Look of Authority

John Saunders talks with great enthusiasm about the period he spent as National Chair of the Business Link Network from 1994-2000, during which he divided his time in a 60-40 split between country-wide issues and those affecting his own 'constituency' (namely Business Link in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, where he was chief executive in charge of 120 staff delivering services to around 40,000 different businesses).

He could just as easily have been describing his present task as chief executive at the Security Industry Authority, though. The parallels are that distinct.

Business Link was very much the brainchild of Tory MP Michael Heseltine, who was determined to overhaul the support network for businesses. Prevailing wisdom had it that the network already in place in the early 1990s was of variable quality. "It was a confusing time for business," adds Saunders. "There were all manner of bodies out there, including Training and Enterprise Councils, Chambers of Commerce and Enterprise Agencies. From the customers' perspective this was really confusing. Business Link was designed to draw all of that support into a cohesive framework. An excellent concept."

One in which the Government invested no less than £1 billion over ten years, in fact. Using his share of that financial support very wisely indeed, Saunders' own Business Link Network in the Midlands was the top performer for six years in succession, eventually merging three further Business Links, two Chambers of Commerce and two Training and Enterprise Councils into a single, focused organisation.

"It was very tough making the partnerships between business and Government effective, though," he states. "People continuously made the mistake of seeing partnership as the end result. Government would often say: 'There's an excellent partnership. It must be working'. That wasn't always the case. A comfortable partnership that doesn't achieve anything is a waste of time. There was a tendency towards diluting to taste in order to accommodate the insecure and the fragile, which was always the softer option."

Working in the public arena
Business Link represented Saunders' first real exposure to working within the public sector. "Something I learned very early on was that there was no longer a desire to bring people in from the private sector to do things the public sector way," stresses Saunders. "Rather, private sector practitioners had been sought to add value. There was a fundamental need to change the way in which the public sector thought and operated. We used to tell ourselves that we had a public sector remit but that we simply had to apply Best Practice private sector commercial approaches to achieving results."

According to Saunders, it's the "balancing and the blending of those two factors" which people who've lived forever in the public sector find difficult. "To be fair, some of those who have worked all their life in the private sector find the concept somewhat difficult as well."

Saunders quite obviously mastered the art, having been awarded an OBE in 1998 for his services to the support of British business under the Network's banner. "That was a total surprise. A bolt out of the blue," he confesses, "but I remain extremely proud of what we achieved in that period."

They certainly were formative years, as the Cardiff-born professional learned much about managing people. Saunders firmly believes in first working out what it is an organisation, group or business has to achieve, and being absolutely clear in terms of remit and aspirations from the outset. "Once you've done that," he continues in logical progression, "it's all about selecting the right people, making sure they know what's expected of them and empowering them to do the job properly."

Saunders believes strongly in empowerment, but is quick to point out that checks and balances must always be in place. "Control and discipline are two of the essential facets of any good manager," suggests Saunders. "Just as important is a strong sense of purpose. You must also afford your people freedom and support to let them achieve. You should encourage your staff to think about potentially different and better ways of doing things. Once they're crystal clear about what they have to do, your job is then all about enabling them to do theirs in a fun atmosphere. You must create an environment wherein people can enjoy their work."

True to his word, Saunders has brought all of those beliefs to the SIA in what has already been a hugely successful bid to adopt the sound principles of a modern and dynamic organisation. He was – and remains – determined to avoid any sign of status creeping in, though, which has been a major characteristic of corporate circles post the banking boom of the mid-1980s. "I fundamentally dislike status," he says with obvious disdain. "I can't stand it, and I would never have designed my management team around it at the SIA. People sit in on the team here because of their function and what they have to bring to the party, not because of how many stripes they have on their arm."

For Saunders, the SIA's foundations are deliberately built on a team ethic. "If the most junior member of staff does their job well, they earn the admiration and respect of their colleagues and of the organisation. It's the same for the chief executive. Just because he or she holds a more grandiose title doesn't make them any better. In that respect, I have to say that I've found the security industry to be very refreshing indeed."

Influence at an early stage
Born in 1952 – "The days when Wales won and won, and won again," he comments with reference to the national rugby team and his biggest sporting passion – Saunders was parted from his father at the tender age of ten years old following a fatal car crash. Luckily, his stepfather (Ken Saunders, a director of Prudential Insurance) was there throughout his formative years, and became a huge influence.

"If you were to try and describe the characteristics of a man," comments Saunders in affectionate tones, "then my stepfather was a real man in every sense of the word. He possessed an enormous strength of character, incredible integrity and was completely unflappable. He could maintain his balance and judgement no matter what the prevailing circumstances around him might have been."

Saunders' stepfather had played rugby at school, a major factor in his own decision to pursue the game in his teenage years (eventually scooping international honours in the Under-16s, and subsequently becoming a fan of Harlequins – whom he watches at The Stoop as and when time permits).

Indeed, by his own admission Saunders was handy at the 'game with the oval ball' largely because he'd head for the sports field "at the very least excuse" throughout his time at The Fitzallan High School in Cardiff. "I must have joined in with every sport the school ever entered into because it was far more interesting than turning up for double Chemistry on a Thursday afternoon."

He did harbour a penchant for history and English, mind you, and was always interested in debating – sitting on the School Council to "talk about all sorts of topics, from what's wrong with the world to whether or not the size of our rugby pitch was right. It was the one opportunity you had to voice your concerns to the teachers, so we grabbed it."

That slightly rebellious streak was to resurface post-'O' Levels, when Saunders decided to leave his mother and father behind and "find out about life". He spent eight or nine months living away from home and "doing all kinds of things", including working in hotels and kicking a football around the park with his friends. Broke, he was forced to return with his tail between his legs, but then resolved to knuckle down to life.

"I didn't find knuckling down easy in those days," states Saunders. "I was a little rebellious and pretty stubborn. If people told me to go left, I'd go right. That's the way it was."

Knuckle down he did, though, subsequently earning himself a place at the University of Wales – again in his native Cardiff – to read for a BA (Hons) in Business Studies. From there, it was straight into the world of commercial banking. Was this a conscious move? "To be honest, it signalled the fact that I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life at the time. It was a sensible application of my education, and I thoroughly enjoyed it."

Saunders began what was to be a 20-year career in commercial and corporate banking (both at home and Stateside) at NatWest before moving on to the Allied Irish (AIB) in 1978 to become a branch manager. Rising through the ranks as projects manager and then senior advances manager – both positions based in the City – Saunders would eventually become a full divisional director in charge of £200 million worth of assets and around 200 members of staff. Indeed, the AIB's Asset Finance Division outperformed all market players from 1988 through to 1991. An obvious testament to Saunders' project management skills.

The industry must start to attract people in search of a serious job. Individuals who are looking for job variation, satisfaction and genuine career prospects. We need people with business and IT skills, and hopefully either existing management acumen or

A change of direction

At this point in our conversation, Saunders is keen to "step back" for a second. During the mid-to-late 1980s – the so-called 'Yuppie era' – he was living and working in London, at the very heart of the high-flying corporate banking world. After a while, though, he started to find the lifestyle a little distasteful.

"I wasn't at all happy with the amount of time I was able to devote to my life and my wife and two children. We made the decision to up sticks and move to Herefordshire."

Now firmly ensconced in the country, Saunders opted to breed horses in his spare time, at least in part "leaving behind the London madness for the fresh air and good food offered by a rural locality". Alas, this ideal world wasn't 100% perfect, mainly because Saunders was still commuting twice a week to and from the City. "Three hours into London on a Monday morning and three hours back on a Friday night. By the early 1990s the stress of all that was becoming too much. Enough was enough, so I pretended to be semi-retired."

Following on from the Business Link experience (garnered in the wake of this 'semi-retirement'), Saunders became chief executive of the South London Training and Enterprise Council and its subsidiary companies – otherwise known as SOLOTEC – at the behest of David Blunkett (then Secretary of State for the Department of Education). The organisation was responsible for the development and delivery of Adult and Youth Training and Education, Economic Development and Business Enterprise Services.

"There were huge problems there, so I had to go in and do a rescue job," opines Saunders, before proudly adding: "It was a troubleshooting exercise that went really well."

In practice, Saunders had to complete a wholesale re-engineering of the organisation to help protect the investment of public funds. The end result? 30% cost reductions, restored profitability and recognition of the fact that this was now a Top Five Training and Enterprise Council just 20 months after it had been threatened with closure.

Examining the security industry
While the private security industry isn't quite threatened with closure, many of its practices are firmly entrenched in the Dark Ages. There's a desperate and insatiable need for reform. When he was invited to apply for the post of chief executive at the SIA, Saunders recognised the challenge immediately.

"The job had all of the characteristics about it that really make me fizz," he states with genuine passion. "It was a green field site. The Act had passed through Parliament [Saunders was appointed in April 2002 to work alongside chairman Molly Meacher] and there was a wide open arena before us. There were no heavily pre-conceived ideas about what the SIA should look like. I could see so much potential, and an enormous scope for making a real difference."

Saunders was "over the moon" when it emerged he'd beaten his fellow contenders to the post following a series of assessment centres and psychometric tests that resembled "The Krypton Factor". He wanted to roll his sleeves up there and then, but obligations elsewhere – including a short-term project for The Prince of Wales' International Business Leaders' Forum – prevented him from doing so.

Undaunted, Saunders had valuable time at his disposal to reflect upon all the research he'd carried out on the private security industry prior to his appointment. Initially, he wanted to understand what makes the sector 'tick'. "That was probably something to do with my commercial background," he adds. "How does the industry work? Where does it get its money from? How does it function in terms of margins? What does the market look like?"

As an avid Sunday Times reader, Saunders is quick to point out that the early picture he painted for himself was quite startling. "I formed this image of an incredibly important industry worth billions of pounds in the UK," comments Saunders, "and one in which some very successful organisations were operating. Mind you, a good lot of the industry appeared to be held together with string and sticky tape. Everywhere you look there are businesses competing on price with huge staff turnovers. That simply will not work. You can't possibly make any money in such an environment. The situation has to change."

As Saunders rightly points out, it would be easy to argue the case for the SIA to come plodding along as a 'regulator of old', do what Government wanted it to do – ie license up to 500,000 individuals – produce a voluntary Approved Contractors Scheme, tick all the boxes and say 'Job done. The Act has been implemented'. "That was never the intention, though," states Saunders, "and isn't what the industry either wants or needs. Indeed, this is precisely why the strategic direction of the SIA is all about working with and alongside the security industry to transform it."

Right from the start, Saunders has been at great pains to point out that the SIA can help this industry become more competitive, improve its performance levels and make jobs more secure with better working conditions. By attracting better people, and investing in those people, the – quite correct – suggestion is that we'll then have an industry that "can do the job it was designed to do in the first place".

For Saunders, it's very much a business issue. "It's about helping an industry transform itself, with the knock-on impact of enormous benefits to society at large, to the police service and the Government's objective of reducing crime. As a regulator," he confirms, "that's probably the most exciting scenario with which you could be faced."

Differences in perception
One wonders what John Saunders' perception of our industry is now, almost two years on from his initial appointment. "It's a very diverse industry," he suggests. "There isn't really a great deal of connectivity between a wheel clamper and a private investigator, for example. Each segment of the industry has its own characteristics, some good and some not so good. That means our 'solution' has to centre on a common strategy, but one that's differentiated in terms of how it deals with each element of private sector security provision."

The task that lies ahead of the SIA is both massive and daunting, but Saunders is "delighted" with progress made to date. "From virtually nothing 18 months ago we've developed sound polices and strategies, and now have somewhere in the region of 100 staff on the books. Importantly, we've nurtured our policies in the wake of consultation with the industry. There's good business planning in place, and effective controls."

He adds: "We've always tried to understand the problems so that when we come up with the answers they'll be durable. The last thing this industry needs is to be lurching from one solution to another." Quite right.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and Saunders wouldn't have it any other way. He knows full well that the SIA will be judged on its results, and the outcome of the first batch of door supervisor licensing (scheduled to begin in March) is awaited with much interest. Until now, judgement has been passed solely by Gateway Reviews via the Cabinet Office.

"The last review, just prior to our signing the communications contract with BT, said that the SIA represents 'one of the best procurement processes seen across Government'. We like to think we're doing it right," says Saunders with great conviction.

The SIA chief executive is positively gushing about stakeholder involvement in the regulation process to date. "It has been fabulous," he says. "They've been worth their weight in gold. There hasn't just been cosmetic support, either, but thorough and sound advice all the way. If an idea comes before our management Board and there's little or no evidence of stakeholder engagement, it wouldn't have a cat in Hell's chance of entering the system."

What you need to create is an environment in which the buyer worries if the supplier isn’t making sufficient margin. The security service is mostly bought on price, but in so doing the quality is being squeezed out of the product

The cost of regulation
Saunders doesn't pull any punches when you ask him about the cost of a licence, now set at £190 per operative. "The industry has lived on slim margins and a huge staff turnover for some time now," urges Saunders. "Prices have continually been forced downwards at the same time as costs have risen. There's contract churn, whereby almost at a whim customers switch from one security services provider to another. No industry can live and survive under those conditions."

For Saunders, the introduction of licensing is primarily about raising the standards of people working within the industry. "However, it's only one piece of a much bigger jigsaw. The investment of £190 in a licence represents a very small percentage of the cost of providing that resource. If you were to compare the cost of a licence with staff turnover, for example, the monetary side of the equation would instantly be rendered insignificant."

As far as Saunders is concerned, agonising over the cost of the licence is the wrong kind of agony. "Let's agonise over the real issues facing businesses in this industry," he suggests. "Staff turnover. Quality of service. Re-engineering the relationship between supplier and buyer. This is where the new competitive advantage in security is really sitting."

He continues: "Licensing is coming. It's there to achieve a purpose. If we miss its purpose we'll have missed the point completely. There hasn't been a massive concern over the cost of a licence and regulation in general. Most of the anxiety has come from the service suppliers, not buyers."

Harking back to earlier comments concerning engagement with the industry's stakeholders, Saunders is clearly enthused about the people he's already met in the private sector. "Having conversations with David Dickinson, Martin Gill, Tony O'Neill, Richard Childs, Peter Black, Nick Buckles and Thomas Berglund can be fascinating," says Saunders with obvious enthusiasm.

"And I read your previous Profile of Stuart Lowden ('Lowden clear', SMT, September 2003, pp16-20). Stuart's thinking reveals the new mindset in the industry. The work carried out by The Security Institute in producing its manned security procurement guide ('Guard right', SMT, December 2003, pp26-29) is also setting new benchmarks for us all."

On the one hand, then, are those agonising over the £190 licence fee. "On the other," chips in Saunders, "you have some very clear-thinking individuals determined to drive this industry forwards. I know where my heart lies," he continues, suggesting that if the licence fee had been set too low it wouldn't have created any change because "people would just carry on doing what they're doing and absorb the little extra cost. That's of no use to anyone."

Taking a step forward
If we look at the profile of manned security in today's world, there's already staff turnover in the region of 25-75%. In a regulated, licensed regime, where's the new workforce going to come from? Don't forget, either, that there's currently a huge skills shortage in this country.

"The industry must start to attract people in search of a serious job," adds Saunders. "Individuals who are looking for job variation, satisfaction and genuine career prospects. We need people with business and IT skills, and hopefully either existing management acumen or the scope to develop it."

Saunders then invites SMT's readers to think of regulation in rather more specific terms. "In three years' time, will anybody really be interested in having to go through licensing, criminality checks and training if they're then going to be in a boring, insecure job that only pays the National Minimum Wage? It's just not going to happen. There's a change coming, and the sooner this industry starts to manage that change the better."

Does Saunders feel that the client or contractor should foot the bill when it comes to the licence fee? Pausing for reflection – in line with the placard adorning his office wall that reads: "Keep calm, Carry on" – he delivers a stark response.

"As a buyer of whatever I buy, I fully expect and demand value for money. That being the case, I don't buy the cheapest commodity. I buy something that's fit for purpose and that I, as a buyer, am satisfied can deliver what it is I need. I really don't believe the buyers of security services are any different to any other buyer."

He then brings in an excellent analogy from time spent Stateside. More specifically in Detroit, where Saunders was seconded some years back to evaluate the supply chains in the motor industry. "That whole supply chain was screwed up because the big car manufacturers with all the power had done nothing but drive prices down through the system to the point where there was absolutely no money in it, irrespective of whether you were talking about first, second or third tier suppliers. Quality had all but disappeared."

To rebuild that chain, Saunders suggested quality had to be reinstated. "Quality costs," he states sharply. "Much investment in IT, for example, created a situation where buyers and suppliers then both started to make money. What you need to create is an environment in which the buyer worries if the supplier isn't making sufficient margin. The security service is mostly bought on price, but in so doing the quality is being squeezed out of the product."

Will approval be mandatory?
According to Saunders, the SIA is currently "weighing up its options" in terms of the Approved Contractors Scheme. Many commentators feel this should be mandatory, of course. He tells SMT: "We're currently wrestling with whether or not there should be a different scheme for different sectors of the industry or a single scheme that fits all. And exactly what should be the type of approval criteria adopted?"

Along the way, more than a passing glance has been afforded to the European Foundation for Quality Management Model, it seems.

"Whether the scheme is mandatory or not, it must have tangible benefits for the industry," adds Saunders. "We're acutely aware of the need for dovetailing processes for recruitment, vetting, screening and licensing. That perhaps becomes easier in an environment where only approved companies are involved. We know that we have to get the manned security element of all this so right."

Another major bone of contention among SMT's readership has been the fact that in-house security personnel have been – for now, at least – excluded from the licensing agenda. Are there any proposals afoot to change that status quo?

"There is indeed a strong body of opinion out there suggesting we change the legislation to include in-house security personnel," replies Saunders. "What people must remember is that Government made a conscious decision to exclude them. That being the case, we have to go back to Government with well-reasoned arguments if there's going to be an about-turn in mindset. First, we have to be sure ourselves that this would be the correct path to follow. We're working on this issue now."

Hope for the future
The mono prints of zoom lenses hanging from the wall of John Saunders' stylish office next door to St James's Park appear firmly fixed on him, and what he's trying to accomplish on behalf of this industry. "We really are not about being holier than thou, and telling this industry how to conduct its business," he affirms. "We have far more humility than that."

Going forward, Saunders is adamant about the industry's future. "In five years from now, it would be catastrophic if the security industry finished up looking fundamentally as it does now, with the same business model and a thin spread of regulation around the place that didn't do much. That would be a disaster."

The challenge before the SIA is change. Massive change in an industry where the pertaining business framework demands a radical overhaul. It's a huge task.