Director, Public Safety & Security

About the Role

This position oversees Public Safety & Security for Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center and corporate facilities. The Director is responsible for providing the vision and leadership necessary to ensure a safe and secure environment for all persons at the designated entity level. This position has a defined vision and actionable plans to achieve short and long term goals, while maintaining a consistent level of service with the priorities established by executive leadership and demonstrating operational efficiencies and improving overall staff effectiveness through the professional and prudent management of all departmental resources.

Key Responsibilities

• Disseminate necessary information, resolve conflicts, build cohesion, maintain a clearly defined and achievable end state, and confirm that Public Safety and Security's strategy and goals are in alignment with the organizational strategic areas of focus
• Provide oversight, guidance and career development to managers, supervisors, and staff, with emphasis on assuring an orderly management succession plan, maintaining staff performance readiness through training, and high employee job satisfaction
• Proactively set and effectively manage the department's operating and capital budgets
• Emphasize HM Mission and Public Safety vision with 4 key values: knowledge, training, teamwork, and technology
• Oversee the security management plan of the entity and drive the Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention program
• Oversee the activities of the department staff, ensuring quality, productivity, functional excellence and efficiency to accomplish strategic and operational objectives
• Accountable for employee engagement, adequate staffing levels, budget development and compliance, staffing decisions such as hiring and terminating employment, coaching and counseling employees on work related performance, and developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure a safe and effective work environment
• Ensure training, monitoring and operations initiatives are implemented which secure compliance with ethical and legal business practices and accreditation/regulatory/government regulations
• Direct, develop and implement strategic and operational/high level projects and processes either through independent/highly autonomous work or through the facilitation of work teams
• Oversee management of and ensure development for staff to meet overall objectives in terms of quality, service and cost effectiveness
• Provide timely guidance and feedback to help others strengthen specific knowledge/skill areas needed to accomplish a task or solve a problem
• Direct management responsibilities of selection, scheduling, supervision, retention, and evaluation of employees
• Provide leadership and communication to maintain a competent and engaged employee group by conducting regular department meetings, rounding on all employees, completing performance appraisals, conducting new hire feedback sessions, coaching/corrective counseling, and providing recognition/commendations
• Identify opportunities and take action to build strategic relationships between one's area and other areas, teams, departments, and units to achieve business goals
• Drive the promotion of teamwork within and between departments; participate and/or lead and facilitate department process improvements as needed
• Review actions related to personnel matters of department employees, including training, counseling, and enforcement of disciplinary actions
• Identify, develop, and utilize necessary relationships with internal and external key stakeholders to ensure all Public Safety and Security departments are working towards systems integration or maintaining a system focus
• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with key hospital leaders, MOB leadership, clinical staff, administrative services, outside vendors, subcontractors, and local, regional, state, and federal law enforcement agencies
• Oversee Public Safety and Security staff and law enforcement officers to ensure that all aspects of security operations for the entity, IT Security, and Security Dispatch are conducted in accordance with hospital policies and procedures
• Oversee department operations, designated projects, schedules and activities as needed to ensure that goals or objectives are accomplished within the prescribed time frame
• Set priorities and functional standards, giving direction to staff as necessary to ensure the best possible delivery of service and high customer/patient satisfaction
• Drive department service standards and activities to impact department and/or system score for patient/customer-based satisfaction, through role modeling and fostering accountability
• Serve and actively participate on various entity committees as a voice for the department
• Act as the subject matter expert for areas of security operations, investigations, and emergency preparedness activities
• When directed, serve as Hospital Security Officer on the incident command committee during all designated hospital emergencies
• Act as liaison with law enforcement and all other public officials regarding investigations and other areas of mutual concern
• Adhere to policy, procedures, and plans that are in place to prevent workplace injury, violence or adverse outcomes to patients, guests, and staff
• Foster communication and collaboration with security leaders across Houston Methodist
• Confirm the efficient flow of information and communication to ensure applicable persons are informed, involved when necessary, in all security matters
• Ensure a safe and effective working environment; monitor and/or revise the department safety plan and/or any specific accreditation/regulatory required safety guidelines
• Responsible for staff maintenance of credentials and competencies, per accrediting/licensing agency and/or department guidelines as applicable
• Employ a proactive approach in the optimization of safe outcomes and information systems by monitoring and improving the department workflow and enhancing operations, using peer-to-peer accountability and identifying solutions via collaboration
• Implement process improvements utilizing tools such as lean principles
• Role model situational awareness, using teachable moments to improve safety
• Responsible for employee compliance to policies and procedures and performs associated actions upon non-compliance (i.e., licensure/certification compliance, focal point review requirements, disaster plan, in-services, influenza immunization, wage and hour, standard hours, timely termination submission, timely timecard approval, etc.)
• Create new reporting formats or promote existing ones that reflect security trends (e.g., workplace violence or percentage of staff aware of respective security policies)
• Review and approve Security Services policies and procedures to ensure they are consistent with hospital and system policies, procedures, and goals
• Identify and implement the use of appropriate metrics and tools, consistently used across the system to measure levels of effectiveness, to allow the development of performance improvement activates, thus increasing the results for desired outcomes
• Provide oversight to ensure regular periodic audits, drills and testing of all security related systems are done and documented in proper format
• Notify relevant hospital leadership (i.e. Administration, Business Practices or Risk management) of all incidents or threats that may have impact on the hospital financially, legally, publicly or impact the safety and security of the facility
• Analyze organizational security trends and maintain Uniform Crime Reporting statistics, as required by the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act
• Serve on committee or groups with other hospital/MOB leadership to collectively identify areas of improvement and produce action plans to address them effectively
• Develop and manage the department's operating and capital budgets

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree (e.g., Security related, Business Administration, Human Resources, or Management) preferred.

Experience: Seven years of people management experience in corporate security, law enforcement, or a military environment required. For internal employees, six years of people management experience in corporate security, law enforcement, or a military environment.

Licenses and Certifications

Required: SECUR-C - Security Officer Commissioned - State Licensure - Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation_PSV (Licensure by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Private Security Agencies)

Preferred: Certified Protection Professional (CPP) within 6 months or Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator (CHPA) or other relevant certification within 6 months

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through on-going skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations
• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially about activities impacting patient or employee safety or security
• Demonstrates the ability to interact with others in a way that gives them confidence in one's intentions and those of the organization
• Ability to use appropriate interpersonal styles and techniques to gain acceptance of ideas or plans; modifying one's own behavior to accommodate tasks, situations and individuals involved
• Demonstrates leadership qualities and critical thinking through self-direction initiative and effective interpersonal skills and oral/written communication skills
• Ability to identify and understand issues, problems and opportunities, comparing data from different sources to draw conclusions; using effective approaches for choosing a course of action or developing appropriate solutions; taking action that is consistent with available facts, constraints and probable consequences
• Extensive knowledge of regulatory and accreditation agency requirements that impact department; stays abreast of industry changes
• Demonstrates highly effective communication skills—strong written communications and platform presentation abilities
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Demonstrates flexibility and adaptability in the workplace
• Capable of leading teams/facilitating groups, building consensus and garnering highest confidence in professionalism and work product by senior leadership
• Ability to work under pressure and balance many competing priorities; highly responsive and solution/action oriented
• Proficiency in spreadsheet, word processing, and presentation software
• Maintains a positive and supportive attitude and demeanor
• Professional handling of exposure to confidential/sensitive information
• Lead all elements of Public Safety and Security operations to mitigate identified risks
• Plan, implement and evaluate all aspects of organizational, technological, and environmental (i.e. physical) security
• Develop organizational security strategy/plan to support business goals
• International travel and experience dealing with foreign governments and healthcare officials