A house with security, or a secure home?
Karen Connell from Hunter Protection helps explain the difference and how to achieve it.
We changed a lot in 2020. The Coronavirus pandemic affected everyone, and while we were in the same storm, we were not all in the same boat. How we lived depended very much on the boat we row, but how successful people were at adapting was a measure of their resilience.
Karen Connell, Director of Hunter Protection, London’s pre-eminent security company that serves Royalty, Heads of State, and UHNW families says “being rich does not equate with resilience. You cannot buy mental health, and you cannot buy your way out of feeling loss or fear. Resilience is not an end state and is made up of a multitude of factors in someone’s life, and as Covid19 taught us, life can change in an instant.”
What does resilience have to do with security?
A person’s sense of safety and security is fundamental to their wellbeing. My goal is to create a secure home, not just a house with security. When someone’s resilience is low, whether they be the housekeeper to the head of the house, their ability to withstand adversity will be severely tested and vulnerabilities (cracks) start to appear and their behaviour can become erratic, difficult to predict, and possibly unsafe. Regardless of all the security technology available, until we become a nation of robots, human behaviour will reign supreme in our daily lives. When a person’s resilience is tested, it is imperative to have people around who can lift them up, protect and help overcome the shortfall until they feel ok again.
What vulnerabilities or cracks have you seen in households caused by someone’s behaviour?
A common vulnerability people talk about is one where a family or staff member publicises personal information or pictures online, but a well-run household can usually overcome something like that. The type of behaviour I look at most closely is far less obvious and to many might seem innocuous but can threaten everyone in the house. For example, if I see multiple social media posts talking about themselves, how important and connected they are, how their employer can’t do without them, etc I see this person as not only very needy and therefore a potential drain on their colleagues, but I also view them as someone who might be susceptible to flattery, bribery, and betrayal. Most of the time the person is completely unaware of the risk their behaviour poses, but that makes it even more unlikely that they will change and so I would recommend they be removed from the team.
Another example I’ve dealt with came from a break in at a home where the culprits were quickly rumoured to be someone in the house; the typical “in-side job”. Literally everyone from the gardener to the home-owner’s mother were pointing fingers, and the tabloids were being fed (or making up) salacious gossip. Even after the police made an arrest, an air of suspicion hung over the team and everyone was stressed, unhappy, and the normal safe rhythm of the house was lost. Central to the problem was that every member of the house had created obvious routines that the criminals could predict and work around, and no one knew what to do in an emergency and so they all turned on each other. In this instance the client had a choice, dismiss everyone and start again, or seek to retrain the household and rebuild people’s trust and resilience.
How does Hunter Protection build resilience?
For the past 30 years, I have worked with some of the largest and most prestigious companies in the world helping them to understand how people work, make decisions, and behave under intense pressure. I do not train “resilience”, but rather the elements that are critical for that state to be achieved. I help our close protection and residential teams how to understand how to adapt their communication style so that they may build rapport and trust with clients and other staff, and most importantly how to spot and guard against problem behaviour that could threaten the safety and wellbeing of everyone in the household.
Who Can Benefit from Hunter Protection’s Services?
Since Hunter Protection was founded, it has protected royalty, heads of state, diplomats, celebrities, HNW individuals and families, but my aim is also to create a safe-haven for everyone who lives and works in the property.
Hunter Protection’s operating procedures are created for efficiency but are designed for people. Our elite operators receive communication and behaviour training from me directly, and I also extend the offer of training to everyone in the household. We also offer our safety briefings and training to neighbouring properties so that everyone in the immediate area can play an active role in guarding against complacency, unsafe behaviour, and habits that serve the criminal element.
Our attention to detail and level of service is unashamedly not for everyone, but that is what sets Hunter Protection apart as rare and extraordinary.
