Battling Burnout in Cybersecurity
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5 Key Strategies for Enduring Team Resilience

Introduction

The cybersecurity field presents unique challenges and stressors, resulting in change fatigue that threatens the sustainability of security teams.

Why are cybersecurity teams burning out? Talent shortages, understaffing, and fading motivation are hitting hard, and employee burnout is becoming one of the biggest threats to cybersecurity teams. To address this growing problem, it’s crucial to implement strategies that promote sustainability and mitigate fatigue among cybersecurity professionals.

In recent speech on talent (I already talked about this in a LinkedIn Post), I shared my experience of a resignation of a key resource that ultimately resulted in me becoming a better leader. By acknowledging the failure and learning from it, I was able to create a more supportive and understanding environment for my team.

In a recent Gartner article, “Four Tactics to Mitigate Change Fatigue,” CIOs are provided with valuable strategies to combat change fatigue within their organizations.

While primarily targeting CIOs, these tactics can be adapted to address the sustainability crisis in cybersecurity teams, or any team. These are all strategies that I pursue (badly or well can only be said by the people who work with me). In this article we’ll explore those revised four strategies and my additional ones, to ensure a lasting journey of fatigue mitigation.

Strategies for a Sustainable Journey of Fatigue Mitigation in Cybersecurity Teams:

  1. Treat change fatigue as a business issue: Cybersecurity is particularly stressful due to the constant security debt and the fear of being hit by a major attack. Balancing short-term objectives with long-term goals is crucial to prevent employee burnout, anxiety, that ultimately ends in resignation. It’s important to incorporate change fatigue as a factor when planning initiatives and prioritize projects to reduce the impact of fatigue on the team, e.g. by avoiding excessive workload, or the week-end warriors phenomenon.
  2. Distribute change leadership: Decisions in cybersecurity often require trade-offs between business, as-is operations, and security. Engaging business leaders and experts in decision-making at all levels can lead to more successful outcomes and reduce the burden of decision-making, which is a key cause of stress. Collaboration among different leaders is essential for making informed decisions. I’d add that also clear responsibilities are a must as unclear expectations are another a big source of stress. A key point here is that Cybersecurity leaders should hold the other leaders accountable in making the organization more secure (if this accountability fails, the organization will be significantly less secure).
  3. Co-create execution and involve stakeholders: In the long run, employees who feel a sense of purpose and are involved in the change management process will become the “leaders of tomorrow.” Creating cross-pollination between teams is paramount, with attacks targeted on people (e.g., phishing, CEO Fraud), on the supply chain, all departments must collaborate to secure the enterprise. This principle is also true inside of the Cybersecurity function, resources working on detection and response and those focused on protection measures must all know the vision and the strategy and know what the others are doing, this is crucial for a more cohesive and empowered team.
  4. Focus on the journey, not just the end goals: Instead of solely concentrating on the end goal, emphasize the process and progress made throughout the journey. Security is a continuous journey, not a goal that can be reached. By celebrating progress and creating a positive environment, the team will feel accomplished and motivated during the entire journey.

Allow me to add some additional personal strategies: make sure that employees are supported, they feel valued, have a work-life balance, and have the opportunity for personal growth and development. It’s essential to provide continuous feedback, both positive and negative, and to clearly explain what is good and what needs improvement. This empowers employees with the right to fail, as long as they learn from their mistakes and grow. Addressing issues in real-time ensures the team remains successful, rather than waiting until the end of the year to provide a feedback and having low performances in the meantime.

Bottom line, cybersecurity staff should feel committed and believe that the cybersecurity leadership is composed of individuals with a little more experience who empower them.

Conclusion

Adapting the strategies above can help address the sustainability crisis in cybersecurity teams by mitigating change fatigue and successfully battling burnout in cybersecurity.

By treating change fatigue as a business issue, distributing change leadership, co-creating execution, and focusing on the journey rather than just the end goals, cybersecurity teams can remain resilient and effective in an ever-evolving landscape. Embracing change and personal growth as a leader is essential to building a strong, empowered, and sustainable team.