Security leaders play a critical role in both incident response and post-incident recovery.
But there are skills that set the most effective security leaders apart in such situations. To learn more about the characteristics these practitioners possess, Security Management reached out to Robert Dodge, CEO of global risk services, Prosegur, who has been directly involved in the post-incident recovery process following multiple violent incidents during his career.
Here are the five skills he says make the biggest difference in managing post-incident response well.
1. Be Calm Under Stress
“These are stressful situations, and you have to have strong physical and mental abilities,” Dodge says. “You might miss a few meals, you might not sleep much, but you’ve got to keep your faculties and recognize when yours are stressed.”
What are strategies Dodge uses to manage his stress? He reaches out to his trusted advisors—mentors from the past—who can listen and provide insights about the situation at hand based off their own experiences.
Dodge also really likes to walk.
“When I worked in San Francisco, I worked down at the waterfront, and when I had a stressful day, I’d go down there and walk for a while,” Dodge says. “I do the same thing now. Just recalibrate and think about what you’re doing. And you get to know yourself.”
2. Be Cognizant of Law Enforcement
When a violent incident happens at the workplace and someone is injured or killed, law enforcement will likely respond to the scene and conduct an investigation. It’s extremely helpful to have a relationship with local law enforcement in your area, including contacts at the federal level, and understand how they might engage your organization during this investigatory process, Dodge adds.
In his own career, Dodge says that his long-term relationships with FBI agents were particularly important after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. The gunman opened fire on the nightclub during his night off, but he was employed at the time by the same contract security provider that Dodge was. After the shooting, Dodge helped play a key role in communicating with FBI personnel to assist them in their investigation.
“Those relationships [with the FBI] really saved us a lot of grief and pain,” Dodge adds. “That was a lot of time and effort—lunches, seminars, partnering, and sharing information.”
3. Use Strong Communication Skills
Security practitioners need to be seen as trusted advisors with strong executive-level communication skills and relationships, Dodge says. It’s key during the post-incident response period for security leaders to avoid “stuttering or muttering,” he adds.
Build confidence in your communication skills by becoming familiar with policies and procedures about your organization’s crisis management plan and the communication protocols that come with it. Regular, clear communication with stakeholders—especially employees—in the wake of a crisis is critical.
“If you don’t communicate internally, employees will come up with the worst possible scenarios,” Dodge adds. “You’ll lose employees. They’ll talk and say the wrong thing.”
Dodge has built his personal communication skill set on a history of taking speaking engagements.
“And then you put in the time and effort to prepare,” Dodge says. “You’re talking about a course of action that could impact people’s livelihoods, the welfare of the company. If you make the wrong decision, it could be your job. Measure twice, cut once.”
4. Be Detail Oriented
“Dot your i’s and cross your t’s—make sure your actions are documented,” Dodge says. “There’s a huge legal component to this, so you have to make sure you’re covering your own self in a crisis.”
Key actions to document can include timelines, such as the timeframes that actions were taken, what actions were taken, what actions were not taken, and who was involved in the decision-making process.
“If it’s evidentiary stuff, keep backups of it. All of that becomes important,” Dodge says. “You never know where this stuff could go, if it could be subpoenaed for a legal case. If you’re wrong, you should pay for it. If you’re right, you shouldn’t.”
5. Be Compassionate
“My personal philosophy is: Take care of the people first, as much as you humanly can,” Dodge says. “Try and be compassionate and seek help.”
This includes listening to other stakeholders, recognizing when you need organizational support, and spending money to get it—like working with the HR team to bring in an experienced trauma counselor and providing grief counseling.
“It’s the right thing to do. Take the people-first approach,” Dodge adds.
Megan Gates is senior editor at Security Management. Connect with her at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.