooden. Your people will dismiss it, and if they do, it’s impossible to change hearts, minds and behaviors.

Dialogues Beat Monologues

At The Second City, our shows are scripted, but we develop that scripted material through improvisation, where we take audience suggestions and create scenes on the spot—in real time. Over 50 years, we’ve learned that it pays to co-create material with an audience, and that when we do, audiences have a greater stake in the outcome, and we can create comedy that is genuine and authentic.

In our experience, corporate communications programs rarely involve their audiences in the creation of the message to the degree they could—they tend to be top down, and as a result, they fail to connect with the target audience as powerfully as they could. Try to create programs that involve your audience in thedevelopmental stages, to give your communications the authenticity they need, then consider how you can incorporate interactivity (web-based or in live meetings) to activity engage staff.

Foster Open Communication

Another benefit of humor is that it can break the ice when communicating around difficult topics. In our corporate work, we’ve heard time and again how much the rank and file appreciate it when leaders make themselves more accessible, or when management ditches the PowerPoint to talk forthrightly about tough topics. 

Also, in our world, for our actors to be truly successful on stage, they have to work as an ensemble—which is what separates improv comedy from stand-up that involves a single person on stage. In that high-pressure setting, creating material on the spot, in front of an audience with high expectations, our people have to have each other’s backs and create a supportive environment. We’re not sug-gesting that you turn your companies into improv clubs, but there are tenets and practices from the improv world that can do wonders to creating more open, transparent corporate environments. 

Through the skills you teach and the tone you set, you can do a lot to create opportunities for more open communication, In turn, that can help you identify and fix small problems before they become big ones.

Say It, and Say It Again

Reinforcement and repetition are important—especially in the “noisy” environment of the business world, with jammed email inboxes, and 24/7 communications vying for your everyone’s attention.

Second City revues usually have a theme that we establish at the top of the show and reinforce throughout, via “callbacks” and “runners.” These theatrical devices keep our audience engaged, but also serve as a connective thread, making the shows more than the sum of their parts (individual sketches). 

Similarly, most of our clients don’t merely see their compliance programs as a series of one-off topics, designed merely to police certain “bad behaviors” in their organizations. They see their work as an important contributor to improving overall company culture. In our experience, if that’s the goal, you need to find ways to reach your staff in multiple ways over time, and get past the “annual inoculation” mindset. 

Given that reality, we believe it’s critical to seed and reinforce important messages on and ongoing basis. Generally, that means building a communications plan that establishes an overall tone and theme, then reinforcing that theme through a calendar year. Best practices communications plans often include live events, skills building for key leaders, video reinforcement and web tools that allow for commentary and audience engagement with the subject matter.

It turns out less isn’t more when it comes to communications around compliance issues.

Last Word …

The stakes are high in the compliance world, but that’s actually good news from a communications point of view. The higher the stakes, the greater the chance to create messaging that rises above the clutter, present old topics in a different light, and win an audience. Some of the ideas suggested here—straight from the comedy world—might seem counterintuitive, but hopefully they can help you create a better connection with the people who ultimately make your organization succeed or fail.