Compliance or Assurance — the Pirates Code
A fun movie I enjoyed watching with my teenagers was Pirates of the Caribbean. There are several amusing scenes where the various characters call on the “Pirates Code” to get them out of a sticky moment. Everyone from the heroine to the anti-hero at some point in the multi-movie series cries out “Parley! I invoke the right of parley.”
The funny part was where, true to the pirate nature, Captain Barbossa ignores the Pirates Code stating, “it’s more of more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”
You might have seen this within your organisation where there’s a poor compliance culture. “We’ll follow that process where we feel like it, and short cut at other times”.
Perhaps we should be aiming for an assurance culture, not a compliance culture. Perhaps we should be moving beyond rule following, toward our company values.
Perhaps we should be guided by ethical, legal, regulatory, and risk-based decisions, following processes that reflect what’s important.
Is there a pirate’s code in your organization?
The Author
With over 30 years’ experience, from engineering and manufacturing through to consulting, facilitation and speaking, Lauren’s passion and expertise is in helping leaders build businesses for the future.
She helps organisations become “future fit” through pragmatic application of risk management in strategic planning and management systems. Lauren is also passionate about developing future fit leaders through essential leadership skills.
Her book 10% Better – Taking Organisations from Ordinary to Excellence has been acclaimed as a practical and hugely helpful guide for business leaders.
