When a British comedian can flash an amateurish fake pass and get into the US State Department building, we need to be concerned about what kind of training occurs for people working in security.

Security gaps occur when “the speed of trust” (sorry, Dr. Covey) enables human nature to fall flat on its face when it comes to security issues. In other words, people working in security jobs are human and at times they can show too much trust. When that happens, security is easily breached.

Such was the case at the TSA, when a guy was cranking out fake boarding passes to prove people could get past airport security. Even as hard-hearted as the TSA can be (and I’ve seen a few of them be downright belligerent), some people working for that agency can also be too disengaged.

Perhaps if security people were to receive better training, coaching, and mentoring, we wouldn’t see some of the problems that we do — at both ends of the spectrum: Either too much trust or too much belligerence.

The bottom line here is that we shouldn’t discount the importance of ongoing training, coaching, and mentoring in any job, no matter how “low profile” that job may be.

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Filed in Technology, Work, Training, Workplace, Corporate Culture, Coaching