Compliance is more than a department. It’s a culture.

Compliance isn’t a one-time project. It’s not a binder or a badge. And it’s certainly not the job of one department alone. In high-stakes industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, compliance needs to be a part of how the organization thinks, acts, and operates every day.    

When policies are part of how people work, rather than just something they read once during onboarding, everything runs more smoothly. Teams are more in sync, people understand expectations, and trust builds from the inside out.

1. Treating compliance as a function, not a framework
2. The risks of a reactive approach
3. What happens when culture and compliance don’t align
4. How to operationalize compliance culture
5. Compliance as an organizational advantage
6. Culture is the strongest control you have

Treating compliance as a function, not a framework 

In many organizations, compliance is a department: a dedicated group that owns the policies, coordinates with regulators, and manages audits. That structure is necessary. But it’s not sufficient.

When compliance is isolated and viewed as something that occurs outside the day-to-day work of most employees, it has a limited impact. Policies sit unread. Training is checked off but not retained. Audits become fire drills instead of checkpoints.

These problems don’t indicate that people don’t care about compliance. They often don’t see how compliance connects to their role. When that disconnect exists, risk lives in the gap.

The risks of a reactive approach 

When compliance activities only respond to a regulation, audit, or incident, they become inherently reactive. And that comes with costs.

• Missed signals: Employees should catch problems early, but often overlook issues because no one is monitoring them during the daily workflow.
• Inconsistent behavior: Without clear expectations and routine reinforcement, people often make decisions based on habit or hearsay rather than policy.
• Burnout and blame: When compliance falls short, the burden often falls on a small group to address systemic issues. That creates tension, finger-pointing, and turnover.

Reactive compliance treats the symptoms. Proactive compliance addresses the system.

What happens when culture and compliance don’t align

Theranos and the collapse of internal controls

Theranos operated under intense secrecy and aggressive pressure to deliver on promises that were, ultimately, scientifically impossible. While the company had a clinical lab director and was subject to regulatory oversight, the compliance function had little independence and no meaningful authority. Leadership ignored employees who raised concerns about test accuracy, equipment protocols, or validation processes and often went so far as to silence them or pressure them to leave.

The cultural message was clear: compliance was secondary to keeping up appearances. Leadership prioritized speed and secrecy over safety and ethics. Policies may have existed, but management did not enforce them or integrate them into decision-making. In such an environment, compliance becomes ornamental.

This failure didn’t just lead to fines and shutdowns. It destroyed careers, cost investors hundreds of millions, and damaged public trust in healthcare startups.

Australian bank and the Royal Commission

During Australia’s Banking Royal Commission—a sweeping investigation into misconduct in the financial services industry—one bank was repeatedly cited for failing to act on known compliance breaches. Leadership acknowledged that employees had charged fees for services never rendered, yet responses were slow, and in some cases, management downplayed internal reports.

Leadership made the situation worse, saying one thing in public and acting differently internally. Despite having formal policies and a robust risk and compliance team, the perception lingered that executives and directors were reluctant to hold senior leaders accountable or report breaches to regulators promptly.

That disconnect between instructions and actions didn’t just hurt their reputation. It led to leadership shakeups and forced the organization to take a hard look at how seriously it treated compliance beyond the organizational chart.

The FDA and a major baby formula recall

In early 2022, a manufacturer of baby formula recalled a line of infant formula and shut down a key plant after receiving reports of bacterial contamination. But the contamination wasn’t sudden. The FDA had received whistleblower complaints months before the recall, and internal reports had raised concerns about sanitation practices and product safety.

The deeper issue was cultural: employees didn’t feel empowered or supported to escalate safety concerns. Reports suggest that issues were either dismissed or stuck in a slow-moving internal system. Although compliance protocols existed, there was no shared sense that following them was critical to everyday operations.

The result was a national formula shortage, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and damage to the company’s reputation as a trusted producer of essential healthcare products.

Each of these examples underscores the same truth: policies on paper don’t protect organizations. A culture that values, supports, and operationalizes compliance also drives results.

How to operationalize compliance culture

Embedding compliance into culture means treating it as more than documentation. It means integrating it into how people work, make decisions, and lead. Here’s how organizations are doing that successfully:

1. Tie policy to real work

Policies work best when they reflect what people are doing rather than how they did things in the past. That means checking in with the folks doing the work, keeping guidance up to date, and making sure updates are easy to find and roll out. If it doesn’t match reality, no one will follow it.

2. Reinforce through training

Training shouldn’t be something you do once a year to check a box. Effective training programs are short, relevant, and ongoing. Throughout the year, there are quick refresher courses, real-world examples turned into teaching opportunities, and regular brief reminders. People remember training when it is useful and not disruptive.

3. Communicate continuously

Policy updates shouldn’t surprise anyone. Those responsible for training should use every tool available, and create some new ones, to not only get the word out about policy changes but also highlight successes and connect compliance to the company’s values.

4. Lead by example

If leaders don’t take compliance seriously, no one else will. When managers and executives follow the same policies they expect others to follow and show they’re open to questions or concerns, it sends a clear message: these rules aren’t optional, and they apply to all of us. That kind of example builds trust and sets the tone across the organization.

5. Track engagement, not just access

It’s not enough to know someone clicked on a policy. What matters is whether they understood it, signed off on it, and are using it in their work. The right tools can help you spot where that’s happening and where a little extra follow-up might be needed.

Compliance becomes an integral part of how the business operates, not just a means of protection.

Compliance as an organizational advantage

When entire teams view compliance as an integral part of the business rather than a background function, the organization as a whole benefits.

It becomes easier to move quickly because people aren’t constantly second-guessing the rules. It becomes easier to scale because expectations are standardized and consistent across locations and teams. And it becomes easier to earn trust with regulators, customers, and employees because your organization can prove that what’s written is actually what’s practiced.

Zavanta makes a difference in achieving this advantage:

• Structured guidance replaces informal workarounds and outdated PDFs. Employees have access to clean, clear, and current policies directly tied to accomplishing their work.
• Acknowledgment tracking adds accountability, not just for compliance teams but across departments.
• Everyone sees who reads what, when, and how they adopt updates.

Audit readiness becomes a natural outcome of everyday work, not a rushed scramble. With built-in version control and full audit trails, leaders can respond to requests with confidence and transparency.

The real advantage? You reduce friction across the board.

• New employees ramp up faster because expectations are clear.
• Leaders make better decisions because policy is visible, not buried.
• Teams align more easily because there’s less room for interpretation.

Compliance becomes an integral part of how the business operates, not just a means of protection.

In a highly regulated environment, reducing risk isn’t enough. True protection comes from making compliance an everyday, natural effort. When that happens, credibility grows, performance improves, and the company benefits from a culture that adapts easily.

Culture is the strongest control you have

Documents don’t drive compliance. People do.

When organizations treat compliance as part of their culture, rather than just a department or a deadline, they gain more than just audit readiness. They gain clarity, confidence, and alignment across the board.

Zavanta helps teams build the infrastructure that encourages and supports this shift: policy systems that are clear, visible, and credible. Because when everyone understands the rules, believes in the system, and knows their role, compliance becomes second nature.

Want to see what that looks like in practice? Schedule a walkthrough to learn more.

About Comprose

As the creators of Zavanta, Comprose helps organizations transform complex policies and procedures into clear, consistent, and easy-to-follow documentation. Our policy and procedure management software empowers teams to improve compliance, reduce risk, and streamline operations through a centralized, cloud-based platform.

We specialize in serving highly regulated industries—from financial services and credit unions to healthcare and government—by delivering purpose-built tools that enhance transparency, accountability, and audit readiness.

With over 30 years of experience, Comprose makes it easier for organizations to document what they do, how they do it, and why it matters. This helps employees stay aligned, and compliance becomes second nature.