As hopefully all of you know by now, NCHM has recently inaugurated its COS Advanced (COSA) two-day training program. I’ll be co-training most or all of the initial offerings and the first two programs have already been delivered.
Since HUD has been rather quiet over the holidays, I thought I would share with you one of the things I have come to understand through these first programs and, more broadly, from other compliance training programs I have been involved in training over the past year. Specifically, the need to keep our compliance fitness in shape through exercise.
I am not suggesting that anyone get on a treadmill or stairmaster holding a HUD Handbook 4350.3, Rev. 1, although I do believe the thing weighs a few pounds. I am focusing on mental exercise. Or as Hercule Poirot, the fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie would say, “Exercise of the little gray cells.”
I studied French, Spanish and Russian during my days as a high school and college student. I remember bits and pieces of those languages but, frankly, have forgotten more than I remember. The reason why, I think, is that I didn’t use those languages on a regular basis. The old adage comes to mind: “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” That’s true in everything except certain addictive substances.
COS is a vital training program, and I felt that way about it before I joined the NCHM staff. But if you stop using that knowledge base, and/or the HUD Handbook 4350.3, Rev. 1 remains untouched on your shelf for so long that it would take an archeological expedition to unearth it, the knowledge is only going to be retained for so long. Because, in the final analysis, knowledge is only one part of the equation. The other part is accurate, efficient and effective implementation of compliance rules, and that’s often where I find the “disconnect” in a housing management organization.
Effective implementation means you have to stay in compliance “shape.” Get rusty or flabby, and you’ll see the results, which will thrill you about as much as realizing that your waistline exceeds the number HUD considers “elderly” in terms of age. It’s one of the reasons NCHM has established Continuing Education requirements for our COS Masters designation, for which COS Advanced is a requisite.
So, I’ll close with a suggestion. Pick at least two topics in compliance; one that is relatively familiar to you, and the other that is decidedly outside your comfort zone at the moment. Work both those issues. Write some actual or hypothetical situations, and work that until you’re comfortable with the answer. Ask yourself how those points could be implemented within your organization, or could be implemented better. Do this on a regular basis.
Most of us are aware of the importance of physical fitness. There are books, videos, television programs and advertising. Not enough emphasis is placed on keeping our minds in tip-top shape, and that is absolutely indispensible in the field of compliance.