Understanding Your Staff and Client Needs
Staff and client’s the needs are worlds apart. I hope this helps you bridge the gap and perhaps give you an overall perspective.
Know your staff.
I know this sounds almost impossible with multiple accounts, so I want to approach this with the fact that I’m sure you know at least a few of your star security officers, such as the ones you know stand out through performance and the ones you know will work any and all shifts.
So, this is where you as the owner, make it your priority to visit your security staff. Have the mindset that they are the ones protecting your investments. The approach I have used and found to be most effective, is to treat these visits as a social visit and not a “evaluate and judge” visit. Doing so creates an open door policy, and encourages your immediate staff to not feel like they are always being judged.
Discord within the ranks.
You always want to be “in the know” when it comes to problems within the security staff prior to the client hearing about it, or worse, the client witnessing an incident. As you know, this sends the message that security is out of control and untrustworthy.
Therefore, having a open door policy should give you the opportunity to address the issue easier. Let’s break this down into two common areas your issues may come in:
- Security Officer vs. Security Officer
- Supervisor vs. Staff
Security Officer vs. Security Officer
Unfortunately, this is too common and very disruptive.
The onsite supervisor should of had the issue addressed and the report on management’s desk outlining the person(s) involved, issue(s), statements and outcome including corrective actions that may include recommended training, and disciplinary measures taken.
Once the report has been reviewed, you will know if additional measures are needed, including the involvement of your Human Resource department. When you are satisfied with your supervisors actions and your management team, your next step is the client’s notification of the situation. This is done in person if possible, but can be done by phone if this is the quickest.
Do not email email your client. Believe me, the client knows about the issue and will appreciate and understand incidents happen. Contacting them personally does a lot for the client because they will see you are invested and this could ease any uncertainty the client may have had.
Supervisor vs. Staff
This is much more difficult. Your first thought may be to blame your supervisor. After all, your supervisor should be in control, and this signals a loss of control.
The most effective approach is to address this issue head on and conducted by you. Of course, you need to follow all process and procedures. Yes, it will take time from other business matters, but you could assign a member of your management team you feel confident to do this instead.
Be sure the investigation includes the necessary departments throughout the process. In either case, regardless of position, these issues are the responsibility of human resources. All others will be investigated same as I mentioned above.
My best advice is be as detailed in your investigations and your documentation in order.
Knowing your clients needs.
This is actually the one item you better have a firm hold of. Let me touch on a few helpful pointers I have used that have proved most effective.
- Clients want a quality product and a reasonable price. So how do we do this? This is easy, you care! Perform staffing evaluations, site assessment evaluations, staffing levels, and budget controlling.
- Approach every account as a new account. After all, there are hundreds of security companies that want what you have and the way they get their foot in the door is you not being involved.
Therefore, I can’t stress enough how important it is to maintain open lines of communication, and that you are always evolving your business and your staff. I firmly believe you never stay the same, and your business either gets better, or gets worse.
The conclusion.
Be involved.
Listen to not only the client, but your employees. They both have great ideas that can and will make your company stand out from the rest. Always make sure your staff is properly equipped with the tools and training they need to be successful. Make sure you are always evolving and informing your client and staff of new and improved ways of protecting their community.