Succession Planning for Security Departments

Survival of the fittest may work in the animal kingdom, but grooming the next generation of CSOs requires a substantial investment of time, a sincere interest in employee development and a dash of humility. Are you ready for succession planning?

The first quality often cited is the necessity of fitting in with the organizational culture. This can be especially important in the security realm where success is highly dependent on the ability to change people's behavior. David Saenz, vice president of worldwide security at Levi Strauss & Co., is involved with the International Security Management Association (ISMA) Leadership Program, a yearlong executive development and leadership seminar for potential CSOs held at Georgetown University. He often coaches students to pay attention to an organization's culture when they interview for a top security job. "We've had people that have interviewed for positions [at Levi Strauss], and they had all the skills. But in terms of the fit and the culture, they wouldn't have been in sync."

Cultural sensitivity and fitting in have to be married with the political and business savvy that security departments have historically lacked. Security has often been perceived as the "dark shadow," notes Moore, in the sense that it is closeted away from the rest of the organization, creating the illusion that it is somehow different from other business units.

It's a problem that Saenz still sees in the writing projects done by would-be-CSO students. "The papers fail to link security work to the strategic objectives of the business," he says. "There is a lack of a sound financial analysis, other than saying we should do this because security is inherently good."

A company's CSO is just one of many executives competing for limited resources, and without speaking the language of financial impact and ROI, his batting average will be poor. "If you want to be a plumber, you learn the language of a plumber. Likewise, you have to learn talk the language of businesswhich is money," says Saenz.

CSOs also need a battery of less tangible skills to be successful: initiative, imagination, the flexibility to roll with business changes, and an understanding of and social proficiency with cultures outside of the United States. "Security is driven by the social and political realms as well as economics, and you have to have those different skills," says Moore. "Security professionals, in addition to being specialists, have to be generalists with special skills."Develop High PerformersOnce you identify the skills that you want your security executive candidates to have, the next challenge is to create the opportunities and experiences that will inculcate those qualities into your leadership pool. Often this means pushing your most talented people outside their area of expertise to see if they sink or swim.