Privacy Culture

While there is an overlap between privacy awareness and training and a culture of privacy, they are not exactly identical concepts. For one, a robust training and education process contributes to a culture of privacy but does not guarantee it. The degree to which your organization adopts a culture of privacy will depend in part on the personalities of your colleagues, the industry you operate within, and the products and services your organization provides.

The culture surrounding privacy issues at your organization can be the “X factor” that elevates your privacy program to new heights. Because data privacy activities are often interdisciplinary and interdepartmental in nature, other stakeholders’ understanding of and attitudes toward privacy will have a major impact on privacy professionals’ ability to do their jobs. In an organization with a mature privacy culture, the work becomes much easier; in an organization with an immature or absent privacy culture, executing basic tasks can feel like herding cats.

Less Mature

In an immature culture of privacy, privacy is not a priority and may be seen as a hindrance to business operations. Your colleagues may not be aware of privacy policies or may not understand their role in protecting personal information. Privacy risks may be discounted as a “one-off” exception every time.

More Mature

A mature culture of privacy, in contrast, integrates privacy into the organization’s values, policies, and operations. Employees are trained and aware of privacy policies and their role in protecting personal information. Privacy leaders have a seat at the decision-making table and advise on privacy risks arising from proposed strategies. Different team members consider privacy early in the respective processes they own, such as the software development lifecycle, marketing initiatives, website analytics, and more.

Privacy professionals should keep in mind that creating a culture of privacy requires ongoing effort and communication by all, including senior leadership and junior employees. It is important to engage with employees at all levels of the organization to build awareness and ensure that privacy is viewed as a core value.

Recommended Next Steps

To improve the maturity of your organization’s privacy culture:

• Implement privacy-focused initiatives, such as privacy impact assessments and privacy by design, to embed privacy into your organization’s operations.
• Ensure privacy leaders have visibility into business strategy.
• Secure top-level buy-in to data protection by senior leaders.
• Develop and communicate clear privacy policies and procedures that align with the organization’s values and goals.
• Provide regular privacy training to all employees to ensure they understand their role in protecting personal information.
• Encourage employee feedback and engagement to continuously improve privacy practices and culture.