Making the Case for Security Upgrades Using Metrics and Change Management

Back in February of 2014 when Jeff Hauk was hired as a temporary contractor at Memorial Healthcare in Owosso, Mich., “creating a culture of security” was his assignment. His job was initially intended to last only six months.

More than three years later, however, Hauk’s role has evolved so that he is now Memorial Healthcare’s full-time director of public safety and police authority services. In those three-plus years, he has applied a metrics-driven approach and a smart change management strategy to totally transform the organization’s protective environment and establish a new, highly trained and professionalized public safety department.

That’s why he’s been named this year’s Healthcare Campus Safety Director of the Year.

Hauk Gets Buy-In From the Executive Team

According to Ruthann Liagre, who is Memorial Healthcare’s vice president of human resources, when Hauk first arrived, the security function consisted of one full-time and four part-time security guards attached to the facilities department, working second and third shifts only.

“There was little to no respect shown for the guard staff, and a reputational overhaul was long overdue,” she says.

Fortunately, Memorial Healthcare’s management let Hauk make the necessary changes right from the beginning.

The entire Memorial Healthcare public safety team.

“The executive team knew that they didn’t know what they didn’t know and allowed me to come in and utilize my subject matter expertise and experience to professionally assess the organization, operations, threats and risks, which allowed me to develop a proposal for building a comprehensive program,” Hauk says.

To start, Hauk became a permanent member of Memorial’s leadership team and also now sits on the

Hauk implemented many personnel improvements, such as reclassifying his officers from security guards to public safety officers and hiring more department staff (see Department Improvements sidebar). Additionally, he executed more than $425,000 in security-driven capital improvement projects involving structural upgrades and enhancements for access control, video surveillance, panic alarms and other physical security features (see Capital and Technical Improvements sidebar).

The results of Hauk and his team’s work are impressive. His department scored highest overall as well as first in four of the five categories surveyed among all ancillary service departments in Memorial Healthcare’s ancillary services survey. Other improvement resulted in cost savings. For example, the installation of LED lighting saves Memorial Healthcare $10,000 per year.

Change Must Be Managed Carefully

Implementing all of these changes in such a short amount of time was no easy feat, and Hauk took a multi-faceted approach to managing change effectively. He consulted a wide variety of stakeholders to develop their buy-in. Empathy, communication and a positive attitude also played important roles, particularly when he was interacting with his officers.

“In order for change to happen, you have to be able to relate to others and be genuinely empathetic with them,” he says. “I know that in jobs where I had to make changes — good or bad — the way I approached it made a huge difference in its success. I find that showing your staff the good effects of change encourages them to accept and/or initiate change in other processes and procedures, and this makes a positive impact on your organization.

“How you address [change] and communicate it to your employees is critical. If you are negative about change, it affects the acceptance of the change by those around you. A good leader is a change champion and driving force behind the acceptance of changes made in an organization.”
Some of the steps that Hauk took to implement change at Memorial Healthcare included:

• Explaining why the changes were necessary
• Demonstrating to key stakeholders how the changes contributed to the viability of the organization and providing the right subject matter experts to assist with the process
• Providing a roadmap to guide behaviors during the process and helping with critical decision making
• Preparing for the unexpected, continually reassessing the impact of the changes and monitoring the willingness and ability of the stakeholders to adapt to the next stages of transformation.

Metrics Help Prove Security’s Value

Hauk is also a big believer in using metrics rather than speculation to drive change.

“Security metrics are not about numbers, they are about performance,” he claims. “Unless you have the intestinal fortitude to adequately plan and consistently execute a program to legitimately measure how well specific security programs are delivering on their objectives and are prepared for the answers you may get, you are wasting your time. They should be strategic, demonstrating return on investment, organizational relevance and easily communicated.”

Examples of metrics collected by Hauk’s team include what he calls “touches, near misses and interventions.”

Touches

“Touches” are how many times the security department interacts with patients, visitors and staff, coupled with the type of interaction provided. This metric demonstrates the security department’s value and effectiveness based on the patients, visitors and staff who are served.

Touches are not the number of patrols conducted, incidents, visitor passes provided or hours an officer is on post. They could be opening a door for a staff member.

“[A touch] is the interaction with the customer and the results of that interaction,” says Hauk. “Reporting the number of times security accompanied and/or assisted staff to their designation, provide directions or escorted them to their vehicle is a more definitive evaluation of the service.”

He also says a touch can be positive or negative.

“Having a high number of touches to assist staff in a non-patient related way may not be seen as a positive metric when it is compared to patient and visitor touches,” Hauk says. “Comparing the number of staff touches with patient and visitor touches can demonstrate the need to reduce staff interaction or increase patient and visitor interaction, translating to less door openings and more proactive campus patrols.”

Near Misses

Another metric used by Hauk is “near misses,” which describe an intervention or discovery of an incident that could have been averse but was averted.

“This concept is more readily identifiable than a door found open, a behavioral health patient that attempted elopement and was stopped or the continued denial of an access card being presented to the pharmacy door,” Hauk says. “In lieu of reporting the number of doors found open, reporting a near miss related to a purse left unattended or a computer that could have been stolen is a better, more understandable metric. Not reporting the patient who almost left the hospital or the employee who is continually trying to access a door they have no access to negates the effectiveness of the security services provided to the institution. A near miss is an evaluation tool that risk management, clinical staff and executives can understand.”

Interventions

This term describes a planned or unplanned interaction with a patient or client because of negative or potentially negative behavior. Examples include patient restraints, patient watches or disorderly visitors.

“An intervention is a metric that can describe aspects of the execution of the security professional’s job that is not demonstrated by reporting basic workplace violence,” Hauk says. “Using interventions as a metric demonstrates actions taken to improve a declining or detrimental situation and can be used to categorize the workload conducted by security staff in the prevention of violence in the hospital.”

Hauk believes using this particular term assists the emergency department, behavioral health and other administrators better understand the use if this metric by security and can provide a more defined application of security services.

Hauk’s Accomplishments are ‘Truly Extraordinary’

Hauk and his team’s efforts have resulted in more than 100 improvements to Memorial Healthcare’s security and parking operations.

“His accomplishments are truly extraordinary,” says Liagre. “Consequently, staff morale has never been higher, staff respect for officers has been exponentially enhanced, the amount and type of training for our officers is of five-star quality, his plans for continuous improvement are remarkably forward-looking, the use of technology is at an all-time high and the public safety department exudes professionalism. He has accomplished more in a couple of years than many other security directors accomplish in a decade.”

Funds from a hospital club helped pay for the public safety department’s new patrol car.

The public safety department upgraded the hospital’s security camera/VMS platform and installed 40 new cameras. There are also plans to install 50 more cameras this year.

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