Five Tips for Security Professionals

When we envision what a good security professional looks like, we think about: The ability to assess risk, to write a decent report, to create minimum operating standards. Are they a must have in this job? Definitely. Are they the key to success? Honestly: No.

Sometimes by being mentored, sometimes by learning the hard way, I have collected my top five tips for successful security professionals (and any other professional!).

1. Pick Your Battles

Where did I first pick up this sage advice? I will tell you. It’s the Sandy Cohen moment on the OC. After being strong-armed by his wife to attend an event and then, when he finally shows up, being questioned on his lack of wearing a tux, Sandy Cohen –portrayed by Peter Gallagher– tells his wife to ‘Pick your battles, honey.’ And how true this is. Much of our work is centred around not just assessing risk, planning for emergencies and analysing incidents but around influencing and advocating.

Sometimes to make a win, to advance safety and security within our organisation, we must also let another battle go. It doesn’t mean we won’t make our case or won’t come back to that particular issue at another time. It means: Not now, and maybe not at all. Pick the ones you are willing to fight. And don’t immediately rush on to the next. Savour the moment when you’ve won a battle that you picked.   

2. Be a Trusted Partner

My good friend Sue Williams, one of the world’s leading hostage negotiators, is fond of saying that when it comes to negotiations: Trust comes in on a donkey cart and leaves in a Ferrari. Trust is important in all parts of the organisation, whether a programme manager at a distribution or an HR manager receiving a complaint. With safety and security, it is even more important. Vital even. A lack of trust can cost lives.

This trust shows itself in all the common things: Deliver what you promise. Be true to your word. However, for security professionals I would to add this: Always be there when you are needed. We have lives as well, and they are sacred. But when the phone rings, the phone rings (Truthfully, these days it is a Skype or Teams call more often than a phone ringing, but still). In addition to doing what you say in your day to day work, when there is an incident: You have to be there. To provide advice, to take action, to support and care. That is where indisputable trust is built, in being there when people most need you. In our work we have to be prepared to step up and go beyond – Even without receiving a thank you. Because that is what we do. We keep our people safe. We respond when their safety is at risk. We continuously serve the organisation so that they can serve our communities. We do so quietly and calmly. In order to be that trusted partner: We. Are. Here.

3. Speak the Language

Last month, I attended the Security Executive Program at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. One of the key messages that came back throughout the week was to speak business at the table, not security. Does this mean we suddenly have to lace our reports with words such as market share, core business reinvestment and organic revenue growth? No (Or at least, not necessarily). It does mean that we should go easy on the jargon (SOP, FSP, CMT, acceptance-protection-deterrence, all our acronyms for documents, processes and systems).

Look at your organisation’s 2030 strategy, the use of words, the key strategy areas and agency pillars. Listen too. Listen to concerns your country leadership and executives have. Formulate your language around those concerns. Don’t speak to be heard, but to show that you have listened.

4. Never Drop the Big Bomb

Wherever you can, communicate with people beforehand. This applies if you want to implement a new system, hire additional staff, change ways of working or get approval for an innovative idea. I’ve learned that the hard way. I would go into an executive level meeting fully prepared, presenting with fervour my idea and expecting applause and signoff. Well, not the applause, that doesn’t fit with my preference for being backstage as opposed to in the spotlight. But the signoff yes. No such thing. There were questions, requests for background material and the suggestion to come back at a later meeting. Not because they didn’t like my idea. They were fully supportive of it (and I did get that approval afterwards).

My presentation taught me the power of preparation. Speak to the key people in the meeting beforehand. Talk them through your points, answer their questions. Also: Take their advice into account and make changes where necessary, especially if it concerns threshold concerns. It will make your proposal better. You will enter the meeting with supporters on your side, who will help you in achieving success.

A word of warning: Don’t slay the opposition. It is important to get supporters on board. Even more important is to make sure your opposition doesn’t feel cornered. You might win that battle, but it may cost you the war… Fair opposition is good. Don’t make them into an enemy. We all work towards the same goal, fulfilling the mission of our organisation.

5. Never, Ever Respond to an Email when You’re Angry

Well, should I explain this one? We’ve all done it. You’ve worked six straight fifteen-hour workdays, giving up sleep, family time and who knows what else. All in the name of our commitment to our work and responsibilities, and happily so. When you are in the middle of a security relocation, a complex medical emergency or disaster response, you do what needs to be done. And then that email comes in and it immediately sets you off. And since you’re not in an office together, shouting or gesticulating behind your computer is just not satisfying. What works better, is to slam your fingers on the keyboard and type out an angry reply. Hit ‘Send’ with an aggressive mouse click and done.

Not done. Don’t send. Just don’t. It is instant gratification that you will regret in the end. It is eating that first marshmallow instead of waiting two minutes and get two (No idea what I am talking about? It’s the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment and the power of delayed gratification).

My favourite how-to-calm-down-enough-not-to-shout-over-email action is to angrily type out a response in Word and leave that open on the screen. Then I go and make myself a cup of tea. I come back, read nodding through my Word rant and type out a different, much more professional, email response. Or if it’s particularly bad (some people have that ability to do that to you) – I sleep on it for a night. My last tip: Find someone to rant to. That trusted person to whom you can vent: The people version of a Word document for your instant gratification. Interested in more tips on what to do instead? Check out this article from Style your Thoughts.

Which tips would you add?

We welcome you to share advice that has been helpful to you in the comment section below this article.