As many learning professionals do, I travel frequently around the
U.S. and sometimes to other countries. It has been interesting to watch
the “security” procedures evolve since 911 and to observe the
consistency, or lack thereof, across the U.S. airports. How many times
has something that didn’t raise an alert in my outbound airport suddenly
cause concern in the return airport? Or it was fine one week and the
next week concern are raised? I love to travel, and it is essential for
my professional success, yet I have found packing and navigating
through security to be more and more of a hassle over time.
And as a
learning professional, I wonder how well trained these agents are and
how TSA ensures learning transfer and quality of work.
Yesterday I flew from St. Louis (STL) to Denver (DEN)
to begin a 12-day business trip which will include a business
mastermind retreat with some valued colleagues, facilitating a 3-day
ASTD Training Certificate pre-conference workshop, and attending and presenting at the 4 day
ASTD International Conference & Exposition.
No easy way to pack light for this trip due to the variety of
activities and outfits required! One of my check-in bags (weighing in
at 40.5#) exclusively held materials for the pre-conference workshop!
(I often say, “If you are going to do training right, you don’t travel light”). As I constantly do, I thought carefully about how to pack to minimize hassle and maximize productivity.
Two checked bags later, I was in the security line with one rolling
check-in bag (containing my casual clothes for the retreat as well as
some business materials) and my over-sized purse/duffel (containing my
computer, reading material, purse, etc.). It was 6:00 a.m. – earlier
than I typically want to even talk to people let alone be lectured to.
One of the two TSA agents that check boarding passes and IDs was
continually admonishing the passengers to
“Remove all of your liquids from your bags. This is why the line is so long and moving so slow. How hard is it people?” (she actually said that a couple times!)
“Anything liquid needs to be seen to verify it is safe. Remove it
before you get to the scanners. You need to make these lines go
faster.”
REALLY? I get that TSA’s job is to keep us safe, but is belittling us helpful to that end? On the TSA
website,
they state “we are people of integrity who respect and care for others
…” That didn’t sound or feel like respect and caring to me.
Finally, my bags went through the scanner as I did. On the other
side, one of the agents asked if the green rolling bag was mine and
explained there was an item that looked like a small knife in there, so
they needed to search the bag. No problem, I’m happy to cooperate. She
asked to see my jewelry bag and I also pointed her toward a small
office supplies bag as I assumed what she was looking for was in one
there. Sure enough, a small pocket knife, blade about 1.5″ long (that
once was my father’s and I’d been carrying around with me for about 8
years), that I use to open boxes and training materials, was the
culprit. (Note:
TSA prohibited items list states no knives are allowed in carry-on but you can bring metal, pointed tip scissors with a blade up to 4″ long. Hm.)
I comment to the agent that it is frustrating that I’ve been through
so many airports, including STL with this little knife many times and no
one has ever questioned it. She says “Yes, it can be easy to miss
things. This inspector is really good though; she and I have both been
here since 911.” Being polite, albeit frustrated, I sacrifice my knife,
thank her for helping keep us safe and go on my way.
About 4 hours later I am at the
Valdoro Mountain Lodge in
Breckenridge, CO (beautiful place) unpacking and can’t find my
toiletries bag. I was sure I put it in the big checked bag that had my
conference clothes and, other than the toiletries bag, was intended to
stay in my car while in Breckenridge. I’m digging in it (in the hotel
parking garage) and finally decide I need to bring the bag up to my room
to properly unpack it and find my toiletries. Upstairs we go. No
luck. Toiletries bag MIA. About to call my husband to ask him to
overnight it because I clearly must have left it at home, I decide I
might as well unpack my carry-on bag first.
Much to my surprise, there was my toiletries bag! While I thought I
had packed so carefully, I had accidentally put my toiletries in my
carry-on bag! In the green rolling bag. With the 3-1-1 clear plastic
liquid bag inside it. Filled with multiple bottles and tubes of
liquids. Not far from the office supplies bag (less one small pocket
knife) and the jewelry bag.
“She’s really good; we’ve both been here since 911″
echoed through my head. One of TSA’s expert, high-performing screening
agents completely missed my large toiletries bag with the 3-1-1 liquids
bag filled with liquids. REALLY?
As a traveler, I was #thankful that my toiletries bag wasn’t
discovered. It would have really bummed me out if fueled the fire of
the rude Security Checkpoint agent by being one of the admonished
travelers who “didn’t take out their liquids” and “slowed the line
down.” I was also a bit shocked that something that obvious was missed
and a bit concerned for the true safety of our air travel.
As a learning professional, I was flooded with questions. If she was
one of the “high performers,” what were the lower performers missing?
What happens to the security agents scanning ability when they have
locked in to one concern? Is it normal brain functioning to completely
miss other potential concerns at that point? Does TSA use recent brain
research to design their processes and training? How does TSA train
their agents? What type of refreshers do they give long-term agents to
keep them fresh? What are their quality metrics? How do they track
quality lapses such as this? Do they have a feedback loop to
incorporate learning from lapses such as this and improve their
processes? Not to mention, do they provide Customer Service and
Interpersonal Skills training so that their agents reduce the stress of
travel and tension of being in security lines instead of adding to it by
insulting and belittling the travelers?
We take our shoes off because one person put explosives in his
shoes. We have severe liquid limitations because a few people smuggled
on explosive liquids. Both of these measures were after-the-fact,
reactionary measures. How can TSA get ahead of potential threats,
modify their rules and train Security personnel ahead of the fact to
keep us safe? And then, of course, how can they ensure consistent
quality inspection and smooth processes so that the minority of “bad
guys” don’t get through but the majority of “good guys” aren’t punished
in the process?
What about your organization? How often do your “high performers”
slip? How do you keep all of your employees skills sharp, especially in
critical operations? How do you learn from quality misses and improve
your processes?
These are just a few of the questions learning professionals need to be thinking about to help our organizations succeed.
