Five ways to improve annual security refresher training

Give your cleared employees the training they need to be able to focus on how to protect their classified contracts. We all know that to check the block, the annual refresher training should complement the initial security training. But does it have to be the same presentations over and over? Engineers, supervisors, program manager and others are extremely intelligent and want to be challenged. Here aer some great suggested to help you do just that.

     1. Build on last year’s training. Many FSOs make the mistake of providing initial security briefing every year with here’s how to mark, lock it up in a security container, and on and on. This insults people’s intelligence and limits your effectiveness.  For example, you might demonstrate the importance of reporting by highlighting how reporting has helped reduce security violations or even streamlined a process.

     2. Make training relevant to the cleared employee’s mission. Things to consider are contract statements of work, DD Forms 254, mission statements, vision and etc. Make the training real to how the employee performs.

     3. Change the format, location, time and setting. There is no rule that says training has to be PowerPoint based or a lecture. Consider using working groups or workshops and invite cleared employees to solve security issues. Develop a scenario, provide the NISPOM guidelines and have the group come up with the solution. Workshops and panel discussions provide out of the box thinking. The FSO becomes a facilitator and not a lecturer.

     4. Bring in experts. You can invite fellow FSOs, speakers from professional organizations, consultants, counter-intelligence experts and etc to provide your training for you.

     5. Provide training based on organizational structures. Executives and KMPs want to know how security policy impacts classified contracts and the organization. Cleared employees want to know how to engage security in their performance on classified contracts. Supporting elements such as human resources, facilities and legal might have other concerns. Creating tailored training gets results.

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