‘Don’t Embarrass The Boss’

Good words from Trace International’s Alexandra Wrage, left, writing in Corporate Counsel’s April 20, 2012 edition on law.com:

‘In-person training is generally thought to be the gold standard, but the audiences’ comfort will vary depending on whether the trainer is a lawyer from headquarters, a local ethics officer or an outside expert. More markedly, their engagement will vary depending on whether they’re trained only with peers or together with their managers. Very few employees will raise their hand with a difficult “real life” compliance question with their boss looking on. In some communities, it would embarrass the boss by implying he’s done an inadequate job of communicating company expectations, and in some settings there would be fear of retribution for airing dirty laundry, and apprehension that the questions could precipitate an investigation.’

The full article is here.