Debbie Walker's 20-year tenure at G4S is storied and varied. She relates her passion for storytelling in communications to Andrew Thomas

Photographs by Jeff Leyshon

It’s a sobering thought that a career at certain organisations can bring with it inescapable and regular contact with death and suffering – a medical career for instance, or life in the military. The security industry is another such sector; confrontation with evil is an occupational hazard. Debbie Walker’s aim is to tell the stories of the bravery and good work carried out by the employees of G4S, where she has, through its various inceptions, worked for 20 years, becoming its group head of communications in 2004.

“We do come across people who want to attack us, and we all have colleagues who have been injured or killed,” says Walker. “It’s tough to deal with, but there’s so much good that we do. That’s what makes the culture at G4S strong, but I would love to get back to talking about the brilliant people who work here.”

Walker is a natural storyteller; personal and professional anecdotes come thick and fast. She turned her back on the idea of university, much to the chagrin of her parents. “They expected it, but I just wanted to get out there and earn some money. I wanted my own car and to be in control of my life.” At school English was her strongest subject. “I was drawn to marketing because I thought it was about storytelling. I created a list of companies I wanted to work for and just wrote to them all.”

It paid off – Walker started her communications career as a marketing assistant close to her hometown at computer giant HoneywellBull. It was a junior role, but Walker loved it. She was there for a year, through a recruitment agency, she found a similar role at London-based ICC.

ICC sold data and although this gave Walker her first experience of digital communications, she could already see that technology was changing fast. “We were selling online databases, but looking back it was really antiquated, a little like ceefax. I was responsible for lead generation and I suddenly realised how limited the job was.”

Walker knew she was ready to move. She applied the same focus she had used to get her first job, targeting a handful of companies that felt right. One of those companies was Securicor. “I sent them my CV, and told them what I could do for them. As with many letters, I got a reply telling me that they’d keep my CV on file. Securicor really did have that file and nine months later they really did come back to me.”

That was in 1993. Walker has remained with the same firm for the past 20 years, albeit renamed to G4S, following a merger with Group 4 Falck in 2004.

Her first role at Securicor was for one of its smaller business units, Securicor Alarms. Her role supported the sales and marketing function, dealing with aftermarket communications, as well as motivating the salesteam. Communications was changing, however. Walker says PR was not originally her responsibility, but “gradually these extra parts of what is now the comms function were added to the role. I was there at the start of that convergence in communications.”

As Walker’s career progressed her responsibility increased. But comms practitioners’ roles weren’t just widening at G4S. Throughout business, the stature of corporate communications was being redefined as its role broadened. “When I joined Securicor we didn’t really speak with one voice back then. This was partly structural; we had group marketing, and we had divisional marketing and then each of the business units had their own people.” Increasingly, however, the need to talk as a corporate brand became more important and, equally, the ability to do so became easier.

Walker cites the factors at Securicor that facilitated the convergence and growth of communications including technology and the growing recognition of brand value. This was fortunate for Securicor; in 1999 its 40% holding in Cellnet was worth more than its own valued business. Securicor got £3.15 billion for the sale.

By this time, Walker was working in cash services, one of the largest business units at Securicor, with a high profile in the UK. Walker’s role here, however was not corporate communications. She had been recruited to create a focused marketing strategy for the banking industry, before assuming, two years later in 1998, the role of head of marketing services and planning.

Looking back, Walker doesn’t see this move back into marketing as anything other than a linear progression. Indeed she believes that marketing and communications are the same.

It is not a view shared by all, but it may be easier to understand why Walker believes it. Her role in the cash services division encompassed all areas of communications, even product development. “Whatever aspect of communications you call it, the fundamental driver is the same. Telemarketing, media relations, internal communications – your role is to tell a story to influence someone’s behaviour. The aim is to get an audience to do something or to think differently,” says Walker.

A campaign that exemplifies this approach is one that Walker still remembers fondly. “One of our best campaigns was when we actually targeted criminals. We did a PR job explaining how technology meant it would be impossible to steal money without it getting ruined. We treated the criminals as the audience, primarily trying to influence their behaviour by telling stories about the systems and procedures. We focused on the technology, but the underlying message was that you wouldn’t get away with the crime.”

Walker’s role continued to expand until, in 2000, she took over the top comms job at Securicor plc. As director of communications she reported directly to the CEO and her new position involved speaking to a number of new audiences. Her move into the plc role coincided with a period of major acquisitions for Securicor. She had begun writing scripts for investor presentations and slowly it seemed a logical progression for her to assume the investor relations responsibility. “This was something I’d never done before and it felt a huge learning curve,” says Walker. “Talking to new audiences requires you to look at things from a different angle. It was good preparation for some of the issues we’ve had to deal with over the years.”

If Walker had needed preparation for talking to new audiences, there would never be a more suitable time. On September 11, 2001 four passenger jets were hijacked and targeted at American buildings causing nearly 3,000 deaths. Securicor had undertaken the passenger screening for two of those flights. Although, as Walker quickly points out, there was never any evidence linking their screening to the attacks. In the aftermath of September 11, Walker travelled to Washington on a weekly basis to speak to politicians or Securicor employees. In this role, she was involved with the press and dealing with crises in a way she never had before.

“It was a terrible time, for everyone, but what it did was really force the agenda. From then on we had really robust crisis management procedures in place. There was a strong recognition across the entire group that even small things can escalate. Some of these are self-inflicted, but we realised then that people are our brand and I think we started to engage much more in what we were doing and how we represent ourself. It was a defining moment for the company and certainly a defining moment for me,” she says.

In 2004, Securicor merged with Group 4, creating the worlds largest security provider and the world’s third largest non-state owned employer, with a 62,000-strong workforce. Walker became group head of communications and was invited to sit on the executive committee, initially only as a guest, but as an official appointee five years later.

Walker’s view is that every comms director should be involved with the ExCo. “It is vital that someone who understands reputation and risk sits at the table,” says Walker. “We can see the reputation challenges of certain projects or the human rights risks of working in certain countries. It makes sense to have those conversations at the very beginning rather than worrying about what the PR will be at the end. You don’t always have to be members, but you do need to be there. You’ve got to be in the room; to be in the heart of it, and not on the fringes.

The crisis management procedures Walker learned during her days in post -9/11 Washington would be put into play during the summer of 2012, and the much-reported failure of G4S to provide its contracted quota of security personnel to the London Olympics.

In March 2011, G4S had been appointed the ‘official security services provider’ and was contracted to provide 2,000 security guards, with the responsibility of training and managing the remaining 8,000. Nine months later, the government announced that it was increasing its security workforce to 23,000 and G4S’ contract increased to 10,400. Weeks before the beginning of the Olympics, G4S CEO, Nick Buckles said the company would be unable to meet the full tally. The press turned on G4S in full fury. In turn, G4S was attacked in Parliament and senior executives were hauled in front of government select committees.

For Walker it was a stressful time. Not only was her company under attack, but she and her department were being castigated for poor communications. “Even in the PR trade press we were being criticised personally as people who didn’t value communications. But it was completely the opposite,” says Walker

While her department was handling up to 600 press enquiries a day, Walker’s attention was on those who had already committed to work. “Amidst the frenzy and dealing with the media and the select committee the most important challenge was keeping the 4,500 who were already at work to stay there, making sure that they felt good about being part of it. We then had to get the remaining 4,500 recruited and turning up to work.”

Walker refuses to countenance criticism of her role. “Our team did a brilliant job,” she insists. Her voice is tinged with a sense of the injustice of so much criticism. “In the end, the security was a big success. We did get 8,500 people out there who worked really well with the Army. There were no security issues and no queues and no one will really write that story.”

It is a fascinating story. Walker’s team, desperate to cut through the negative press, turned to social media, text messages and word-of-mouth to reach their employees. You can tell she is as comfortable working with digital communications as she is with traditional influencer tools. “I wouldn’t describe myself as a geek but I do love the latest gadgets. I really enjoy digital communications, but remember when I joined Securicor 20 years ago we had one computer in the department and you went over to the computer to do your work and when you finished you went back to your desk.”

Walker has lived through great change during her 20 years at G4S. What has remained constant, however, has been her loyalty to the firm. She was genuinely upset over the Olympics crisis, as much for the problems faced by the ordinary G4S workforce as for her own department. “The poor guy who was going about his job was getting grief from people in the high street. That seemed really unfair.” The sense of collegiate pride she has for G4S is very strong, and the stories she tells come tumbling out. The motivation to tell stories has clearly never left her.