Are you in Cyber Security Denial?

Are you in Cyber Security denial?

Can you remember the first time you heard someone advise you to backup your PC? There isn’t a person on the planet that wouldn’t acknowledge all the arguments or reasons why you should take the advice and implement it. Yet how many people have lost data, documents or life stories because they failed to do that one simple thing? Make a backup or back it up to a separate and independent storage device is ringing in my ears as I write this, so what’s it doing to you?

And when you don’t do it you say I forgot or I’ll do it later or blame the PC “isn’t it automatically done?”

Today in this highly technologically driven society, backups are indeed automatic and mostly done in the cloud. (I expect a few reading this will be thinking… “the cloud! That’s a great idea, I’ll do it later.”)

Lessons Learned

If you’re disciplined and not only take advice but act on it because it’s not only right but it’s the right thing to do then you don’t need to read on.

Alternatively, I really hope you were one of the lucky ones and didn’t lose everything because you didn’t make a backup. Maybe you only lost a few documents that luckily someone else had kept an old version – phew that was lucky!

But if you have in the past lost everything, I hope you learned the lesson, hard as it was to learn. I’m not looking for empathy, but I did lose everything once in corporate life only to be told the server that failed also took out the backup! So what I believed to be our IT experts, they clearly weren’t practicing what they preached!  This practice is as you may have guessed, just another small drop in a sea of Behavioural Waste™(and this one is good example of Systemic and Cultural Behavioural Waste).

Today’s Lesson – or more Behavioural Waste?

The press is full of examples of the frailties of organisations in the world of cyber security. Recent front page news in the UK was the TSB Bank which is interesting because the changeover they had instigated was to prevent cyber-crime, and resulted in opening a side door for fraudsters to manipulate.  But it’s not only large businesses that are prime suspects. We are all a suspect, especially when it comes to the digital world.  And we’re all responsible for our own data as the recent Facebook investigation has brought to everyone’s attention.

We are also made aware of the perils of the digital age and the onslaught of cybercrime by the intervention of government advice websites and phone lines of which the UK is but one example  https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/cyber-security

Now it’s only a peril if it is going to affect you and you choose to ignore it (that’s your Personal Behavioural Waste™). If that’s the case, then good luck, as you’ll probably need it!

However, if you’re still unsure whether it will impact your life then the following picture of what could happen at home might nudge you into action.  (courtesy of the Joy of Tech – Nitrozac & Snaggy)

Cyber security
Cyber Crime

Are you in Cyber Security denial?

As ever you have a choice. What’s yours?

If you want to reduce the Behavioural Waste™ in your organisation then we’d be pleased to help you do it, once and for all.

Are You Hiring into Your Culture?

Are you hiring into your Culture?

Hiring Talented People

Research shows that organisations are focused on talent more now than ever before. Getting the right person for the job is paramount. However, in what is believed to be a reducing talent pool, it is therefore getting harder.

Unlike 5 years ago when there was no consistent message when we asked people with the word Talent or Talent Management in their title, we have at least a description that many will agree with in today’s market.

Define Talented People?

Many organisations will define Talented People along the lines we at Mind Fit do which is being professionally qualified to do the job and

  1. Able to be strategic and operational
  2. Adaptive to change
  3. Able to inspire and motivate

Is that what you would say?

Item 1 is usually only achieved by experience and whilst I would have hired that kind of person when I was in senior roles in the Oil & Gas industry, it was rare to find one let alone a few that would be available to compete for a job.

Items 2 and 3 are underpinned by attitude and again these are rare qualities. Many believe only lots of relevant experience will develop them.

With 87% of UK employees disengaged (Gallup Engagement Statistics) to find someone with 1, 2, 3 and be engaged would seem to make a recruiter’s job even harder to find the best person.

Is the Best the Right Choice?

When we have asked this question we get into a deep discussion about driving the organisation forward with the best people. 

But a simple thought is needed first that many recruiting processes assume.

The best person will just fit in with the culture. 

And of course, that’s a normal and rational assumption to make. But if you ask leavers why they leave the old saying is reinforced

People leave managers not organisations

We forget that it’s people that create the culture of the organisation.

So before you enter the recruitment process there seems to be a simple question that we need to ask.

What culture do we have?

And I’m sure you’ll say, we know what culture we have? That’s great if you do, but if those leaving reinforce “people leave managers not businesses” perhaps you should check what’s happening in your organisation.

Checking your culture

It’s a lot simpler than you think! You can ask your own people, do a 360, or as one HR director said ” it’s on the website… but we’re not as open-minded to change as it states…” . Just by asking questions you’ll find out a lot about your own organisation!

 

Blackboard Disengaging and Engaging Culture

What happens when you have a dysfuntional, disengaged culture is seen above. and of course, there is a cost! The cost is poor performance and lack of productivity and that has a value to the Balance Sheet too!

Some questions to consider for your organisation:

We can easily forget that it is people that create the culture of the organisation.

Whether it’s defining your culture, or looking at your hiring process to get talented people you always have a choice::

  • do what you currently do
  • review what you do based on new information
  • do something else

So what’s your Choice?