Overview
The Digital Age is creating new opportunities and challenges for leaders in all professions. Digital environments are conducive to behavioral change that can amplify security risks and make it more difficult for staff to gauge the consequences of their actions within the digital domain. Security practitioners often have acute skills in analysing risk, protecting data, setting up technical tools and responding to security incidents, whilst taking the opportunity to learn from them.
The CISO and future security leaders must be equipped with leadership competencies, Human Skills to be established as a leader of ‘digital trust’ and become a genuine business enabler. Creating a security strategy is one thing, being able to communicate effectively with the board requires an entirely different set of skills and behaviours. Combined with presenting security objectives, requirements, goals, and security metrics into bite size consumable nuggets to enable the board to make effective decisions.
View our detailed brochure here.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Delegates will learn how to
Programme Workshops & Outcomes
Each workshop underpinned by security context; learners will receive the detailed session facilitation materials. Feedback summary from the session per cohort. An ‘Actionable knowledge’ booklet/process that brings areas together to encourage more holistic development. This will use the model of knowledge and experience – personal brand combining both behaviors and mindset to enhance individual strengths and the personal journey experience.
Leadership Influence
In times of increased change and uncertainty, the resilience and adaptability of the individual is key to success. Knowledge and experience of leadership styles, neurodiversity, and culture are important for the individual and the leader. Developing the individual skillset through leadership mentoring to share skills, knowledge, and experience. A valuable insight into the pathway of successful leaders for the future leaders of tomorrow, allowing learners to reflect on strengths and traits.
Session objectives:
- Explore the nature of leadership in your industry
- Assess own leadership focus and challenges within a leadership framework
- Identify own sources of leadership influence
- Recognise influencing tactics and how they can go wrong
- Identify how to develop leadership influence
- Explore assertiveness as a key leadership behaviour
- Describe the role assertiveness plays in influencing others
- Apply leadership decision making in workplace scenarios
- Identify and prioritise key stakeholders in your (INSERT) industry
- Recognise the importance of shared expectations with key stakeholder
Leadership Presence
Increasingly, subject matter experts, need personal impact to be able to work as part of multi-disciplinary teams and bringing out what this means in practise. Leaders must develop business acumen and emotional intelligence to be able to bring about change. Being recognised as a strategic thinker, able to grasp the big picture, ensures the CISO is credible outside of traditional technology conversations. The CISO becomes an asset to the whole organisation. Including career planning and external insight into what firms are looking for when they hire CISOs and senior executives.
Session objectives:
- Recognise the importance of professional presence as a leader
- Examine the potential of your own professional presence
- Develop rapport building behaviours
- Identify how trust builds leadership relationships
- Develop fair and effective delegation skills
- Recognise how effective delegation increases team performance
- Explore how emotional intelligence improves leadership capability
- Learn how to develop Emotional intelligence
Leadership Communications
In these changing times, virtual teams are becoming more commonplace, including geographically dispersed teams. At the core of any virtual team process is communication. The virtual environment presents considerable challenges to effective communication including time delays in sending feedback, lack of a common frame of reference for all members, differences in salience and interpretation of written text, and assurance of participation from remote team members. Developing nonverbal communication is an important component of team communication which is usually missing in virtual teams.
Session objectives:
- Explore the key characteristics of effective leadership communication
- Describe how to overcome communication challenges
- Learn best practise when communicating with virtual and distributed teams
- Examine the importance of empowering questions to motivate staff.
- Recognise the importance of active listening and assess own skills
- Develop skills in having a difficult conversation and providing effective feedback
- Recognise the effect of organisational and national cultures on leadership communication
Leadership Resilience
Being a security leader can be a stressful role, often seen as combative when dealing with pervasive threat actors, increasing regulation, fear of making mistakes and feeling overwhelmed. Within the programme we will explore and help recognise the signs of stress, fatigue and burnout in one’s self and others, which is vital in developing personal and professional resilience. Notwithstanding the feedback and benefits of an executive coaching session for the cohort.
Session objectives:
- Recognise the signs, symptoms, and triggers of stress
- Describe effective methods of dealing with stress
- Explore workplace measures to prevent and manage stress
- Define the nature of leadership resilience
- Identify methods of building resilience
- Explore how workplace efficiency tools improve leadership resilience
Neurodiversity Advantage
We recognise that neurodiversity is a growing aspect in many highly technical organisations, and we always consider this as part of our design process, drawing on our neurodiversity specialists to ensure accessibility for all. Understanding the intrinsic value and benefit of a truly diverse team, including the broad range of strengths and weakness to lead in a supportive working environment. Combined with building and leading a diverse team, evaluating the evidence and theories which show how diverse teams are stronger and more effective.
Session objectives:
- Define neurodiversity
- Describe the range of neurodiverse styles
- Recognise the challenges for neurodiverse people
- Differentiate between the medical and social models of disability
- Recognise the protection for neurodiverse employees under the Equalities Act 2010
- Apply measures to the employee lifecycle to be neurodiversity positive
- Recognise opportunities by making reasonable adjustments
- Appreciate the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace
- Recognise the business case for neurodiversity
Presenting with Impact (2 parts)
The future security leadership programme helps to develop the relationship experience candidates have with those around them, helping to build trust and gain influence. We know that security leaders must have the ability to balance multiple stakeholders and communicate information at an appropriate non-technical level, especially when it comes to understanding and managing security risks. Developing the art of persuasion, ensuring security and privacy of data whilst managing conflict between internal stakeholders with competing operating needs. Media training, public speaking, tools, and techniques with group feedback will be critical in this part of the programme. Culminating with mock board level presentations for a challenging topic for a sceptical audience.
Part 1 - Session objectives:
- Describe effective research and preparation pre-presentation activities
- Explore a range of presentation structures to match audience expectations
- Recognise the effect of body language in effective communication
- Describe the qualities of the voice and assess own voice for delivering presentations
- Develop knowledge and skills of presenting in a virtual environment
- Learn how to create effective visuals, including the presentation of data
- Demonstrate an effective strategy and method of answering questions
- Detail methods of dealing with challenging audience members
Part 2 - Session objectives:
- Explore a relevant industry/organisational topic
- Practice your own presentations in a confidential and supportive environment
- Demonstrate learning from Presenting with Impact Pt 1 workshop
- Listen and respond to peer feedback and expert advice to enhance skills
- Identify best practice by assessing a range of colleague presentations
Crisis Management Workshop (optional)
This interactive workshop explores human collaboration and leadership of cybersecurity teams, whether co-located or virtual, are essential when responding during a realistic cyber-attack and have been has been identified as an important predictor of cyber resilience and defence performance. Unfortunately, misunderstandings, communication problems and diminished engagement are everyday realities of virtual communications. One of the biggest challenges for virtual teams, therefore, is to prevent geographical distance from leading to psychological distance and to establish a set of trusting relationships influenced by a balanced assessment of other team members’ technical expertise and personality, especially under increased stress.
Session objectives:
- how to manage stakeholder communications and make the right decisions
- what behaviours does the organisation expect in the event of a cyber crisis within an existing crisis
- how to set up a virtual war room, and what roles can help in engaging people in it more effectively
- how team dynamics have changed in remote working, how do we counter the potential difficulties by using practical solutions
- reflection upon communication strategies used by the team in the virtual group environment
Collaborative coaching sessions will focus on feedback and discussion of quantitative and qualitative behavioural data gathered on participants before and during the workshop.
Topics addressed, as appropriate, may include:
- Personal/technical difficulties experienced during the exercise
- Virtual Interpersonal communication and collaboration skills
- Virtual Team skills
- Leadership style and team management
- Decision making
- Internal cognitive processes
- Experience of shared information and other biases
- Situation awareness
Outline
The QA Future Security Leader programme sets out to enable these skills and behaviours through the following modules.
- Leadership Influence
- Leadership Presence
- Leadership Communications
- Leadership Resilience
- Neurodiversity Advantage
- Presenting with Impact
- Crisis Management (optional)
Programme Overview
To proactively support our customers and their future global security team talent, the Future Security Leader Programme is delivered over six months. Through a series of half day facilitated virtual workshops and concluding in an optional face to face event. The programme is designed in an iterative approach. Working together to accelerate a new security leadership talent pipeline, capable of strategic insight, enabled by a fresh perspective to deliver competitive advantage with agility and speed.
Leadership Influence
In times of increased change and uncertainty, the resilience and adaptability of the individual is key to success. Knowledge and experience of leadership styles, neurodiversity, and culture are important for the individual and the leader. Developing the individual skillset through leadership mentoring to share skills, knowledge, and experience. A valuable insight into the pathway of successful leaders for the future leaders of tomorrow, allowing learners to reflect on strengths and traits.
Leadership Presence
Increasingly, subject matter experts, need personal impact to be able to work as part of multi-disciplinary teams and bringing out what this means in practise. Leaders must develop business acumen and emotional intelligence to be able to bring about change. Being recognized as a strategic thinker, able to grasp the big picture, ensures the CISO is credible outside of traditional technology conversations. The CISO becomes an asset to the whole organisation. Including career planning and external insight into what firms are looking for when they hire CISOs and senior executives.
Leadership Communications
In these changing times, virtual teams are becoming more commonplace, including geographically dispersed teams. At the core of any virtual team process is communication. The virtual environment presents considerable challenges to effective communication including time delays in sending feedback, lack of a common frame of reference for all members, differences in salience and interpretation of written text, and assurance of participation from remote team members. Developing nonverbal communication is an important component of team communication which is usually missing in virtual teams.
Leadership Resilience
Being a security leader can be a stressful role, often seen as combative when dealing with pervasive threat actors, increasing regulation, fear of making mistakes and feeling overwhelmed. Within the programme we will explore and help recognise the signs of stress, fatigue and burnout in oneself and others, which is vital in developing personal and professional resilience. Notwithstanding the feedback and benefits of an executive coaching session for the cohort.
Neurodiversity Advantage
We recognize that neurodiversity is a growing aspect in many highly technical organisations, and we always consider this as part of our design process, drawing on our neurodiversity specialists to ensure accessibility for all. Understanding the intrinsic value and benefit of a truly diverse team, including the broad range of strengths and weakness to lead in a supportive working environment. Combined with building and leading a diverse team, evaluating the evidence and theories which show how diverse teams are stronger and more effective.
Presenting with Impact
The future security leadership programme helps to develop the relationship experience candidates have with those around them, helping to build trust and gain influence. We know that security leaders must have the ability to balance multiple stakeholders and communicate information at an appropriate non-technical level, especially when it comes to understanding and managing security risks. Developing the art of persuasion, ensuring security and privacy of data whilst managing conflict between internal stakeholders with competing operating needs. Media training, public speaking, tools and techniques with group feedback will be critical in this part of the programme. Culminating with mock board level presentations for a challenging topic for a sceptical audience.
Crisis Management (optional)
Security leaders need to build muscle memory when dealing with cyber crisis in any organisation. In our scenario driven, interactive workshop we challenge participants to work together as a team and experiment with different cyber crisis scenarios. Together with the technical learnings to be taken away from the workshop we will also help understand and address the current strengths and development areas in team dynamics: how different individuals have opportunities to improve the way they communicate, interpret complex situations, make decisions and cope with stress in a mission critical setting.
Security Context Throughout
Crucially the future security leadership programme has an overarching security theme, to ensure realism and credibility of context which is woven into the learning outcomes. This includes promoting a positive security culture within an organisation which has many dependencies. Notwithstanding good communication skills, influencing a positive vision and gaining stakeholder and executive buy-in.
Cyber Security learning paths
Want to boost your career in cyber security? Click on the roles below to see QA's learning pathways, specially designed to give you the skills to succeed.
= Required
= Certification
AppSec
Cloud Security
Cyber Management
Cyber Security Risk
Cyber Tech
DFIR Digital Forensics & Incident Response
Industrial Controls OT
NIST Pathway
Offensive Security
Privacy
Security Auditor
Secure Coding
Cyber Blue Team
Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing
Emerging Tech
Business Continuity & Resilience
Counter Fraud
AppSec
Average salary: £67,250
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Cloud Security
Average salary: £80,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Certified Lead Cloud Security Manager
QACLCSM
4 Days
£2,450 ex VAT
View course
Certificate in Cloud Security Knowledge(CCSK+)
CCSKPLUS
3 Days
£2,070 ex VAT
View course
Hacking and Securing Cloud Infrastructure
QACLOUDHA
4 Days
£2,280 ex VAT
View course
Application Security in the Cloud
QASCACLS
3 Days
£2,970 ex VAT
View course
Cyber Management
Average salary: £80,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Cyber Security Risk
Average salary: £57,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Cyber Tech
Average salary: £72,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
DFIR Digital Forensics & Incident Response
Average salary: £74,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Industrial Controls OT
Average salary: £55,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
NIST Pathway
Average salary: £68,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Offensive Security
Average salary: £75,500
Intermediate
Intermediate
Privacy
Average salary: £55,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Certified Information Privacy Professional
QACIPP
2 Days
£2,965 ex VAT
View course
Certified Data Protection Foundation (GDPR)
QACDPF
2 Days
£1,465 ex VAT
View course
Certified Information Privacy Professional Online
CIPPE-ONLINE
£1,150 ex VAT
View course
Foundations of Privacy and Data Protection
QAPRIVFOU
1 Day
£565 ex VAT
View course
Security Auditor
Average salary: £65,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Secure Coding
Average salary: £67,250
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Expert
Expert
Cyber Blue Team
Average salary: £42,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Security Operations and Defensive Analysis (SOC-200)
QAOSDA
£1,800 ex VAT
View course
Defending Enterprises for Threat Hunters
QAINSECDEB
2 Days
£1,820 ex VAT
View course
Certified Blue Team Level 2
QACBTL2OL
£1,999 ex VAT
View course
Certified Cyber Defence Operator
QACCDOOL
£2,564 ex VAT
View course
Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing
Average salary: £65,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Emerging Tech
Average salary: £48,000
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Expert
Expert
Business Continuity & Resilience
Average salary: £52,500
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Counter Fraud
Average salary: £62,500
Fundamentals
Fundamentals
Intermediate
Intermediate
Expert
Expert
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