Raising awareness and training employees on cybersecurity is hard. It's draining. It's thankless. And all too often, it's ineffective. A big part of the problem is that IT approaches it with unrealistic expectations, and with tactics and messaging that may resonate with them, but not their audience. As a result, there's often a disconnect between the security team's motivations and priorities and those of the rest of the company.

In an ideal world, IT would be recognized by management and co-workers as the esteemed guardians of the system and sage-like purveyors of critical knowledge they clearly are. The reality is a little bit different. However, security experts can take steps to bridge the gap and help to reinforce best practices among their colleagues. In this slideshow, Jack Danahy, co-founder and CTO of Barkly and 25-year veteran of the security industry, has identified steps you can take to improve cybersecurity in your organization.