Five ways security professionals can raise their profile

Many clients I work with, both CIO’s and senior security leaders, tell me that having a strategy and framework is one thing, but face to face relationships is what really establishes security’s ‘seat at the table’.  For security leaders, becoming known to the business can be challenging as security isn’t always front of mind.  There are many approaches to raising your profile and that of your security team.  To kick off your thinking on how you might raise yours, below are five actions you can take today to make security more visible.  

1.    Keep it real - be clear about what your role is and how it relates to the current business strategy so you can articulate it in step 2 below. Make a list of those stakeholders you want to build a relationship with based on what both you and the business are looking to achieve. 

2.    Keep good company – There are many relationships in the organisation you could focus on but to begin with, a key relationship to strengthen is the one with your boss. Understand what your CIO (or CxO) is passionate about and how you might contribute to their priorities. These conversations will bring you to front of mind with your boss when they are among their peers and the Board.

3.    Keep it in context – Keep your security approach relevant to the business you’re part of.  Clear, applicable communications will help your peers and stakeholders understand your role in their projects and in their ways of working. 

4.    Keep on Keeping on – regular, consistent communications via multiple channels is key.  Online annual training and the odd security poster won’t raise the profile of security.  Its valuable to build an audience via a variety of channels (such as blogs, company briefings or the annual report) in order to reach a broader audience.

5.    Keep it simple – small, regular consistent actions will make a much bigger impact than a big bang security event and then nothing for 12 months.  Keep your events and activities simple but high impact (and inviting) to encourage more participation. Choose activities that staff would be doing anyway like getting a coffee or logging into their computer and grab their attention then.

If you can relate to this and want to learn more please drop me a line here

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