Those who play by the rules want all to play by the rules. When we don’t enforce standards, we disrespect the very people who do enforce them. 

That’s why accountability is the greatest form of compensation. When we hold team members accountable, we reward those who follow the rules. And not only does it cost us nothing, it keeps us safe.

And to optimize, don’t be afraid to have one meta-standard. Make it clear: we enforce standards.  

Tie this message to emotion. At infotex we have a saying, what we call the “Policy Chiasmus.” Because we’re in the business of enforcing policy, we enforce policy in our business.

As auditors, we criticize Clients when policies are unenforced.   So, when we fail to enforce policy here, we become hypocrites.  Nobody on our team wants to be a hypocrite, and we certainly don’t want to be paid to be a hypocrite. 

And that seems to work fine. 

Ask our auditors!