Can you hear me now?

I participated in two different business-related workshops this month.  While both were exhausting for different reasons, they were also invigorating.  Were there ropes-climbing-team-building type exercises or lots of fancy business dinners?  No, that wasn't it.  Was it because I was in a room with a lot of talented, intelligent, funny people?  No (although that helped).  And I am not trying to brown-nose them either.

Actually, an interesting phenomenon occurred.  I realized that people were actually listening to what I said.  And, I listened back!  I heard their side of the story and often changed my stance based on what was presented because they were right.

I know, right?  Professionals listening to one another?  Yes, it's true.  They weren't just listening to me.  We all listened to each other.  We came up with good ideas and tossed out bad ones.  We solved problems.  We may have hurt feelings once and a while too, but we got over that quickly and got up to fight again.

Yes, I know.  It's almost like spotting Bigfoot.  A bunch of adults had a healthy exchange of words!  And- even scarier- it happened more than once!

So why am I sharing this ah-ha moment with you?  We can all benefit from listening, and I mean really listening, to each other.  You can gain insight into people, processes and technology that you never thought possible.  Some good tips that I found on active listening (thank you MindTools):

1. Pay Attention

2. Show That You're Listening

3. Provide Feedback

4. Defer Judgment

5. Respond Appropriately

 

Think about it: we listen to a bunch of noise all day in our work and attempt to clear the white noise to find out what is meaningful.  I challenge you to do this with other human beings.  Careful, though.  You might learn something.

Living in the Ivory Tower

The view is nice up here in the ivory tower.  You can see for miles and miles.  The mountains are tall and the sky is blue.  The clouds dot the skyline and the sun always shines.  There is just one small problem that I can't put my finger on at the moment.   It's this little buzzing sound.

No, it's not a fly or a bee.  It's this constant, low hum that I cannot get out of my ears.   But it's not in my head.  The noise seems to be coming from below...far below my ivory tower.  Maybe if I lean over the side for just a second, I can figure out what it is.  Is that..voices?  By golly, I think it is!  Perhaps someone is trying to speak to me while I contemplate whose life to make miserable today?  Maybe if I lean a little further...

Infosec professionals:  if you have caught yourself in the above scenario recently I have this to say to you: quit leaning, find the stair case, make your way down to the ground floor and find those voices.  Those voices that you hear humming are the voices of the folks you need to protect: other people in the office/organization.

If you sit in your ivory tower, you miss out on a lot.  Not only do you risk altitude sickness, but several key things to your success are impossible to grasp the longer you stay up in your lofty deck:

1) You miss out on listening to what your partners and peers really think of your information security program.  Hallway and water cooler chat is invaluable to understanding the true culture of your organization. If you can pick this up correctly, you'll have a much better time implementing the protections needed to safeguard the kingdom.

2) If you sequester yourself too much, you can't truly grasp the needs of your constituents.  Ignoring true business needs risks you being ineffective and failing.

3) Most of all, sitting in your tower marks you as unapproachable.  You want people to come to you with their questions and concerns.  The bigger your personal moat and the more alligators you keep in there, the more people will avoid you and not want to align with your program.

Besides, too much sunning yourself on the ivory deck just gives you a sunburn.  

Infosec professionals: tear down that snooty ivory tower and build a nice single-level coffee shop that invites cooperation, listening, and action to build a better information security program.  Your kingdom must promote peace, not tar and feathering.