Assumptions are remarkably powerful. Many of my recent tips have centered around assumptions because the assumptions we make often drive the entire way we live or operate a business. For example, if we’re having coffee and I assume that you’re listening when I speak, I might talk fairly quickly or cover a lot of material. If I then discover my assumption was wrong, 98% of what I said was wasted.

One recent tip mentioned the central importance of assuming “you’re next” for laptop theft. That alone can put you ahead.

For business owners and policymakers, or managers of larger organizations, this week’s tip is as crucial as ever, and many of these people may be painfully aware of its truth already.

It’s very good to make solid policies. Defining what data is allowed on mobile devices, what data is prohibited, who can carry what, when, and how, what security controls must be in place, and so on, are all excellent policy tasks that simply must be completed.

They also may prove essentially useless when the data goes out the door. Why? Because policies are made to be broken. Employees regularly break policies. They think the policies are burdensome. The technologies interfere or are burdensome as well. The “boss” doesn’t know what really goes on. “My job is already hard enough, and under-appreciated.” The excuses are plenty, but the point is that policies are necessary, and yet are insufficient by themselves.

Assume your employees ignore you. This does not mean you don’t still make the policies or say what you need to say (which can also help you down the road when, not if, policies are broken). But it does change the way you approach technology or policy enforcement. If you assume your employees often ignore your policies or directives, you can take extra measures to help enforce them. For example, this is a primary reason that MyLaptopGPS operates completely without user interaction–it is automatic and is designed never to been seen, felt, or bothered, by an employee. Now that’s one policy enforcer technology that employees can live with.

To be clear, I am not advocating a complete lack of trust among workers. That would really make for lousy productivity–and unfortunately it’s common. But I am advocating a key assumption that will reduce employer “surprise” when, lo and behold, the employees “didn’t do what I said to do.” If a data breach is involved, you’ll be sorrier still. Examples abound.