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Securicor adopts new training methods

Securicor (Africa) is changing the traditional top-down approach to training by removing the emphasis from teaching staff to focusing on coaching staff and constantly renewing their knowledge to meet new demands.

Hentie Truter, training manager Securicor, described coaching as a two-way process that placed mentor and learner on almost the same footing to shape their knowledge into solutions for day-to-day problems.

"Risk management and crime prevention are dynamic fields in which yesterday's knowledge and methods may already be outdated. Our experience shows that a process of sharing lessons learned and best practices is the most effective way to create new solutions for our customers' needs. This collective problem-solving approach will form the basis of the company's new learning approach."

Truter said Securicor Africa recognised that the company's future prosperity depended largely on the knowledge, attitudes, skills, expertise and motivation of its human resources. "Our vision is to instil a learning culture in our educational process in which knowledge and expertise are not enough. Security officers and managers must be able to take informed calculated risks, be flexible, have imagination, improvise and innovate. Learning has to be addressed in a situational environment, as close as possible to its practice, and based on problem-solving scenarios," Truter said.

To achieve these needs, traditional learning philosophies and techniques would not necessarily be effective.

"Our trainers will adjust their approach from instructing to coaching. Learning opportunities must be identified early and capitalised on in a business environment," Truter said. The most far-reaching impact the new training vision will have on junior staff is the creation of a personal network of colleagues, supervisors and mentors who can advance their personal learning curves.

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