FULL TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – Show Opening  

Are you a professional who wants to become a more effective leader? Then get ready for daily tips from the coach, with the experience and inspiration to help you succeed in any leadership situation. You’re listening to the Meeting Leadership Podcast with Gordon Sheppard.

00:27 – Start Here – Podcast content starts here!

 Welcome to another episode of the Meeting Leadership Podcast. My name is Gordon Sheppard and I just want to say thanks. Whether you’re on that treadmill, maybe you’re in the car, or you’re out for a jog, walking the dog, if you’re taking the time to be here, it’s because you’re an action taker. You’re a leader who wants to grow, and I can tell you, today’s episode is going to help you to do just that. Because think about this, if you are a leader who wants to run their business efficiently, and you want to work with other businesses and customers who have the highest possible standards, then you know that you have to pay attention to protecting the private information in your business. And today you’re going to find out how to do just that. Because today, you’re going to learn what leaders need to know to start a privacy program.

01:12 – Welcome back Jean L. Eaton!

Gordon Sheppard:    And of course we’ve brought back privacy expert, Jean L. Eaton to help you learn all about it. Now, she did a great job back in Episode 26, but today she did even better because she’s taking you from the why to the what. And I’m not going to make you wait any longer. So here’s the interview with Jean L. Eaton. Jean L. Eaton, welcome back to the show. You knocked it out of the park in Episode 26 and it’s great to have you back here again.

Jean L. Eaton:      Thank you Gord. I’m always excited to talk about my obsession about privacy and confidentiality.

Gordon Sheppard:    Well, and you are totally obsessed and I know having this chance to learn about this, so many leaders don’t pay attention to these issues, and so many leaders actually don’t know who you are and about your expertise. So give us a moment and tell us about that.

01:54 – Why do I need a privacy coach?

Jean L. Eaton:      Sure thing. I am your practical privacy coach and practice management mentor with Information Managers. I help primary care managers and healthcare providers properly manage the risk of a privacy breach, stay out of jail, avoid fines, and keep an efficient practice.

Gordon Sheppard:    This is one of those issues that I’m sure most leaders put off. Only when there’s a problem is it, “Time to call Jean,” like that kind of thing. I just can’t even imagine how many of those types of calls you’ve got. So today, I know that when we spoke before the show, we wanted to take some time to get into this topic and it’s this, what leaders need to know to start a privacy program. And what would be the first point you’d want to let people know when it comes to that?

02:37 – Taking the first steps to install a privacy management program

Jean L. Eaton: You don’t start a privacy program when you’re in the middle of a crisis. So you’re going to plan your privacy program. And the first thing that you do is have good written policies and procedures, a privacy management program, and a privacy breach management program. You need to know which legislation applies to you. Many businesses don’t know which legislation they have to follow. So absolutely, you need to start with that. You need to make sure that you’ve got good practices in place that apply to your website, to your email, to your business practices, your financial transactions, how you get information from clients, how you get payment from clients. All of this applies to your privacy management program, and all of this applies to every single business.

Gordon Sheppard:    Well, and the motivator that we heard in Episode 26 was the fact that if you do this, it makes good business sense, it makes for better business decision making. I know there’s a second point you wanted to let on here. Tell us what it is.

03:36 – The importance of training your staff members

Jean L. Eaton:      You need to make sure that you are training your team about privacy and security in your practices. So, let me use an example. A business in Alberta had a privacy program in place in 2013. In 2018 they experienced a privacy breach where an employee did some snooping and got caught. When the Commissioner’s office did the investigation, nobody in that practice, nobody in that business could find the policies and procedures that they had in place in 2013. And the staff told the investigator that they hadn’t received any training since that time. So we need to make sure that we’re doing our training on a regular basis. Not just having new employees go through an orientation period and don’t touch it again, you need to keep privacy and security top of mind.

04:26 – Privacy is an investment that will save you money

Gordon Sheppard:    Well, and what I can see in being helpful to leaders when they’re listening to this episode is it’s not a cost it’s actually an investment.

Jean L. Eaton:      It is an investment and it is part of your operating costs, but it’s going to save you time and money. If you don’t have to rework, if you don’t have to retrain, if you’ve got good policies and procedures in place and you’re making the right decisions, you’re avoiding all sorts of other costs about fines, a bad reputation, poor customer service. When you build that into your practice, you’re going to reap the rewards about having an efficient practice and making sure that you’re meeting all those requirements.

05:06 – The benefits of hiring a privacy officer

Gordon Sheppard:    Well, for someone who leads a business my own and doesn’t really want to think about this, what’s sort of one of the best ways to actually, for many businesses to get this in place?

Jean L. Eaton:      Well, you certainly need to have a privacy officer in your organization. So, this is somebody that you have assigned with that responsibility to make sure that there’s a privacy management program in place. Now, not all privacy officers need to know everything. They just need to know those important questions and they need to know how to make it practical for your business. So, I’ve got a new practical privacy officer course starting in September. You can follow on the podcast practicemanagementnuggets.live for more information about the start of the new online course for practical privacy officer.

05:54 – More from Jean L. Eaton – https://practicemanagementnuggets.live 

Gordon Sheppard:    Again, another thing that I can hear for many leaders as an investment, especially coming from a privacy expert like yourself. Jean, If people need to get in touch with you, or if they want more information, what’s the best way to do that?

Jean L. Eaton:      Follow me on my podcast, Practice Management Nuggets.

Gordon Sheppard:    Super, and that information will be in the show notes. Jean, I really appreciate that you shared your expertise here with the audience here today, and we look forward to having you on again sometime soon.

Jean L. Eaton:      Thank you Gord.

06:21 – More on privacy – https://meetingleadershipinc.com/26 

Gordon Sheppard:    There were so many great takeaways in that episode, but the biggest one for me, you don’t start a privacy program when you’re in the middle of a crisis. Great advice. And if you’d like more great advice from Jean L. Eaton, then check out Episode 26 on the Meeting Leadership Podcast. It’s called, why leaders should understand privacy. And you can get that by going to meetingleadershipinc.com/26. 

06:48 – Meeting Leadership Academy – ​https://meetingleadershipinc.com/academy

And I also want to let you know that this episode of the Meeting Leadership Podcast is brought to you by the Meeting Leadership Academy. If you’re a leader who wants to get gritty, you don’t want theory you want things that you can do, things you can take action on right away then visit meetingleadershipinc.com/academy to learn more. And as always, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for the great feedback and support you’re giving to the show, and we’ll see you tomorrow on the Meeting Leadership Podcast.

07:14 – Podcast Outro

Thanks for listening to the Meeting Leadership Podcast. Be sure to subscribe for more strategies to help you become an outstanding leader. And don’t forget to write a review so we can bring you fresh content every day. We’ll see you tomorrow right here on the Meeting Leadership Podcast.