Sexual harassment and assault, authority figures having sex with minors, defalcation, fraud, discrimination – outright racism, theft, bribery, safety and security breaches, violations of law, policies, and procedures – some of these incidents make the news every week. And for every incident in the news, hundreds never become public knowledge.

When I started to study these incidents, I thought they were analogous to fires:  We recognize the importance of preventing them, but we also must take steps to alert the appropriate professionals as soon as they are first observed so that they can be stopped and the damage minimized. People who had worked in organizations that experienced horrifying and avoidable incidents rejected the fire analogy. They said a fire would have caused less damage. A former school administrator teared up and said if they had had a fire, people would have looked at her “with sympathy and offered to help, but now they look at me with rage and ask how I could have let it happen.”

Organization leaders that have yet to implement an effective notification system to protect people and the organization should be aware of the risks:

• Unchecked, aberrant behavior results in wrongful acts and conditions.
• The governing authority individuals (owners or board) are subject to federal prosecution and fines, forfeitures, costs, and probation for not having an effective notification system.
• The organization faces potential state actions.
• High probability of civil actions for which owners/the board cannot offer a defense.
• Leaders don't know what they need to know when they need to know and are subject to getting blindsided.
• When people associated with the organization find out, they are devastated. Positive regard turns to rage.
• Distractions cripple the organization; its reputation is devastated.
• If it is proven that not having an effective notification system was an act of commission rather than omission, owners/the board can expect fines and awards to be increased by multiples.

There is one mitigating trend. Without an effective notification system, owners or a board are virtually defenseless, so most actions are settled out of court.

If an organization had an effective notification system but it did not prevent a wrongful act or condition, the federal government could not prosecute the owners or the board, and they have an affirmative defense in civil actions.

Notify is the notification system most likely to prevent and the first to detect wrongful acts and conditions. It immediately begins protecting people and the organization and enhancing trust.

Leaders can start protecting people and organizations for as little as 25₵ a day.

Protect. Engage. Optimize.