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Regulatory/Compliance - Competency

Definition: Regulatory/Compliance is the organizational capability to proactively monitor and assess emerging regulatory requirements and risks by conducting regular audits, performing periodic risk assessments, and scanning for changes in laws and industry standards. It also requires being responsive, addressing issues and unethical behavior quickly, maintaining clear communication channels, and ensuring timely follow‑up before problems escalate. The function develops and implements frameworks and reporting systems, creating compliance manuals, coordinating cross‑departmental strategies, designing reporting structures that flag gaps, benchmarking reporting performance, and maintaining accurate, traceable documentation. Finally, Regulatory/Compliance ensures the organization maintains compliance, mitigates risk, fosters an ethical culture, educates employees, and demonstrates strong leadership, reinforcing integrity, preventing failures, and upholding both internal expectations and external regulatory obligations.
Organizational Skills
Business Acumen
Strategic Focus
Strategic Insight
Entrepreneurship
Company
Organizational Fluency
Fiscal Management
Continuous Improvement
Information Technology
Planning
Regulatory/Compliance
Vision
Global Perspective
What is Regulatory/Compliance?
Components of Regulatory/Compliance skills?
What are key aspects of Regulatory/Compliance?
Why are Regulatory Compliance skills important in the workplace?
How can I improve my Regulatory/Compliance skills?
360-Feedback questions that measure Regulatory/Compliance
360-Feedback Surveys Measuring the Regulatory/Compliance Competency:
Survey 1 (4-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 2 (4-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 3 (5-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 4 (5-point scale; radio buttons)
Survey 5 (4-point scale; words)
Survey 6 (4-point scale; words)
Survey 7 (5-point scale; competency comments; N/A)
Survey 8 (3-point scale; Agree/Disagree words; N/A)
Survey 9 (3-point scale; Strength/Development; N/A)
Survey 10 (Comment boxes only)
Survey 11 (Single rating per competency)
Survey 12 (Slide-bar scale)
Survey 13 (4-point scale; numbers; floating anchors)
Survey 14 (4-point scale; N/A)
Self-Comments: Do you have to complete a self-assessment or performance appraisal? If so, the
self-comments here may help.
Performance Assessments that include Regulatory/Compliance:
Assessment 1 (5-point scale; IDP Comments)
Assessment 2 (3-point scale with Comments)
Assessment 3 (Manager Assessment; 360-Feedback)
Assessment 4 (3-point scale; Rating Limits)
Assessment 5 (3-point scale; Rating Limits)
Assessment 6 (5-point scale with Comments)
Assessment 7 (Comment Boxes Only; IDP)
Assessment 8 (Comment Boxes Only)
Assessment 9 (3-point scale with Letter Grade)
Assessment 10 (360-Feedback; Bonus/Merit Pay)
Assessment 11 (Core Values & Job Competencies)
Assessment 12 (4-point scale; 6 Comment Boxes)
What is Regulatory/Compliance?
Regulatory/Compliance is the organizational capability to proactively monitor and assess regulatory requirements and emerging risks by conducting necessary risk assessments, performing periodic compliance evaluations, and coordinating internal and external audit procedures to stay ahead of potential exposure. It also requires being responsive, meaning the organization addresses issues and unethical behavior quickly, maintains clear and standardized response protocols, and ensures concerns are resolved before they escalate into major problems. Together, these functions establish a foundation of vigilance and agility that keeps the organization aligned with evolving regulatory expectations.

Regulatory/Compliance also involves developing and implementing frameworks and reporting systems that translate regulatory obligations into practical, repeatable structures. This includes coordinating cross-departmental compliance strategies, creating policies and manuals, aligning reporting systems with risk-management frameworks, benchmarking reporting performance, and auditing reporting processes to strengthen data integrity. These systems are supported by robust documentation practices, regular document reviews, and the creation of standardized templates that ensure consistency, completeness, and accessibility for auditors, inspectors, and internal stakeholders.

Finally, Regulatory/Compliance ensures the organization maintains compliance, mitigates risk, fosters an ethical culture, and builds employee capability through training, education, and strong leadership. It allocates resources to support compliance functions, completes corrective actions promptly, and ensures daily work aligns with federal, state, and local laws. Employees stay knowledgeable through ongoing training and awareness of regulatory standards, collaborate effectively with legal and regulatory partners, analyze past incidents to prevent recurrence, and reinforce ethics through codes of conduct and consistent messaging. Leadership provides oversight, appoints supervisory committees, and manages compliance teams to ensure regulatory expectations are met with integrity and accountability.
Components of Regulatory/Compliance skills?
  • Proactive Monitoring and Assessment: anticipating compliance risks and maintaining continuous oversight. It involves structured, ongoing activities such as conducting regular audits, performing periodic risk assessments, monitoring regulatory changes, and implementing internal controls to detect misconduct early.
  • Responsive:is activated when an issue, inquiry, or regulatory change presents itself. It emphasizes timely reaction--addressing emerging problems quickly, responding promptly and accurately to regulators, following up on violations, and maintaining readiness for new rules or procedures.
  • Develops/Implements Frameworks: building the structural foundation of compliance--creating the policies, procedures, strategies, and governance mechanisms that define how the organization will meet regulatory obligations. This competency is about designing the architecture of compliance: formulating policies, coordinating compliance activities across departments, establishing secure protocols, developing incentives for compliant behavior, and implementing strategies that align operations with regulatory requirements.
  • Develops Reporting System: creating the mechanisms that capture, track, visualize, and communicate compliance information. It is more technical and data-driven, involving the development of dashboards, confidential reporting channels, automated workflows, recordkeeping systems, and compliance reports for internal and external stakeholders.
  • Ensures Compliance: making sure the organization consistently meets all regulatory, legal, and industry requirements in its day-to-day operations. This competency is about oversight, enforcement, and accountability--verifying that workflows align with standards, ensuring corrective actions are completed, maintaining compliance across jurisdictions, and allocating the necessary resources so the compliance function can operate effectively.
  • Train and Educate:is centered on building employee knowledge, capability, and readiness to comply with regulations. This competency emphasizes instruction, skill development, and awareness--creating training programs, explaining regulations, facilitating sessions, tracking participation, and ensuring employees complete required certifications.
  • Knowledgeable: understanding the laws, regulations, standards, and procedural requirements that govern the organization. This competency is about staying informed--tracking legislative changes, knowing which documents and reports are required, understanding federal and local laws affecting employees, and being familiar with major regulatory frameworks such as EEOC, FLSA, OSHA, and ERISA.
  • Working Relationships: the interpersonal and collaborative side of Regulatory/Compliance. It emphasizes maintaining professional, constructive interactions with auditors, regulators, legal counsel, and internal partners.
  • Mitigate Risk: identifying, reducing, and preventing compliance vulnerabilities. It is proactive and analytical--reviewing policies and transactions for gaps, correcting deficiencies before they escalate, redesigning workflows to strengthen adherence, and implementing internal controls that reduce the likelihood of breaches.
  • Fosters Ethical Culture:emphasizes shaping the environment in which compliance occurs. This competency is about reinforcing ethical expectations, promoting integrity, encouraging open dialogue about concerns, and embedding ethics into team goals, communications, and decision-making.
  • Creates/Maintains Documentation: producing and preserving the regulatory records an organization needs to demonstrate compliance. This competency emphasizes generating clear, complete, and properly formatted documentation--such as audit records, corrective-action logs, regulatory forms, and updated versions of policies and procedures.
  • Reviews Documents: evaluating the accuracy, relevance, and regulatory alignment of existing documentation. This competency involves examining policies, manuals, reports, and historical records to ensure they meet current standards, identifying outdated materials that need replacement, and analyzing past compliance reports to spot trends or refine methodologies.
  • Provides Documentation: producing, organizing, and delivering the records required to demonstrate regulatory compliance. This competency emphasizes creating complete and accurate reports, maintaining accessible documentation repositories, preparing annual filings, and ensuring regulators and auditors can quickly locate the information they need.
  • Complies with Regulations: performing daily work in a manner that adheres to laws, policies, procedures, and industry standards. This competency emphasizes following safety rules, using approved tools and methods, avoiding non-compliant shortcuts, adjusting practices to meet regulatory requirements, and accurately completing tasks that have compliance implications.
  • Leadership: guiding, directing, and shaping the organization's compliance function. This competency emphasizes oversight, accountability, and influence--setting expectations, managing compliance officers, coordinating cross-departmental efforts, and establishing supervisory bodies that ensure strong governance.
What are key aspects of Regulatory/Compliance?
Key aspects of Regulatory/Compliance include:
  • Proactive Monitoring and Assessment
  • Responsive
  • Develops/Implements Frameworks
  • Develops Reporting System
  • Ensures Compliance
  • Train and Educate
  • Knowledgeable
  • Analytical
  • Working Relationships
  • Mitigate Risk
  • Fosters Ethical Culture
  • Creates/Maintains Documentation
  • Reviews Documents
  • Provides Documentation
  • Complies with Regulations
  • Leadership
Why are Regulatory Compliance skills important in the workplace?
Compliance helps identify and mitigate potential legal and financial risks. Maintaining high compliance standards enhances a company's reputation. Establishing clear compliance frameworks and reporting systems streamlines operations ensuring that all employees are aware of their responsibilities and reduces the likelihood of errors or misconduct. A strong compliance culture fosters a positive work environment allowing employees to feel more secure and valued in the organization. By prioritizing regulatory and compliance efforts, businesses can safeguard their operations, enhance their reputation, and ensure sustainable growth.
How can I improve my Regulatory/Compliance skills?
  • Strengthen proactive monitoring habits. An employee can improve their Regulatory/Compliance skills by regularly reviewing regulatory updates, industry standards, and internal policies to stay ahead of emerging requirements. They should practice conducting small-scale risk assessments to build comfort with identifying exposure points. Over time, this proactive mindset helps them anticipate compliance needs rather than simply reacting to issues.
  • Develop stronger responsiveness and issue-resolution skills. Employees can work on addressing concerns quickly, documenting issues clearly, and following established response protocols to ensure consistency. They should practice escalating problems appropriately and communicating with clarity when compliance questions arise. This builds reliability and reinforces trust in their ability to manage compliance-related situations.
  • Build competency in frameworks and reporting systems. Employees can improve by learning how compliance policies, procedures, and reporting structures are created and maintained within the organization. They should explore how reporting systems flag gaps, how data integrity is protected, and how documentation supports audits. Gaining familiarity with these systems helps them contribute more effectively to compliance infrastructure.
  • Expand regulatory knowledge and training participation. Employees should attend training sessions, complete certifications, and stay informed about laws such as EEOC, FLSA, OSHA, and ERISA. They can also seek out conferences, webinars, or industry publications to deepen their understanding of regulatory trends. This continuous learning builds confidence and ensures they remain current with evolving compliance expectations.
  • Practice ethical decision-making and risk mitigation. Employees can strengthen their skills by analyzing past compliance incidents, identifying patterns, and understanding how internal controls prevent failures. They should actively consider the ethical implications of their work and reinforce integrity in daily decisions. This combination of risk awareness and ethical behavior helps prevent issues before they occur.

Improving Regulatory/Compliance skills requires a blend of proactive monitoring, responsive issue management, structural understanding of frameworks and reporting systems, continuous learning, and ethical decision-making. Employees who develop these capabilities become more effective at identifying risks, supporting compliance operations, and reinforcing organizational integrity. Over time, these habits create a strong personal foundation for navigating complex regulatory environments with confidence and professionalism.
What questions could be included on a 360-degree survey that measure regulatory compliance skills?
The questionnaire items below will measure regulatory compliance skills. These questions are grouped into different aspects of this competency. When creating a 360-degree or other performance assessment, try to select one or two items from each group.

360-Feedback questions that measure Regulatory/Compliance



Proactive Monitoring and Assessment
Proactive Monitoring and Assessment focuses on anticipating compliance risks and maintaining continuous oversight. It involves structured, ongoing activities such as conducting regular audits, performing periodic risk assessments, monitoring regulatory changes, and implementing internal controls to detect misconduct early. This competency is forward-looking and systematic--its purpose is to prevent compliance failures by identifying gaps before they become problems, ensuring that the organization stays ahead of regulatory shifts, and evaluating the effectiveness of compliance programs on a routine basis.


Responsive
Responsive is activated when an issue, inquiry, or regulatory change presents itself. It emphasizes timely reaction--addressing emerging problems quickly, responding promptly and accurately to regulators, following up on violations, and maintaining readiness for new rules or procedures. This competency is situational and action-oriented, ensuring that once a compliance concern arises, it is handled decisively, communicated clearly, and resolved without delay. Responsive ensures strong follow-through when issues occur.


Develops/Implements Frameworks
Develops/Implements Frameworks focuses on building the structural foundation of compliance--creating the policies, procedures, strategies, and governance mechanisms that define how the organization will meet regulatory obligations. This competency is about designing the architecture of compliance: formulating policies, coordinating compliance activities across departments, establishing secure protocols, developing incentives for compliant behavior, and implementing strategies that align operations with regulatory requirements. It is broad, strategic, and systems-oriented, emphasizing the creation of durable frameworks that guide behavior, decision-making, and risk mitigation throughout the organization.


Develops Reporting System
Develops Reporting System centers on creating the mechanisms that capture, track, visualize, and communicate compliance information. It is more technical and data-driven, involving the development of dashboards, confidential reporting channels, automated workflows, recordkeeping systems, and compliance reports for internal and external stakeholders. This competency ensures that compliance activities are measurable, transparent, and actionable. It emphasizes real-time tracking, integration with enterprise systems, benchmarking, and using reporting outputs to evaluate the effectiveness of compliance initiatives and identify areas of risk. Developing Reporting Systems is a function that builds the tools that monitor and communicate how well the Regulatory/Compliance structure is functioning.


Ensures Compliance
Ensures Compliance focuses on making sure the organization consistently meets all regulatory, legal, and industry requirements in its day-to-day operations. This competency is about oversight, enforcement, and accountability--verifying that workflows align with standards, ensuring corrective actions are completed, maintaining compliance across jurisdictions, and allocating the necessary resources so the compliance function can operate effectively. It emphasizes operational adherence: keeping the company compliant, coordinating regulatory responsibilities across the organization, and reviewing processes to confirm they meet required specifications and laws.


Train and Educate
Train and Educate is centered on building employee knowledge, capability, and readiness to comply with regulations. This competency emphasizes instruction, skill development, and awareness--creating training programs, explaining regulations, facilitating sessions, tracking participation, and ensuring employees complete required certifications. It focuses on equipping people with the understanding and tools needed to comply, reducing exposure to violations through education, and developing the competencies of compliance officers and staff. Training and Education builds the knowledge foundation that makes adherence to Regulations possible.


Knowledgeable
Knowledgeable focuses on understanding the laws, regulations, standards, and procedural requirements that govern the organization. This competency is about staying informed--tracking legislative changes, knowing which documents and reports are required, understanding federal and local laws affecting employees, and being familiar with major regulatory frameworks such as EEOC, FLSA, OSHA, and ERISA. It reflects the depth and currency of a person's regulatory knowledge base. Someone strong in this area ensures they are well-versed in the rules themselves, keeping up-to-date with evolving requirements so they can correctly interpret and apply them in daily operations.


Working Relationships
Working Relationships focuses on the interpersonal and collaborative side of Regulatory/Compliance. It emphasizes maintaining professional, constructive interactions with auditors, regulators, legal counsel, and internal partners. This competency is about knowing who to contact, coordinating with legal teams, supporting cross-department compliance efforts, and engaging external oversight bodies in a respectful, informed, and cooperative manner. It reflects the relationship-building and communication skills needed to navigate regulatory environments effectively, ensuring that compliance activities run smoothly through strong partnerships and clear channels of interaction.


Mitigate Risk
Mitigate Risk centers on identifying, reducing, and preventing compliance vulnerabilities. It is proactive and analytical--reviewing policies and transactions for gaps, correcting deficiencies before they escalate, redesigning workflows to strengthen adherence, and implementing internal controls that reduce the likelihood of breaches. This competency focuses on preventing regulatory failures by assessing risk areas, analyzing patterns in past incidents, educating employees on high-risk activities, and continuously testing controls to ensure they work as intended. Mitigating Risk is about what one does to reduce exposure and prevent violations.


Fosters Ethical Culture
Fosters Ethical Culture emphasizes shaping the environment in which compliance occurs. This competency is about reinforcing ethical expectations, promoting integrity, encouraging open dialogue about concerns, and embedding ethics into team goals, communications, and decision-making. It focuses on cultivating behaviors and norms that make compliance a shared value rather than a procedural obligation. Someone strong in this area champions ethical conduct, communicates the importance of compliance, recognizes employees who demonstrate integrity, and ensures people feel safe raising concerns. Fostering an Ethical Culture is about creating a workplace where people consistently choose to follow the rules.


Creates/Maintains Documentation
Creates/Maintains Documentation focuses on producing and preserving the regulatory records an organization needs to demonstrate compliance. This competency emphasizes generating clear, complete, and properly formatted documentation--such as audit records, corrective-action logs, regulatory forms, and updated versions of policies and procedures. It also includes maintaining historical files, ensuring documents contain required citations and signatures, and keeping all compliance-related materials current. The core purpose is to build and sustain the official documentation infrastructure that supports audits, regulatory reviews, and long-term traceability.


Reviews Documents
Reviews Documents centers on evaluating the accuracy, relevance, and regulatory alignment of existing documentation. This competency involves examining policies, manuals, reports, and historical records to ensure they meet current standards, identifying outdated materials that need replacement, and analyzing past compliance reports to spot trends or refine methodologies. It also includes reviewing anti-retaliation policies, assessing the effectiveness of the compliance program, and using audit findings to strengthen safeguards. Reviewing Documents is about scrutinizing records to ensure they remain compliant, useful, and up-to-date.


Provides Documentation
Provides Documentation focuses on producing, organizing, and delivering the records required to demonstrate regulatory compliance. This competency emphasizes creating complete and accurate reports, maintaining accessible documentation repositories, preparing annual filings, and ensuring regulators and auditors can quickly locate the information they need. It also includes tracking submission deadlines, submitting certification applications, and using standardized templates to ensure consistency and alignment with regulatory expectations. The core purpose is to supply the formal, audit-ready documentation that proves compliance and supports regulatory reviews.


Complies with Regulations
Complies with Regulations centers on performing daily work in a manner that adheres to laws, policies, procedures, and industry standards. This competency emphasizes following safety rules, using approved tools and methods, avoiding non-compliant shortcuts, adjusting practices to meet regulatory requirements, and accurately completing tasks that have compliance implications. It also includes reporting violations, protecting confidential information, and verifying that documentation and record-keeping practices meet regulatory expectations. Complies with Regulations is about consistently behaving in ways that are compliant.


Leadership
Leadership focuses on guiding, directing, and shaping the organization's compliance function. This competency emphasizes oversight, accountability, and influence--setting expectations, managing compliance officers, coordinating cross-departmental efforts, and establishing supervisory bodies that ensure strong governance. It also includes modeling ethical decision-making, interpreting complex regulations for employees, and reinforcing that compliance is a strategic priority. Leadership is about creating the conditions, direction, and tone that drive compliance across the organization, ensuring people understand expectations and that violations are addressed consistently and decisively.
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