The Role of Human Relations for Security Officers

Dec 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By ADRIA STRAUSBAUGH

Security officers are often the first people that visitors or employees come in contact with at an organization. They serve to protect the organization and to help those in need of assistance. How security deals and interacts with the public influences the public's view of the security department and the entire organization.

IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RELATIONS

Human relations rely heavily on effective communications skills. When met with a friendly greeting and empathetic response, customers are put at ease, feel more positive about the organization and are more likely to follow any instructions from the security officer.

Security officers must also deal with a variety of people and situations during everyday activities. Without knowledge of human relations skills, everyday dealings can be difficult and strained, leading to bad customer relations within the organization and an overall bad image. If an emergency incident were to arise, the security officer's human relations skills could determine the outcome of the incident, as they are often first on the scene. Resolving the whole incident may depend on whether the officers can manage the people involved in the emergency.

BASIC HUMAN RELATIONS SKILLS

There are a couple of basic human relations skills that every security officer should possess:

• Effective listening

  By actively listening, officers can show interest in what a person is saying and concern for his/her problems. The officers should allow the person to vent reasonably and express an opinion, and they should nod to indicate that they are listening. Jumping to conclusions, prejudging and placing blame should be avoided as they demonstrate the officer is not listening completely. Officers must also be able to communicate effectively back to the customer in a clear, concise and nonthreatening manner. Officers can build trust with the customer by showing sincerity, credibility and a willingness to help solve problems.

• Empathy

  By being empathetic, an officer can acknowledge how a customer is feeling. An officer should not sympathize with or over-identify with, but merely try to understand the person's point of view. Apologies are acceptable when appropriate, but officers should never apologize for doing their job.

USING HUMAN RELATIONS TO MAINTAIN IMAGE

An important outcome of effective human relations is to maintain a positive image for the officer, security department and the organization as a whole. Image is valuable; organizations work hard to attain and maintain a favorable image. Image can make or break the success of an organization or individual officer.

Poor human relations skills and unprofessionalism can destroy a positive image. Security officers represent the organization that employs them and should project a positive image in accordance to the image the organization wants to maintain. Dependability, politeness, tact, discreetness, impartiality and patience will help to deliver a positive image of a security officer.

IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING

Human relations training is the most efficient way to ensure that security officers have effective human relations skills. Training exposes officers to situations they may encounter on the job, thus preparing them to deal with any real incidents that occur.

An effective training process on human relations consists of six steps: objective, lectures, scenarios, test exercises, individual tests and reviews or refreshers. Before training begins, goals should be set and objectives should be outlined and clearly defined.

Two effective training strategies are role-playing and penetration testing. The basis for role playing is scenarios — they are a sort of dress rehearsal in which officers respond appropriately to real life situations. Role playing is most effective when the trainee is aware of the general situation in advance, but does not know exactly how the situation will be played out by the other participants. The other participants could consist of other members of the security department or outsiders. Role-playing is effective because it directly mirrors real-life situations. There may be more than one right way to deal with a situation. It is useful to engage trainees in discussion after role playing about what happened in the exercise and what other actions could have been taken.

Penetration testing involves having an outside person enter a building or organization to test an officer's ability. It is most often used to test access control, but it can also be modified to test human relations skills. Evaluators can be chosen who are unknown to the security officers. They can test an officer's human relations skills in a variety of ways — from simply asking for directions to causing a major disturbance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ADRIA STRAUSBAUGH has a degree in sociology and a minor in criminal justice from York College of Pennsylvania.

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