What questions might a leader might face on a difficult morning? In this special podcast series, Marc Duncan, Bridgett Lee-Young and Scott Pickett of Salus Solutions, explain one useful idea for a variety of corporate professionals such as corporate risk and compliance leaders, anti-bribery and corruption professionals, and then demonstrate how that idea changes a decision. This podcast is also for police and fire chiefs, emergency managers, finance and operations executives, CEOs, boards, and leaders of commercial, public, and private organizations. Over the next 4 weeks, we will be running this special series. 

In this Episode 2, we consider how to break silos with tripwires and dashboards. In this episode, we discuss how organizations should evaluate and act on third-party and operational warnings, using an example of repeated contractor communication failures as a potential red flag. We emphasize forensic assessment to determine whether issues are human, process, or technical, and the importance of timely, credible information and formalizing informal communication channels. This podcast highlights that third parties are often the highest risk and that companies must perform and test vendor due diligence beyond tabletop exercises, distinguishing mistakes from potentially criminal conduct through evidence, paper trails, and investigative techniques. Salus describes a multidisciplinary approach to integrate operational, financial, legal, and supply-chain risks, document findings for defensibility, and help leaders interpret data via predefined triggers/tripwires and business rules. They also address board oversight needs through dashboards, common operating pictures, and framing updates as confirmed, validating, and unknown, previewing the next episode on separating credible warnings from rumors.

Key Highlights

1.  “A staff member says the contractor’s communications system has failed twice. What makes that report useful rather than a vague complaint?”

2.  “What minimum context do you seek: time, place, affected service, source, what was observed, what was inferred, and who already knows?”

3.  “What is the difference between a report of an irregular vendor request and an allegation of bribery? How do we avoid prejudging it?”

4.  “What happens when operations knows of an interruption, compliance knows of a vendor concern, and emergency management knows a storm is coming, but no one sees all three?”

5.  “Who should see what information, and how does an organization protect confidentiality while connecting the right people?”

6.  “What does SalCAPA do to help people exchange observations, requests, records, and status? What must a human still decide?”

7.  “What should a leader do when a report is incomplete but potentially consequential?”

Questions for Our Listeners: Write down one current concern, capture who reported what, when, the potential effect, and the next person responsible for checking it. Could your organization tell the difference between a credible warning and a convincing rumor before making a costly or dangerous decision? Next time we show how information becomes qualified intelligence.

About Salus Solutions: “Salus helps organizations understand what matters, make informed protective decisions, and carry them into action. SalCAPA is the method and coordination environment that connects those steps.”