SubscribeEveryone with at least a hint of ambition wants to grow professionally. The hard reality is that not everyone will realize his or her professional goals.
Personal and professional growth requires at least three things: first is integrity and honesty; second are appropriate skill sets; and third is an ability to identify and exceed expectations.
Integrity and honesty are character issues that cannot be taught in any single training session. These are learned over a lifetime of choices made and consequences realized. Gaining the appropriate skill sets requires a commitment to continuous education.
Assess your job skills and look for ways to expand your knowledge in fields that are complimentary to your current abilities. This can be done by participating in training programs offered by your company, and taking classes in a formal education setting. Most community colleges and technical schools offer courses on management, supervision, and other appropriate business topics.
Personal growth through education is also an important part of our third and final point. The key to personal growth is learning to identify and exceed management expectations. In short, GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND on a routine basis identifies you as a key player in your organization. The benefits to you are greater promotion opportunities, better assignments and a much fuller life.
First, let’s look at how to exceed management expectations. State this by determining precisely what management wants. To do this you must realize who actually is management?
This may seem self-evident but on closer inspection you will discover that management actually has two components. First, as a security officer or supervisor, there is the organization for which you directly work. Second, if you are a contract officer, there will be the organization for which your employer provides services.
In reality, there may be a number of people to whom who you will be expected to answer. Keeping this fact at the forefront of your mind is critical to achieving your goals.
Once you have identified who management is, determine what the organization values, wants and expects. Determining what management values from their staff is a fairly straight forward process.
Ask – Go directly to your manager and ask what he or she values most in an employee. It might be dependability, appearance, knowledge, or a combination of all those things. And don’t forget your performance review. Performance feedback in your formal review or brief discussions with management will provide you will with a firm understanding of expectations.
Read – Check company documents. Organizational literature such as mission statements and strategic goals can be a great source. Another source is your job description, post orders and policy manual. These will outline the exact nature of your duties based upon what the company values.
Look – The basic function of all security professionals is to observe and report. Put these skills to work for your own benefit. See what is going on in the company with your own eyes. What the company expects from its employees should be reflected in day- to-day activities, staff meetings and other situations.
Observe how others in the organization are managing their own advancement- what steps are they taking to ensure advancement. This insight will be invaluable.
Always remember to be flexible when looking at how to exceed expectations. In any organization, especially a large, dynamic company, there may be differing organizational requirements. Flexibility in adapting to any structure, directive, review or change will not go unnoticed by your superiors.
Having identified all of these issues, what can you do to exceed management expectations? This can be accomplished in two steps. Begin with - Day to day operations: These identify what is necessary to ensure that daily organizational needs are met.
For example, ensuring all contractors sign in, clearance lists are updated and distributed, all manifests are confirmed and signed off, and a set number of rounds are made or specific areas are patrolled.
It is impossible to exceed expectations if you are not accomplishing the essential functions of the job. No amount of “above-and-beyond” effort will compensate for neglecting the on-going requirements of your duties.
The best way to get positive attention in day-to-day operations is to work to exceed expectations in everyday situations. Once you have proven your reliability in the regular and, perhaps, mundane tasks, your focus on additional accomplishments will be apparent to all.
How can this be done? Consider these scenarios: as a patrol officer in a commercial high-rise, if you are expected to patrol 10 floors, complete more. But, do not confuse quantity with quality.
It is better to patrol 10 floors, make yourself visible, assist staff and visitors, and intervene with suspicious behaviour than to patrol 15 floors as if in a race. And don’t forget the importance of writing legibly.
The second step is meeting long-term objectives: Every company has long-term goals to ensure long-term profitability. Some examples could include: expand customer base to the entire state in five years; reduce employee turnover by 5% for the year; introduce one new product line each year through 2010.
These objectives affect every aspect of the company, and each area is expected to work with all other areas to achieve the stated goals. Look for ways to support management efforts towards reaching long-term objectives. To do this, set your own daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals and ensure that they are in alignment with those of the organization.
Always look for positive ways to add long-term value to your position. Look for work. Look for additional responsibilities. Exceeding expectations requires initiative. Go the extra step to provide outstanding service and eventually you will be recognized. Go out of your way to enhance your role or the role of the department or organization.
If there are problems look for solutions. Seek and analyse your options or the options of the organization. However, be careful not to make decisions or promises that you don’t have the authority to make or keep. Company policies and discussions with your supervisors should help you to outline your scope of authority.
Some additional points to remember in your attempt to exceed daily operations expectations: use your common sense and professional standards; don’t break the rules; make them achievable but a stretch to obtain.
Be consistent, set a standard and work toward maintaining it.
You can exceed professional knowledge expectations by pursuing education, certification or accreditation beyond that which is minimally required to be proficient at your job. . Showing your supervisor or client that you are ready and willing to invest in your own career shows them that you are ready, willing and able for more responsibility.
Take courses that are not just security related but are also business related. It takes more than just security knowledge and experience to successfully manage the security function in an organization.
Be prepared to step into a position by getting expanding your education into business management fields. Seek honest feedback. If you are lucky enough to get honest feedback from someone be prepared for what you may hear. The point of receiving input from others whom you trust is to help you with personal growth.
If you are unwilling or unable to accept genuine feedback, you will have a very difficult time getting ahead in your career. Look at the possible motives behind someone's opinion. This is a difficult balance. If you get negative feedback, carefully consider it and, if you need to make change, be willing to do so. You also might want to seek out a 2nd or 3rd opinion.
However, not all feedback should carry equal weight. If you are confident about a certain skill, and you receive conflicting opinions take action based upon appropriate consideration of the input and the parties from whom you received it. Seek to obtain opinions from both supervisors and fellow security officers. And, when asking for advice, be willing to take action.
Probably the most important quality people take into account when considering someone for promotion is their attitude (both positive and negative).
Remember the adage – “ATTITUDE DETERMINES ALTITUDE.” Look at successful people. It is not only the skills they bring to the table, but also it is the attitude that they exhibit on a daily basis.
So what determines success? Here’s a partial list:
- Desire
- Determination
- Flexibility
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Hard work Team work
- Service
- Dependability
- Constant learning
How does a supervisor or manager know if you are ready for more responsibility? If an officer is applying for a more senior position or promotion, many people will look at what the candidates past accomplishments are. If you have a history of being positive, energetic and enthusiastic, that will likely continue.
If an officer seeks increased responsibilities, looks to make tasks easier or, sought and obtained certification, then you have a person with a proven positive track record. Security and supervisory or managerial skills can be taught. A positive attitude cannot.
A vital element of exceeding expectations is the ability to work effectively in a team. As you progress in your career, both within the security industry generally and with a particular organization specifically, remember your co-workers. Treat others with respect and dignity.
Keep your word. Don’t fall into gossip and innuendo. Not only is this common sense but working as an effective team will foster the esprit de corps vital to any successful operation as well as provide the means to diffuse some perilous situations you might experience on your job.
Managers and Supervisors who take the initiative to accomplish tasks are also excellent examples to others of exceeding management expectations. I have a some great examples from my own experience. I asked a supervisor to review security officer training files to ensure that all officers were trained.
Not only did the supervisor complete this responsibility, he took the initiative to train those officers who had been missed and also train those officers deficient in a few key areas. His actions showed initiative as he took personal responsibility to ensure all staff were properly trained and signed off.
Another of my staff was asked to explore what other departments had in the way of long term capital management plans. This officer created a draft with a binder with photos, texts, projected and anticipated capital and operating costs for 25 years.
Keep in mind the officer had only been asked to simply review what other departments had and to create a rough draft. What this staff member provided was far above and beyond anything requested impressed everyone immensely, and was flattering to the entire security department.
All officers are presented regularly with opportunities to excel and impress their supervisors. The key is for security officers to recognize opportunities and act on them. Take every situation as an opportunity to show your supervisor how capable you are.
Also, regardless of whether or not you are proprietary or contract security, you will be expected to exceed CUSTOMER expectations. While this does not mean that you bend or ignore policies in order to make people happy, you should understand that as a SERVICE PROFESSION, Security Officers should strive to exceed the expectations of all customers.
With customers or clients, the same rules apply: find out what they want, give it to them and then give them more. Remember - you cannot go wrong by viewing everyone, from your manager to housekeeping, as YOUR CUSTOMER.
The list and possibilities for exceeding expectations of both management and your customers can be endless. Stated simply, however, find out what your supervisors expect, meet those expectations and exceed them. It may take time, but effort your persistence will pay off.