You have invested a lot into your company, and your personal and professional name is on the line. You want to create the kind of environment upon which your clients can trust and your employees can build a successful career in the future. However, legal and tax obligations and employer responsibilities are no simple walk in the park to understand or meet. This is especially true if you are a startup or new to business. “Knowing everything is an impossible ask,” as this article says.

Just the rumor of a potential misstep can cause a financial and personal impact upon all that you have built and want to accomplish. That is why it is so important to ensure that your company is ready for the governance, risk management, and compliance requirements. However, business leaders are more focused on their larger mission and many are not knowledgeable in the area.

So, what will you do in order to ensure that your company is ready?

1. Establish a Strategy

In most things relating to business, it is important to establish a business plan that lists what it is that you desire to achieve and how it is that you plan to get there. One way to make sure that every department is sticking to this plan is to implement GRC procedures. The components of GRC are: Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance. By having this structure in place, you can relax knowing that your employees have the guidelines they need to help the business succeed. It is important to determine what the requirements would be on your company and to determine your progress in meeting the plan, and this progress must be able to be tracked.

2. Research and Learn

Taking time to deal with your company’s requirements is going to happen. The question is whether you want to spend that time responding to failures or learning how to avoid them. It is a good idea at the start of your strategy to learn what governmental industry, human relations, and industry requirements are upon you, as well as learning what similar steps are being taken by your competitors.

3. Demand Internal Independence

When you hire those employees that will be carrying out the mission of ensuring you are in agreement with those requirements, it will be essential that you ensure that they are beyond the scope of your company … or even yourself … of control. Forbes says, “When persons comply, they are governed by some authority outside of themselves.” This is not only required by your company’s expectations but will establish the kind of objectivity that those carrying out the mission will need to do their job. This includes ensuring that those involved are not punished or promoted based upon the outcomes of legal liabilities but by human resource objectives that measure their performance on a set of metrics for their own performance of duties, as well.

With a little preparation at the start and a dedicated staff and system in place to track the outcomes of your business plan of being in agreement with your requirements, you can feel more secure about your company meeting its responsibilities. In return, your business stands out in the crowd for its industry achievements, instead of failures from lack of knowledge, negligence, or more.