Despite having no real interest in football, I began to think that it’s often easy for each and every one of us to become critics and ‘armchair experts’ in subjects that we either feel passionate about, or believe we know enough about due to our all-round knowledge of the game in question.
It brought me back to a time not that long ago when I was discussing the state of the security industry with some colleagues. We had righted all the wrongs, and knew better than our counterparts. In some respects, despite them being our own opinions, we knew our topic of discussion well, felt passionate about it and believed that we could change matters for the better in the future – no different to my fellow commuters’ outlook on life, then.
No matter how much we might want to change the security industry, without mutual co-operation and support from the masses it’s an impossible task. Why? In general, it’s often the case that people don’t like change. They resent it, and may be cautious about it. As Bruce George stated a few years back in an address he gave on the industry at an event run by the International Institute of Security: “You are your own worst enemy as you don’t want to change”. How right he was… and still is.
A prime example of the mentality to which Bruce alluded was evidenced with the recent strike in Scotland by the Grangemouth Oil Refinery workers fighting for the pension rights of individuals who had not yet joined the company! A classic case of people not wanting or fearing change despite the need for it.
Why does the security industry seemingly not want to change, then? Security Industry Authority licensing really hasn’t made much of a difference, aside from adding extortionate costs to security companies and, thereafter, their clients. There are still illegal workers operating in this sector, while too many companies remain oblivious to even the basic concepts associated with diversification.
When you peer into the future for the security sector, there are very few pioneers looking to take the new settlers across the plains of standardisation and settle in the world of change. Surely, then, we must ask the question: ‘Why do we not want to change?’
We hear phrases such as: ‘Why fix it if it isn’t broken?’ and: ‘Things are working fine the way they are…’, but if we always do as we’ve always done, we’ll always end up with what we’ve always ended up with. Put simply, if we don’t want to change, we’ll always be incapable of changing the perceptions of our industry, our standards and our professionalism. Naturally, this will have an effect – as it does now – on recruitment, not to mention our own train of thought regarding our industry as a career.
I write after months of chatting to various individuals and companies right across our sector. In general, we all like to ‘talk the talk’, but little is done when it comes to ‘walking the talk’. When individuals stand up to be counted – a prime example here being the excellent ‘Make The Change’ Campaign in SMT and on Infologue.com, underpinned by Wilson James’ Stuart Lowden and VSG chairman Bill Muskin – some practitioners will follow, others sit there and wish they’d thought of such an idea and some choose to pour scorn.
To be frank, out of the numerous security companies with whom I’ve spoken, very few are looking to differentiate themselves, want to be different or are even willing to embrace change. Yet some want to but don’t know how to go about it!
There has never been a better time for change. For those willing to break down the boundaries of complacency they will naturally make a difference and, in doing so, realise change. For those not willing to play the game of change, and returning to that overheard conversation on the train, will you be contented to sit on the touchline of this industry fixture and act as a substitute in a Sunday pub game, or would you rather be a Premiership player?
It’s our industry. Let’s work together to change it for the better.