Reducing Burnout by Increasing Collaboration

Cybersecurity is an infinite game being played by teams and multi-team systems made up of individuals with finite capacity. Leaders readily invest in technology to maximize human capacity, yet because the use of technology is a human task, a significantly lesser investment in human capital leads to cybersecurity professionals burning out and quitting this infinite game.

To protect against burnout, there must be a concerted, human-centered approach that increases collaboration while focusing on tenets of well-being, such as inclusion and psychological safety. Drawing from the largest social-behavioral cybersecurity field research to date (over 80 focus groups/interviews and hundreds of survey participants across 28 multi-team systems in 17 international organizations–partially funded by the US & Dutch governments), this talk will provide (1) a framework for identifying how individual experiences drive motivation for collaboration and connect to team/multi-team outcomes, (2) 4 evidence-based analog tools to increase collaboration and, in turn, reduce burnout, and (3) practical guidance for introducing and implementing these tools into one’s workplace.