Developing your Cyber Security team is a win-win situation, yet so many leaders overlook how crucial this part of leadership is to the success of their organisation.
Encouraging your team to make strategic progression develops them as individuals, but also strengthens your businesses credentials.
Training employees can cost businesses thousands each year, but this is only money well spent if your employees are on board with the programme and are looking to develop themselves.
In today’s blog, I share five ways that Cyber Security leaders can encourage career development in their team. First, let’s take a look at why encouraging progression in your Cyber Security team is so important.
The Importance of Progression
In the current competitive candidate market, it is so essential that you hold onto great Cyber Security talent in your business.
A new study revealed that 82% of employees would quit their jobs due to a lack of progression, with this being the number one reason that employees leave their jobs (with almost 90% stating that they didn’t regret their decision).
Encouraging progression in your employees builds trust; it increases employee motivation and aids innovation.
Not to mention, investing in your employees not just through monetary training, but with a personal interest, reduces employee turnover. Low turnover is an elusive aspect of all successful organisations, but many business owners are unaware of how to achieve it. It comes down to two things – hiring the right employees in the first place, and then looking after them properly when they are in place.
So, what are my five top tips to encourage career progression in your Cyber Security team?
- Get Your Team-Building Right
The team building I’m talking about here is not the type that involves away-days or workplace games – it’s about creating an ethos in your organisation in which the employees know that they are all valued members.
If your Cyber Security team is full of talent – don’t let them stall. Encourage team members to collaborate and be consistent in your appreciation of their role within the organisation. Many leaders in the tech sector can overlook the importance of creating a team-first ethos, which can lead to employees feeling overlooked and then becoming disengaged.
Letting your employees know they are valued is one thing – next, let’s look at how to put into practice this appreciation.
- Work With Employees to Co-Create Development Plans
Development plans are used in the vast majority of tech organisations, of all sizes. But there is a significant difference between leaders who implement development plans, and those who work closely with individuals to discover how employees want to be developed.
Every employee will have individual strengths and weaknesses – great leaders will encourage their team to focus on the areas they want to develop and do not force additional training for irrelevant topics.
- Encourage Lifelong Learning
Lifelong learning is defined as the “ongoing, voluntary and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge”.
This is a great thing to instil in your employees, and it will not only benefit them while they are at work. It allows individuals to enjoy better social inclusion, self-sustainability and personal development.
Encourage employees to complete online training courses, which your company can provide. Additionally, there are plenty of online resources you can get them set up with.
- Give Regular Feedback
You can achieve progression in your Cyber Security team by increasing the amount of feedback you give.
Too many tech leaders only give feedback during reviews. Be that quarter, bi-annual or annual reviews – the message that this presents is the same; that you only care about employee development as a mechanical action.
Giving regular feedback, both positive and negative, is a great way to encourage progression. Your Cyber Security team will be much more appreciative – and receptive – to feedback when it is delivered in a timely way.
Finally, let me share a point that all great Cyber Security employers can benefit from when it comes to helping their team progress.
- Allow Ideas to Flourish
In the innovative world of Cyber Security, things are happening – fast.
Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning, Behavioral Analytics, Blockchain security – all of these world-altering technologies were unheard of a few years ago. Cyber Security organisations are homes to some of the most innovative individuals. As their leader, it is the right thing to do to give them every possible opportunity to develop their ideas, while developing themselves at the same time.
Allow employees enough creative time and space to develop their ideas – create an environment of idea sharing, collaboration and teamwork.
Next Steps
As mentioned earlier, there are two ways to retain talented Cyber Security employees – recruitment and development. Before you work on developing employees in your tech company, you need the peace of mind that they are the right person for the job. For this, we can help. We specialise in finding high-quality candidates for your Cyber Security vacancies in the Middle East, so you can be assured that you are building your organisation with the best team.