Reprinted with permission. This article was originally published by Training Industry.
Compliance was once viewed as a back-office function, something checked off a list to satisfy regulators. Today, it is central to how organizations operate, compete and build trust. What was once about avoiding penalties is now about enabling transparency, managing risk and meeting the expectations of investors, employees and the public.
As organizations collect more data and face increasing digital and fraud-related threats, the pressure to demonstrate compliance effectiveness is growing. Every new insight brings opportunity, but also new exposure and risk. According to a recent study, 85% of executives say that compliance requirements have become more complex over the last three years. That complexity is pushing organizations to rethink how they measure and manage compliance training.
Data paralysis: Why compliance is hard to measure
Much of what defines compliance today stems from human behavior, encompassing how people make choices, interpret guidance and respond under pressure. Unlike financial or operational data, behavioral data is subtle and contextual. It relies on patterns like how people interpret guidance, respond under pressure or manage gray areas. With regulations constantly shifting, compliance teams often struggle to determine whether their efforts are changing employee behavior.
The traditional structure of compliance programs further underscores this challenge. As revealed in LRN’s 2025 Program Effectiveness report, 76% of organizations conduct annual ethics or culture assessments, with only 31% formally evaluating ethical behavior as part of performance reviews. Many companies still follow annual or quarterly training cycles that were created for a slower regulatory environment. These long intervals can leave gaps between learning, testing and real-world application, meaning that important behavioral signs often go unnoticed until problems arise.
Adding to the difficulty, compliance data is often spread across different systems and departments. This is an area where L&D support is pivotal. L&D can help centralize behavioral data, integrate learning systems with compliance tools and create repeatable processes for collecting insights year-round, not just annually.
Modern compliance systems
Modern compliance tools are transforming how organizations understand and manage risk. These platforms provide real-time visibility into training engagement, policy acknowledgements, reporting behaviors, system activity and more. As revealed by LRN’s report, the overall value of data is gaining increasing recognition among high-impact ethics and compliance programs. High-impact programs were found to be 1.8 times more likely to value benchmarking data.
These tools allow organizations to track:
- Training completion and assessment performance
- How employees use reporting channels
- Policy attestation patterns
- Sentiment and culture survey feedback
- System logs and behavioral indicators
L&D can help transform these raw data points into meaningful measurement frameworks. For example:
- Aligning training modules to specific risk indicators
- Connecting learning outcomes to behavior trends
- Designing assessments that evaluate judgment, not just recall
- Setting success metrics that reflect both compliance and culture goals
- Providing dashboards and reporting that help leaders see progress
With L&D’s involvement, compliance measurement becomes a continuous cycle of learning, observing, reinforcing and improving.
Benchmarking and trend tracking
To truly measure compliance effectiveness, organizations must look beyond one-time snapshots. Modern systems enable:
- Internal benchmarking (e.g., comparing business units or regions)
- Trend tracking (changes over time in behavior or sentiment)
- External benchmarking (how performance compares to peers)
L&D can support these efforts by designing consistent evaluation methods and providing the context needed to interpret results, turning metrics into actionable recommendations for leaders.
Culture drives compliance
A strong compliance culture is built on shared values, daily choices and when employees see ethical behavior as part of their responsibility, not just a corporate expectation. This sense of ownership helps close the gap between rules on paper and actions in practice. When culture leads, compliance follows naturally, and the organization becomes better equipped to manage risk and earn trust.
Phishing is a clear example of where culture and compliance meet. It does not exploit systems as much as it exploits people. Even the best security tools can be undone by a single careless click or misplaced trust. Many compliance failures stem not from intent, but from environment, habits or unclear expectations. When employees are encouraged to slow down, question and speak up without fear, the organization becomes less vulnerable to errors and mistakes.
L&D can strengthen culture by:
- Reinforcing decision-making skills through practice and scenarios
- Encouraging employees to pause, question and speak up
- Integrating compliance into onboarding and role-specific training
- Creating learning journeys instead of one-time modules
- Building manager capability to model and reinforce compliance expectations
When L&D and compliance work together, behaviors become more consistent, risks decrease and trust increases.
A new age of understanding
Having compliance content in place is no longer enough. Organizations must be able to measure whether training influences behavior, reduces risk and supports ethical decision-making. Modern tools help by converting complex data into accessible insights, but L&D is essential for turning those insights into action. With clear measurement methods, organizations can strengthen compliance programs with confidence and build a culture where integrity guides decisions at every level of the business.
Organisations must be able to measure whether training influences behavior, reduces risk and supports ethical decision-making.
To find our how to better better measure training's influence on your organization's culture, speak with one of our experts today.
