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Coaching
on Nov 16 2011
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I have been an ADI for 25 years and during that time I have worked in all areas of the industry from teaching learners, to training ADIs, to advanced driver training to fleet. I have been interested in coaching for a long time and many of the courses I have written and programmes I have developed have been around a client centred approach. In the last three years I have worked hard on improving my understanding of coaching and because I teach learners on a day to day basis, as well as train driving instructors, I have plenty of opportunity to practise what I preach. I have also completed an MSc at Cranfield University in Driver Behaviour and Education, which looked at all aspects of how people learn and what motivates their behaviour.

When you trained to become a driving instructor did your part 3 training revolve primarily around the pre-set test combinations? By the time you had finished your training did you know how to meet and greet your customer, set the goals for the lesson based on their needs, plan a route that took into account their personality, focus on their strengths and help them develop, raise their awareness of the risks on the road, build their responsibility for the driving task? Did you know how to prepare them for safe driving for life? Or, did you just know how to pass the part 3?

From a business point of view did you know what to charge for your service, how to market yourself, how to bring in recommendations, whether to incentivise by offering discounts or rewards?

The fact is that the majority of you, if you answer honestly, would have to admit that your instructor training left you poorly prepared for the real world of being a driving instructor.

But it is never too late to learn and if you keep an open mind and examine new challenges non-judgementally, you will make a massive success of your business.

The way you were trained to become a driving instructor is a mirror reflection of the way we taught people to drive in the old world. We taught them how to pass the test knowing that they would have plenty of time to develop their skills once they were out there on their own. We got them through the test and the real learning happened afterwards. We thought this was the correct way to do things because the DSA reinforced this with the standards they set for the practical test. We argued that if the DSA wanted us to really teach them how to drive then the DSA would raise the standards to assess these real world driving skills.

That’s not okay though is it? When one in five newly qualified drivers is involved in a serious crash that is very not okay!

In the new world we coach our clients so that they become aware of how their thoughts and feelings affect their driving behaviour and we help them develop their self-evaluation skills so that they can better manage their thoughts and feelings. We adapt the way we do this for every single person that gets into our car and sits behind the steering wheel. We make sure they understand how they get distracted and, again, that they know how best to manage potential distractions. We coach them to take responsibility for the driving task so that they remain in control and learn how to make choices and recognise the consequences of those choices.

The next article will focus on choice.