In the fifth installment of his exclusive series with SJA, Tim Wenzel, CPP, Co-Founder and President of The Kindness Games, discusses why open dialogue is needed in the security industry.

A new mindset

In this Insecurity in Security series, I have advocated for the formalization of governance and program management initiatives (Part 3: Inconsistency and frustration) and the establishment of your “Way” of doing business (Part 4: The way).

In my work, with some of the most recognizable brands in the world, 98% of security departments completely overlook these initiatives.

Why is this? In my experience, there are two main reasons.

1. Lack of business acumen. We come from government service, we see and sell ourselves as a cost center while we wait for emergencies
2. A popular belief that if we write something down, we are setting ourselves up for failure, lawsuit, etc… when the opposite is actually true

When we clearly document and articulate our: 

• Reason for existence… and funding
• Who we deliver service or outcomes to
• In what circumstances
• Why it is important and valuable to deliver those services or outcomes
• “The Way” – the manner in which we intake requests, define the risk, implement risk mitigation and QA our methodologies

We create transparency between security and the business.

Who is “the business” you may ask… It is a culmination of our primary stakeholders and the leadership of the organization we serve.

Ideally, security departments gain visibility up to the C-suite and Board of Directors – the Holy Grail of the security industry!

The coveted “seat at the table” we hear and talk about at every conference and chapter meeting. 

This is where your problems begin…

My hypothesis has already been established in two previous Security Journal Americas articles.

From Again or anew, from the Crossroads in Leadership series: “the root cause of our leadership woes is our nexus to government service.

“Law enforcement, fire and EMS as well as the military exist as functions of law.

“Their existence can take varying forms, but exist they will… Leadership philosophies are generally geared towards leading people into conflict of varying types, with a zero-sum view of the outcomes.”

In the public service environment, questions are generally viewed as disrespectful or an attack on position, power and credibility.

Questions are permissible when: 

• Orders have been given and subordinates need to clarify those orders to execute them
• Someone in authority is counseling or reprimanding a subordinate

Subordinates are not allowed to question the chain of command.

They are not allowed to offer suggestions to improve upon or further inform the perspective of leadership.

Questions which come from outside of the chain of command in the form of oversight are generally viewed somewhere between annoying to hostile.

The chain of command’s mantra “Stay in Your Lane” is used as a club to beat back those who would question.

Maintaining order really means to maintain a grip on power and position… this is the very root of the Insecurity in Security.

If you do your work with the goal of not losing your position or power… you will lose it due to the ineffectiveness of your leadership and work product. 

This zero-sum mindset is the final vestige of government service we must kill in order to thrive in the private sector.

Becoming a leader

What happens when you become a security leader in the private sector?

As head honcho – let’s say Director of Security – your boss and the decision makers of the company will ask for your plan.

Once you give it, an avalanche of questions will follow.

• Why do we need to do that?
• I’m not sure this aligns with company culture. What if…
• What are the total costs over the next three years?
• Do we need all of those people?
• We tried that before, but it turned out very badly. We can’t do that again.

For someone who is not used to being questioned, to having their plans critiqued in the open.

For someone who shrinks away from difficult conversations or feels unskilled leading or participating in “high stakes” conversations, this quickly feels like a personal attack.

You don’t understand, because you were supposed to be “in charge.”

Once you get past the bosses, then all of your stakeholders who have to participate or are the clientele of these initiatives will have their questions.

New processes often feel disruptive and can make our business partners afraid they will not be able to deliver their products or initiatives… many of which actually provide the company revenue.

This is the point. Everyone within an organization needs to be assured that their business and value proposition will not be adversely affected by new things.

Security is often perceived as constrictive, placing limiting factors and rules on others.

We need to be prepared to lead these conversations well.

Step 1: Bring options

I often refer to this as the menu. Good, Better, Best. Describe these as building upon a foundation.

The ideal state is Best, but we need to build the foundation first which will get us near Good.

But Good, leaves some gaps… and those are addressed with Better.

By having options which can be offered in phases, we can lay out a vision which can be discussed and understood in phases.

The organization might recognize their needs, but may still be skeptical.

Leading proposal discussions in this fashion allows for open conversation, questions and leaves everyone feeling like there is room to negotiate so they can still be productive and successful.

Step 2: No absolutes

The company was probably fine before you came along so when we try to force an absolute like must, always, never, etc; your stakeholders will push back very hard.

Bringing options helps alleviate the use of absolutes.

Step 3: Design-based thinking

Utilizing these principles helps you design for user experience (UX) and a phased implementation which identifies milestones where stakeholders can check in, provide feedback and allow for adjustments to be made to ensure that disruption and friction are kept to a minimum.

Step 4: Identify side effects

Just like our doctors must inform you of the risks of a procedure or potential side effects or adverse outcomes of a medication, you must do the same with full transparency.

Utilizing design-based thinking should identify the pain points, potential disruption and organizational friction, which you should talk about openly as you are pitching your ideas and planning implementation.

Being open about these things allows your stakeholders to provide input on how it might be avoided, education or awareness employees may require, etc.

When we pitch a perfect project or program and friction begins to build, it undermines your competence and honesty.

Open dialogue

Every great leader welcomes open dialogue.

They do not see it as a threat, even when the source of the dialogue comes in the form of hostility or questioning. 

Since the private sector is not a function of law but instead, profitability, great leaders cannot afford to be the smartest person in the room.

Risking everything on one person being right every time is a gamble.

Every person in your team and every stakeholder in the organization has a perspective they gain through the function of their role.

Proactively including others in the ideation and planning process builds a coalition.

The more often we engage in constructive conversation, the easier conversation, even difficult conversation becomes.

Building honest relationships, being interested in the journey and perspective of others establishes credibility and you build a bank account of goodwill.

Building cooperative relationships helps banish the Insecurity in Security.

If we can teach ourselves to default to curiosity instead of a defensive posture when questions come our way, we truly become leaders and find ourselves quite comfortable in all situations.

Several years ago I developed the reputation for being willing to have any conversation with anyone.

This becomes a superpower when you engage others to learn and produce the best outcome for everyone involved. 

For a leader, there will never be a shortage of questions, we should become great at entertaining them and finding the best answers together.

Read the previous article in Tim’ series here and find the full series here. Keep an eye out for the next installment, coming out soon!