5 Ways to Approach Growth as a Security Leader

For many security leaders, growth has a trickle-down effect. Expansion through mergers and acquisition or organic growth, in addition to decreases in facility or employee count, directly impacts the security program. 

Whether it’s an increase or decrease in size, workload, or scope, these leaders must be prepared to adapt their strategies and approaches to efficiently manage security risks while maintaining operational efficiency. 

Here are some actionable ways that security leaders can approach growth on behalf of their departments and the broader organization:

Assess the here and now

Begin by looking at the current state of your security program, including the resources, capabilities, processes, and technology infrastructure. Understanding existing strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement can help inform planning for the future.

Align with the business

This might be one of the most important considerations to make, but ensuring security leaders understand the organization’s growth objectives, priorities, and risk tolerance levels is critical to the success of a security program. The most successful security leaders will be able to align security strategies with business goals to ensure security investments and planning are enabling the company’s growth initiatives.

Invest in scalable solutions

It goes without saying when addressing scalability, but we thought we’d spell it out here: Invest in solutions that offer flexibility and can adapt to the changing needs of the organization. Closed systems that aren’t able to integrate fully with new technologies will severely limit the security team’s ability to seamlessly manage the security portfolio.

Optimize processes

Reviewing security processes and workflows – or investing in a platform that can streamline this for you – can improve efficiency and effectiveness for your security team. Identifying opportunities for automation and standardization can allow for scaling as business needs change. 

Collaborate across departments

Preparing for growth initiatives requires extensive communication across departments, including leadership teams, human resources, legal, IT, facilities, and many other stakeholders ensure that security priorities, challenges, and requirements are effectively communicated and integrated.

Adopting these approaches helps put security leaders in the driver's seat, effectively managing periods of growth and change without compromising the safety and security of the organization.

Want to learn more about how to approach scalable security in your program? Check out our new eBook: Your Guide to Building a Scalable Security Program.