The original Keystone refers to a wedge-shaped slab at the peak of a stone arch. If you remove the Keystone, you risk the whole structure tumbling down. And in biology, some ecosystems work the same way, relying on one keystone species.
Take the beaver, for example. It’s considered a keystone species due to its unique engineering talents. As ecosystem engineers, beavers build dams that slow the flow of rivers, creating new ponds that provide a wide range of habitats for many new species—many of whom entirely depend on the beavers.
What Can Beavers Teach Us About GDPR Compliance?
You might be wondering, what does this have to do with the GDPR? Well, similar to how many species entirely depend on beavers within a natural ecosystem, the stability of a privacy ecosystem depends on each of its keystone actors—such as employees, managers, vendors, CEOs, and the board of directors.
Not only must all keystone actors be sufficiently trained to carry out their privacy role within the ecosystem, but they all must also work together to achieve a harmonious balance; that is, a privacy program that meets regulatory compliance, while giving data subjects the transparency, rights, and value that they demand.
The Decline in Workplace Training Skills
Today, most workplace training skills are decaying more rapidly than they ever have before—leaving keystone actors across organizations unequipped to handle the GDPR. Fortunately, this is actually an opportunity for your organization, rather than a threat. Many years ago, Peter Drucker, a business visionary, warned that:
“The most dangerous thing in times of turbulence and change is not the change itself, but to operate with yesterday’s logic.”
As innovation in technology continues to transform the way we work, managing risk is no longer the sole responsibility of the Chief Privacy Officer; it’s the responsibility of the entire enterprise, or what we call an “ecosystem.” This means that organizations can no longer survive using privacy frameworks developed during the pre-GDPR era.
Why Organizations Need Cross-Functional Privacy Frameworks
Following the arrival of the GDPR, organizations need cross-functional privacy frameworks to manage privacy across all departments. Assembling a cross-functional team requires identifying which employees within your organization are the keystone actors. Although every employee is essential to the ecosystem, keystone actors are indispensable to leading and sustaining each component of the privacy ecosystem infrastructure. Training keystone actors to engage in efficient cross-divisional communications on privacy issues is one of the most challenging facets of creating a privacy ecosystem.
To bridge the digital divides between departments, our training program includes both in-person training and interactive e-learning video training, each of which is specialized based on an employee’s job function.
Research has shown that within one week of a regular training session, employees will have forgotten, on average, 65% of the materials covered. After six months, that number skyrockets to 90%.
Solution to Building a Cross-Functional Privacy FrameWork
Unlike standardized GDPR training videos, we provide in-person training and develop customizable e-learning solutions to ensure our training materials align with the needs of each organization. Our interactive videos include multiple-choice questions to check for understanding and integrate real-life practical scenarios to ensure employees can recognize and understand the key privacy issues facing your organization.
To navigate the regulatory minefield, companies must integrate customizable e-learning solutions to ensure employees understand the specific rules and requirements for compliance.
No matter where you are in your compliance journey, we are ready to help you build and sustain a company-wide culture of privacy and compliance.
Contact our team today and let us help your business achieve GDPR & CCPA compliance. Click here to Schedule an appointment for a time that works best for you.
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