workforces, is with achieving roster alignment between security officers and their manager, particularly where security officers are dispersed around the airport to cover access control posts, staff checkpoints, perimeter patrols, and various other duties. Consequently, security officers rarely have adequate time for discussions with a superior about working life, job performance and other issues that fall under the umbrella of pastoral care. Providing HR telephone support is no substitute for regular face-to-face conversations. As a result, many of the positive attributes and behaviours that were established in new security officers during training quickly become worn away once they join the teams of experienced staff. Their initial enthusiasm for high performance and customer service eventually dissipates, partly because of the resistance and inertia of the incumbent staff and partly due to lack of leadership and authority among security team leaders and managers. One consequence from this is a negative effect on staff engagement and motivation that can be difficult to identify and correct.
...longevity is not a qualification for promotion to a leadership role...
Recognising the impact of staff motivation on operational security performance, compliance and ultimately cost, LeighFisher’s Transport Security Practice was asked by the UK’s Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) to develop a set of tools and guidance on security officer motivation within the security industry. Publicly available to download on CPNI’s website (
www.cpni.gov.uk/advice/Personnel- security1/Guard-force-motivation), the tools and guidance provide a wealth of detailed, but accessible material to enable security managers to diagnose areas in which motivation may require improvement, and to select practical and operationally beneficial interventions. The guidance was developed and later validated through working closely with organisations and security providers working across the critical national infrastructure, and contains specific case studies describing real-world examples
from the security domain. Within the guidance is a specifically developed questionnaire that allows managers to survey security officers’ motivation levels and benchmark their results against the industry norm. The results of the questionnaire then highlight those organisational and management areas that affect motivation, and provide targeted interventions to help improve motivation. The guidance has already been positively received by the security industry and is currently being used by several airports (including BAA and Birmingham International Airport) and outsourced security contractors (G4S and OCS); the latest version was released in early June 2012. Clearly, a prerequisite for a high- performing security workforce is having the right staff, but to sustain that level of performance and motivation also implies good leadership. Recruiting, selecting, training and managing the performance of team leaders is therefore just as important as for security officers – longevity is not a qualification for promotion to a leadership role. In fact, many of the competencies and attributes required
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June 2012 Aviationsecurityinternational
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