Hearts and Minds: Securing Humans

Learning to keep people secure by building relationships through empathy and education.

Many cells of one body

What makes up an organization? An organization is a group of people who collaborate to achieve a common goal in some area. That goal may be building the best product, offering food, providing a service, helping people, etc. To run these organizations, we have many different cells that make up this one organizational body. Each of these cells is critical to the life or the success of the body (company) through the specific role they play.

Importance of the team

Coming from a hospice background, we have people who do amazing things in their areas of expertise. Nurses and nurse aides are with the patients 24/7, making sure patients are well taken care of and are comfortable. There are doctors, social workers, chaplains, and volunteers who provide physical, social, spiritual, companionship, and whatever other kind of support the patients and their families need. There are people who keep the patient rooms and the rest of the facility clean and worthy of the patients they house, ensuring prevention of spreading infectious diseases. There are people who cook the meals that sustain the patients and their families; in some cases enabling families to not have to leave their loved ones who may be sick and dying. There are volunteers with giant hearts who donate their time and love to try and improve the quality of life of patients through time and friendship. There’s administrative people who maintain the records, some who keep up with personnel payroll, some who market and push for donations so we can go above and beyond in our care. There’s Human Resources and compliance specialists who try to ensure that the mission and the workplace and the people are running as they should be, providing the best possible care and atmosphere. There are executives and legal who are the voice of the organization. There are groundskeepers who ensure the landscaping is beautiful, and I’m sure countless other departments I’m forgetting. Then there is IT support who fights to keep all of the technology running for all of these individual hero’s.

These people do amazing work. They have hearts of gold. But they may not be the best with computers or other technology. And that is okay. They are good at what they are supposed to be good at. And we, as IT, are good with technology because that is what we are paid to be good at. The amazing thing about hospice though is that we are all paid to be compassionate, no matter what our role is. So that idea is what I’m extending to you.

As IT support, we ensure that all of the caregivers have the tools they need to take the greatest possible care of their patients. If the patients are taken care of, the families have less to worry about. The patients have a much better quality of life. And this computer support extends out and out and ensures each and every department is able to complete their jobs to the best of their abilities because they have the tools they need. Even with the computer tools, their experience with us as IT support can impact their job.

How we respond

Empathy is not something limited to caring for patients. Empathy is something we can and should practice everyday. For example, a nurse says “hey, my laptop isn’t working for some reason.” How would you respond to such a question? You know the first few questions you would ask.

“Have you pressed the power button?”

“Is the battery dead?

“Have you tried plugging it into the charger?”

How do we ask those questions? Does our tone or the way we say it make the nurse feel like an idiot? Does it make them feel stupid? Is there a better way that we can ask the questions? Is there a better way that we can solve the problem? Could telling the nurse that we will take the laptop back to our office to fix it preserve the dignity of that nurse?

Who do they turn to?

We are here as IT support to be the experts in our field. You probably wouldn’t want me to do some technical medical procedure that is dangerous on you because I am not trained or authorized to do such a thing. And we shouldn’t expect the nurse to know computers. Empathize with the people you support. Build a relationship with those people you support so that they will come to you. Why should we want this?

Let’s create a new scenario. That nurse who feels stupid for not knowing computers (because of how we treat them) has clicked on a phishing email by accident. Now there is malware installed on the computer and who knows what else is compromised. Perhaps there is now ransomware on that computer and patients’ medical records are compromised. For fear of looking stupid again, that nurse didn’t call us to tell us there was a problem. Perhaps the incident’s severity could have been reduced if known quickly. But instead, it is becoming out of control. We need the people we support to want to come to us!

Training

What state of being is most conducive to being receptive to learning? Being appreciated and respected? Being upset and angry? Part of securing our IT infrastructure is securing our most vulnerable asset. But we need that asset to be receptive to learning. And that asset needs respect and empathy. Treating those that we support with respect and empathy, we create an environment where our training can be taken seriously instead of being blown off. Of course, this world is not a perfect world and not everyone we treat well will respond in kind. But we can work to win the hearts and minds of most. And we can reduce the total attack surface of our human assets.

Responding to anger

What happens if someone is being mean to us about their computer problems? Everything is easier said than done. I absolutely understand that. But what puts out a fire faster: gasoline or water? Anger or empathy? If we pause for a moment and not react to what is coming at us, we may be able to consider where the anger and frustration is coming from. Is the person frustrated about losing their patient? Is something bad going on at their home? Is this computer problem preventing them from giving their patients the best possible care? If I lost a patient I was close to, I would be sad as well. It would make it hard for me to do my job. Personal problems at home? More things that would make you not act like you normally would. Computer problems preventing me from doing my job? I too would be upset and frustrated because I am good at my job and this awful piece of technology is preventing me from doing a good job. Consider where this frustration is coming from. Be kind and respond kindly and respectfully.

Summary

Encourage your staff to learn by providing them an atmosphere that is free from judgment and ridicule that encourages learning. Empower them by being their first thought when something isn’t working or if they make a mistake by clicking a link they shouldn’t have. Secure your human assets by winning their hearts and minds through empathy, kindness, and patience.

Thanks for reading!