Training of internal trainers (instructors) on safe driving

When it comes to driver training in a large company, where there are hundreds and thousands of them, the idea very quickly comes to mind that you can save a lot of money if drivers are taught not by an external provider, but by employees of the company itself, the so-called internal trainers.

If you only take money into account, then you can really save money. But the problem is that this money should not just be spent, but spent with maximum benefit for the customer. This means that after training, road risks and accidents should be reduced to a minimum level, and along with this, the company's costs for car repairs and insurance will decrease, working hours due to downtime due to accidents will decrease, the safety of transported goods, timely deliveries, and so on will increase. Such results can only be achieved through effective and high-quality training, after which even experienced drivers who have been driving for many years will want to change their driving habits and reconsider their driving style. If the training is conducted formally, "for show," then changes in reducing accidents should not be expected. However, the experience of many large companies shows that training internal driving coaches at a high level is very difficult and costly, and a number of pitfalls must be taken into account.

1. Coaches are appointed without asking their desire to work in this profession and in this position.
Very often, coaches are appointed by those who are less busy with other tasks, or who are easier to get to work more, or who can be paid less for it. At the same time, the desire to learn a new, and very difficult, profession is very important for the success of the project. If a candidate for a coach starts learning "from under the stick", then you don't have to expect a good result, despite all the efforts of the master trainers.

2. The coaches were not relieved of other duties.
If a person continues to work most of the time in their previous position and combines this with training, this means one of the following options: either the workload in the previous position was low and allows them to perform another large task without prejudice (which is unlikely), or the person will neglect the new task, since it is additional, and the main one his responsibility for the previous task, or the third option is that the person will overexert himself and quickly burn out.

3. The coaches were not tested for their ability to teach.
A coach is a teacher, a teacher. Teaching is very different from working as a driver, mechanic, or engineer, but it is somewhat similar to the work of a good leader who educates and trains his subordinates. It is not always possible for a good mechanic or a BDD engineer to become a good coach. Someone is hindered by the fear of public speaking, someone does not know how to articulate their thoughts clearly. Yes, many skills can be taught and trained, but with good inclinations and abilities, plus with high motivation to learn new knowledge and skills, the process will be much easier.

4. There is no prophet in his homeland.
An employee must enjoy high authority in the team in order to be listened to in his new role as a coach, otherwise no one will take him seriously. Yesterday he was like everyone else, sometimes he violated traffic regulations, and today he suddenly tells everyone that you can't do that.
Another difficulty is that the coach needs to be able to switch between informal communication in familiar situations and a more formal style in training.

5. Coaches are dependent on management.
The coach is a full-time employee of the company and reports to both the immediate supervisor and the top manager represented by the CEO or president of the company.
And if, for some industrial or economic reasons, the management instructs to shorten the training program or not to conduct it in reality at all, but only to make certificates, then the coach will have a difficult choice – to follow the instructions contrary to the voice of conscience, or refuse to follow the instructions of the management, which threatens trouble up to dismissal.

6. The trainers were trained according to a very short and narrow program.
The knowledge and skills that a coach possesses should resemble an iceberg – above water, what he tells, and under water, 7 times more is what he actually knows and knows how to do. This is important in order to be able to answer any difficult and tricky question from the training participants.
Therefore, a good coach needs to understand many areas – pedagogy, psychology, car design, driving practice, traffic regulations, physics of motion, etc. In addition to primary training, you need an internship under the guidance of an experienced mentor coach and periodic retraining, in fact, this is lifelong learning.

7. Constant running in circles.
If a coach conducts daily training on the same programs, presentations with unchanged slides, then his "groundhog day" begins. He gets bored, uninterested, his energy drops, and at the same time, his classes become ineffective, for form's sake.

It is important to be able to conduct classes in a variety of programs, work in different places and conditions, and with different audiences. The process of development and self-development is also important, but this requires free time, reading professional and fiction literature, sharing experiences with colleagues, attending live and online seminars and conferences.