Smarter, not harder: how to scale security awareness with a small team

Small security teams face the same threats as everyone else, just with fewer hands on deck. 

Over the years, we’ve seen how the best awareness managers turn that reality into results, blending automation, empathy, and focus to keep learning alive. 

Today, we look at what small security teams do differently and the practical tactics awareness managers use to make limited capacity go further.

What research tells us about small awareness teams

You don’t need a big team to make a big difference, and the data proves it. 

Every year, the SANS Security Awareness Report reads a bit like group therapy: a reminder that none of us are alone in feeling stretched thin. 

For the sixth year in a row, lack of time and staff sit at the top of the list of program challenges. The research also shows that meaningful behavior change typically takes three to five years—and full cultural change can take up to ten.  

That’s a long road for teams that often have fewer than three people to walk it.

Yet the same research reveals something encouraging: small teams achieve remarkable results by: 

• Automating energy-draining tasks

• Using gamified learning that keeps engagement alive 

• Building partnerships that extend their reach far beyond their size 

They do it by leaning on what big programs often lose: trust, creativity, and proximity to people.

6 ways small security teams make a big impact 

Behind every strong awareness program is a team that’s learned to do more with less. These awareness managers are often juggling it all and proving that culture isn’t built by capacity, but by connection. 

These are some of the habits that make it possible: the simple, practical moves that scale culture without burning people out. 

1. Automate the right things, not everything 

For small security teams, time is always the first thing to run out. 

Security awareness automation helps you make the most of it by handling routine work in the background freeing you to focus on people. 

It works best when it removes repetition, not connection. 

If a task repeats and doesn’t need a personal touch, let the system take it over. 

Start with the two ends of your process: 

• The first mile covers setup: enrolling users, scheduling training, keeping campaigns consistent 

• The last mile is feedback: quick, supportive responses for colleagues and group-level insights for you 

When these parts run on their own, you can focus on the middle: writing, communicating, and building trust with colleagues.

2. Gamification that runs itself 

Gamified e-learning can motivate people without adding to your workload, if it rewards engagement automatically. 

Small teams are finding creative ways to make that happen. 

People are experimenting with avatars, point systems, and campaign calendars where recognition and prizes keep momentum going with minimal effort. 

This type of learning keeps motivation high even when capacity is low, as long as it’s built to run on its own. 

A simple, low-maintenance loop might look like this:

In Secure Practice, people can track their own progress through chapters and levels, earning points and badges as they go. This visual sense of completion helps maintain motivation—especially for distributed teams that rarely meet face-to-face.

3. Simulations that double as communication 

Phishing simulations aren’t just tests. They’re one of the best ways to start conversations about real threats. 

When used well, a simulation becomes a learning opportunity that happens in the moment, not months later in a report. 

Several awareness professionals have shared that they now treat every simulation as a message: a chance to tell a story about what’s changing, not just who clicked. 

They do it by: 

• Including quick, friendly feedback right after the click 

• Sharing real examples of scams or internal incidents (with details anonymized) 

• Ending with a short takeaway or next step  

That’s exactly what MailRisk was designed to do. 

Instead of waiting for a quarterly report, your colleagues receive instant, supportive feedback when they report or interact with a simulated email. The button sits right inside their inbox—on desktop, webmail, or mobile—so learning happens where mistakes do. 

Behind the scenes, MailRisk automatically compares reported messages with those flagged by colleagues and other trusted data sources. When it finds a match, users see right away that their action helped protect the organization and themselves. 

For small teams, this approach means one activity serves two goals: learning and engagement. 

The simulation teaches while it communicates—no extra campaign needed.

Start simple to learn what works for your people, then upgrade when manual effort starts stealing your time. 

Here’s a simple path small security teams can follow as they mature: 

4. Measure what matters and focus where it counts 

Security professionals often joke that the hardest part of awareness work is “telling the story behind the spreadsheet.” 

One awareness professional shared how their small team started tracking touchpoints instead of output—how many employees read a tip, attended a webinar, or reacted to a post—and paired that with behavioral signals like reporting speed or repeated clicks. 

Another summed it up simply: “Touchpoints > assets.” 

You don’t need to measure everything, just what leads to real behavior change.  

Borrow this simple framework from other professionals, then apply the 80/20 rule: focus on the groups that show the most risk or engagement, not individuals. 

5. Dashboards that focus on groups, not individuals 

Many awareness professionals say they’ve moved away from tracking individuals. Instead, they group data by department, region, or role to spot trends without creating anxiety or blame. 

This small shift makes data more useful and far more human.  

Group-level dashboards reveal where awareness is growing, where support is needed, and how culture is changing, all while protecting privacy and trust. 

This principle is core to how we built Secure Practice dashboards. From day one, our goal has been to help organizations measure human cyber risk responsibly: enough insight to act, but never at the expense of trust. 

Individual results are never shown. Instead, we use human risk metrics to help you understand, measure, and manage the cybersecurity risks associated with human actions.  

Human risk metrics collect anonymized insights from every interaction with the Secure Practice toolkit, including: 

• Cybersecurity exercises 

• Simulated phishing 

• Gamified e-learning 

• MailRisk email reports 

• Quizzes, surveys, newsletters and more.  

Together, they highlight where learning works and where help is needed, so awareness managers can act confidently without exposing anyone. 

6. Know when and what to outsource 

Even the most efficient teams hit a limit. 

There are only so many hours in a week, and most awareness professionals are already juggling training, reporting, and communications on top of daily requests. 

That’s why many small teams choose to outsource parts of their program—not to hand it over, but to buy back time for the work that truly needs a human touch. 

💡 Community wisdom: In the security awareness field, burnout doesn’t come from caring too little, but from caring without enough capacity. 

In the 2025 SANS survey, over 35% of professionals said they love the human side of cybersecurity but want to change companies. That says a lot: people aren’t leaving the mission—they’re leaving environments that don’t give them the capacity to do it well. 

Outsourcing can help when it’s done with intention. You stay in charge of the message, the “why,” and how it fits your culture, while partners or tools handle the repetitive or technical parts that drain your team’s time and energy. 

Here’s how smart awareness managers delegate without losing control: 

• Automate or outsource repetitive work like report analysis, template updates, or campaign scheduling. 

• Keep communication and feedback in-house; those are the parts that make awareness programs truly effective. 

• Choose partners who respect your privacy principles, especially if data is involved. 

Many awareness teams use external expertise for creative campaigns, interactive cybersecurity exercises, or data analysis but still lead the strategy and communication internally. That balance keeps programs consistent and authentic—two things that can’t be outsourced. 

Working smarter means protecting both people and time 

If time and headcount were the keys to effective security programs, most of them would have succeeded by now. 

The truth is, progress comes from focus: a few security tools that run on their own, a system that protects privacy, and a rhythm that turns effort into progress. 

Small security teams are proving that clarity, trust, and creativity go further than capacity ever will. 

That’s the kind of focus we help teams build at Secure Practice: practical tools, privacy-first insight, and the confidence to turn limited time into lasting impact. 

FAQs about small security teams