Melanie Truscott

Executive Director, Engagement & Communication at CyberCX

Melanie Truscott is not a cybersecurity practitioner but nevertheless plays a key role in cybersecurity: looking after the health and wellbeing of cybersecurity professionals as executive director, communication and engagement with CyberCX.

The company is one of the largest providers of cybersecurity services across Australia and New Zealand, with a workforce of more than1,100. Truscott says her contribution—which also includes reward, recognition and diversity—is “to create the employee experience so that cybersecurity practitioners can perform at their best.” Looking after employee health and wellbeing is the most rewarding aspect of her role.

“It’s been long understood that cybersecurity professionals are under sustained stress that impacts their emotional and cognitive health,” she says. “While burnout and stress are not unique to cybersecurity, we see the negative effects far too often. Add the impacts of extensive COVID lockdowns in recent years and it’s meant that mental wellness has gone from being a cornerstone of our health and wellbeing program to the key focus.” To address mental wellness issues at CyberCX Truscott works with a number of organisations, including cybermindz, an Australian organisation founded by Peter Coroneos, former long-time CEO of the Australian Internet Industry Association. It claims to operate the world’s first mental health support program dedicated to cybersecurity professionals.

And while CyberCX might have over 1000 cybersecurity professionals, that description, Truscott says, belies the diversity of the workforce and the challenges this diversity presents.

CHALLENGES OF A DIVERSE WORKFORCE

“You’re not managing a group of homogenous workers. You’re managing subsets of cultures and workgroups that have different needs. It’s also these needs, or traits, of different work groups that make it super interesting and rewarding, once you get your head around it.”

A proxy of this diversity, Truscott says, is the wide range of company-branded merchandise CyberCX offers its staff. “We provide everything from custom-made cufflinks through to corporate polo shirts, through to original artwork hoodies. That really speaks to the range of roles and the need to understand what works for each group.”

She adds: “This means engaging directly and building an environment of trust where people will give you honest feedback (which is sometimes challenging to hear) and showing vulnerability by being willing to change or course correct.”

Truscott came to her role at CyberCX after working in a similar role in which cybersecurity staff comprised only a portion of her personnel responsibilities. “I saw the growing importance of cybersecurity in the way we do business, how the government interacts with citizens, how our major infrastructure and economy operates. Having the opportunity to work with a pure cybersecurity organisation focused on securing our communities was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass me by.” “Being adaptable and agile is the name of the game, and accepting you may reach the end of the day without having made a start on what you set out to work on today.”

From her—non-technical—perspective, Truscott sees the skills shortage as being critical in the near term to the region’s ability to manage threats to economy and society. “This will mean attracting talent from non-traditional sources. This will also contribute to improving the diversity of the industry as we build a workforce as diverse as the community we work to secure.”

SURPRISING EMPLOYEE CONCERNS

Truscott says she does not need to stay up to date on technical advancements in cybersecurity but must nevertheless be attuned to a wide range of issues to spot anything that can impact CyberCX’s employees and customers. “This means keeping an eye on news feeds, social media and, importantly, just engaging and talking with people around you. Sometimes what you really need to know is what is getting the attention of your employees. It’s not always the issues you think it might be. There’s always some surprises.” And, says Truscott, such surprises demand a pragmatic approach to her day-to-day activities. “A ‘typical’ day means balancing the needs of competing priorities, understanding the issues that need urgent attention because they’re the important issues that are going to impact our employees and customers. “You’re not managing a group of homogenous workers. You’re managing subsets of cultures and workgroups that have different needs. It’s also these needs, or traits, of different work groups that make it super interesting and rewarding, once you get your head around it” And for anyone hankering after a career in cybersecurity but lacking confidence in their ability to master the technology, Truscott has some reassuring words. “We need people who are good at problemsolving; who have natural curiosity and enjoy the challenge of finding solutions; who understand that collaboration and working together deliver stronger outcomes and, overall, who have a desire to do work that matters. If that sounds like you, we can teach you all the technical skills you need.” www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-truscott-8004892