Cyber security. Admission controls. Biometric security. Security guards and barricades. Electronic counter-espionage measures. Large organisations do all these things as a matter of course. Despite this, they accept that risk is something that can only be minimised – it’s impossible to completely prevent. But all these measures (and more) are largely futile when you consider that the weakest point of vulnerability is your most valuable asset: your people.
Employers and shareholders like Return on Investment (ROI) and rightly so. Human Resources people are tasked with developing their workforce in a manner that helps the organisation acquire new and vital skills. There are financial incentives too, often sponsored by the taxpayer to incentivise corporates to up-skill their people. These programmes centre on business skills, leadership, IT skills, Compliance, Occupational Health and Safety and similar training. But here’s the thing: we forget that those same people spend a large chunk of their non-working lives outside of our organisation, be it in the real world or the virtual one. From a purely selfish perspective, they’re outside of the organisation’s ability to protect itself should they venture into dangerous territory in either of those dimensions. It’s a VUCA world after all…Click here to read full article.
