When’s The Last Time You Thanked A Good Security Officer?

I recently read an article entitled “Staff: Light Their Fires” by Jeff Kirby and Dr. Bill Cottringer of Puget Sound Security.  Although the article was written more than 10 years ago, I found that the principles it outlined are still applicable even today.  The article summarizes eleven strategies to help motivate employees and drive better performance.  By using these strategies you can motivate an employee to be a good security officer…and not just a “guard”.

Strategies for Creating a Good Security Officer

  1. Hiring practices: Developing processes for selecting the right employees for the right job is critical.  Ensure that you are matching each officers’ personality and unique characteristics with the requirements of the job site.
  2. Remember employees want to succeed: Most employees want to excel at their jobs. As a manager you must ensure that they have the proper tools to be successful.
  3. Know the employees: Every officer is different.  As a manager you must know what type of reward is the best motivational tool for each officer.
  4. Promote your enthusiasm: Give your officers a good example to follow by having the positive attitude that you would like them to have.
  5. Communicate well: Everyone wants to be heard.  Apply the old rule of thumb, “ask twice and talk once.”
  6. Give an explanation:  A lack of understanding about why something is required can lead to poor execution.  Explain to your officers the “WHY” as well as the “What, When, and Where”.
  7. Be consistent: Consistency leads to perceptions of fairness.  Most employees can accept the outcome of most situations as long as they feel they are treated fairly.
  8. Help others meet common needs:  Understanding what your officers’ needs are will help you, help them, in being successful on the job.
  9. The team concept: Remember that there is no “I” in team.
  10. Use a telescope and a microscope: Maintain a balance between the needs of your company and the officers’ needs.
  11. A thank you works: The most powerful thing that anyone can say to an officer who has done a good job is “Thank you”.

Although I agree that all of these strategies are important, the one that is often most forgotten is saying “Thank you”.  Saying thank you to a good security officer accomplishes two things.  First, it shows that you have recognized the officer’s specific accomplishments, behaviors, or actions taken.  Second, saying thank you also shows appreciation for those same accomplishments, behaviors, or actions.

In many instances, “thank yous” are not given because supervisors or managers believe that an officer wants much more than just a thank you.  In reality, showing appreciation to your officers is usually best done with simple gestures and statements.  Depending on the officer, a simple thank you done in some public way in front of co-workers and/or customers is best.

Benefits of Thanking a Good Security Officer

Outside of just being the right thing to do, there are dozens of benefits to saying thank you early and often.  Here are just a few:

  1. Reduced turnover: When your officers understand that they are appreciated, you will minimize the expenses associated with hiring and training new employees.
  2. Higher morale: Being a security officer can be a boring and thankless job sometimes.  In many of those cases your officers will just stop caring.  But by developing a system to regularly recognize and acknowledge your officers, you may be able to reduce the boredom and keep your officers engaged and motivated.
  3. Encourage loyalty: There are many security guard companies that are not in the habit of saying thank you to their security officers.  By being a company that recognizes a good security officer, you will help engender their loyalty and decrease turnover (see #1).
  4. Improved relationships:  Improving the relationship between a good security officer and your client, or your company, is essential in providing great service.  When there is a good relationship between the officer and the customer, or his company, the officer is more likely to go above and beyond the call of duty.
  5. Improved bottom line: By recognizing and showing appreciation to a good security officer you are creating a win-win situation for all parties.  Officers will become better ambassadors for your company, which maintains and grows your customer base, which translates into more revenue.

Get Your Customers Involved

When determining which officers are your best officers, don’t forget to get your customers involved.  When your customers are involved in determining which officers are rewarded, the officers are more likely to be engaged and focused on the customer’s needs.  When officers are focused on the customer, they pay more attention to providing great service than to just completing their task based job responsibilities.  In order to facilitate the recognition and appreciation of a good security officer, companies should develop formal reward systems, or leverage tools like www.MySecurityOfficer.com.

MySecurityOfficer.com (An OfficerReports.com brand) assists security guard companies and their clients in recognizing and rewarding good security officers.  MySecurityOfficer.com allows security guard companies and their customers to nominate security officers for cash prizes for going above and beyond the call of duty.

Recognizing and rewarding your good security officers can mean the difference between your business’ success and failure.  In your opinion, what characteristics make an employee a good security officer? How do you recognize and reward your good security officers?  We would love to hear from you, please leave your comments below.

 

 

By Courtney Sparkman

 

 

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