Giving Thanks in a Thankless Profession

Compliance and ethics professionals often have the unenviable task of having negative bias precede them in the workplace. While the work is essential to maintaining integrity, ensuring regulatory adherence, and safeguarding organizations from legal and reputational risks, it is frequently a thankless role. This is particularly true when compliance officers are tasked with making significant cultural shifts within an organization — no matter how deeply change is needed. 

Change is hard and it’s often easier to resent a person working toward change rather than making the change happen. In such an environment, where progress may feel slow and resistance is constant, gratitude can serve as a powerful, yet often overlooked, tool to foster resilience, motivation and meaningful change.

Compliance work is challenging, and the constant resistance and lack of appreciation can lead to burnout or feelings of despair in many professionals who serve in such roles. Gratitude is a positive emotion that can arise when you acknowledge that you have good things in your life and that other people have helped in big and small ways to achieve some of the goodness present. Gratitude can help combat feelings of frustration or cynicism by allowing professionals to focus on the positive aspects of their role, such as the opportunity to protect the organization and make a meaningful impact on its ethical culture. Recognizing the value of one’s work can provide the emotional energy to continue pushing forward, even in the face of adversity.

Many studies have shown the prosocial effects of expressing gratitude to acquaintances, coworkers, friends and family. The expression of gratitude helps to boost relationships and binds us more closely with those we thank, receive thanks from or even witness the act of gratitude with. Watching an act of gratitude between two people can cause an outside observer to feel more warmth and affinity toward them both.

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When compliance and ethics professionals express appreciation for colleagues’ efforts — whether it’s acknowledging hard work, engaging with others constructively, or showing empathy for their challenges — they build goodwill. In turn, this makes it easier to collaborate with different departments and get buy-in for compliance initiatives. Gratitude helps humanize the role of compliance, making it less about enforcement and more about shared goals.

Gratitude can also be a way to reframe the narrative from “policing” to “enabling.” Gratitude can help frame the role as one of empowerment — helping others to succeed within a framework of ethics and compliance, rather than merely catching people when they break the rules. As many an adage has said, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. When professionals express genuine appreciation for the efforts of colleagues and leaders who support their causes, they encourage a more collaborative and positive approach, rather than a reactive or adversarial one.

To begin cultivating gratitude, there are a couple of key practices you can deploy today: 

Take time to recognize progress. Rather than getting caught up in the perfect, look for the good. Regularly take a step back to reflect on the bigger picture — why you chose this profession and the positive impacts you’ve made, even if they’re not immediately visible.

Express appreciation and thanks for those around you. Don’t wait to receive accolades or for others to appreciate you. Take the initiative to thank colleagues and others who support your efforts, are engaging in the targeted behaviors or who are helpful. Recognize those who make an extra effort to follow ethical guidelines or who help reinforce compliance initiatives.

Celebrate the small wins and incremental improvements. Recognizing milestones, even small ones, is so important to cultivating an attitude of gratitude in your organization. Whether it’s a successful training session, the adoption of a new policy or a positive change in team behavior, take time to celebrate.

Consider implementing a “treasure hunt” as part of your team meeting agendas. A treasure hunt is where you seek the best parts of the day, or the best part of the week or perhaps even the best part of the last meeting to highlight the good and give thanks for the positives. When you focus on the good, you are likely to see and experience more of what you are focusing on.

Gratitude in the compliance and ethics field is not just about feeling thankful — it’s about creating a culture that values and uplifts ethical behavior and prosocial behaviors, one moment at a time. It’s about recognizing the importance of the work, even when it feels thankless, and using that recognition to build resilience, strengthen relationships and reinforce positive organizational change. 

While the challenges are real, gratitude offers a way for compliance professionals to stay connected to their purpose, transform their environment and ultimately lead the charge toward a more balanced, ethical and transparent work space and life.