“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”
– Bob Feller, 1948 World Series champion and former Major League Baseball player
Driver coaching, like the game of baseball, is a multi-layered strategy.
You can’t miss a base in baseball, and you can’t slack when coaching if you want to motivate and inspire drivers to do their best and deliver consistent home runs for your business.
First base: Define coaching for your fleet
Driver coaching may sound self-explanatory, but recent research signifies that it’s not entirely that cut and dry. In 2018, Harvard Business Review conducted a study with 98 people enrolled in a leadership training course. They concluded that most managers didn’t practice authentic coaching; instead, they behaved as micromanagers or consultants. When tested, the leaders-in-training spoke at the subjects rather than with them, offering advice and guidance straight away without practicing empathetic, active listening and thereby removing opportunities for meaningful dialogue.
The first step in becoming a successful driver coach involves stepping away from top-to-bottom talk-downs. Listening, questioning, goal setting, and providing structure are essential elements in effective coaching. This approach molds a peer-to-peer relationship between drivers and coaches while unifying them as a team working toward achievable goals.
Second base: Know which goals to set
Goals, training needs, and incentive opportunities may present themselves at times. However, effective coaches need a scoreboard to monitor critical driving behaviors.
Your fleet has the potential to generate endless amounts of data that can give you clear and concise insight into driving behaviors, improvements, and much more. This comprehensive data is critical to the overall goals you set because they shape your goals.
You need data you can rely on to bring this approach to life. Data that is scattered, unaligned with your other applications, and unreliable can make the seemingly actionable insights you establish for drivers moot. With an intelligent data- and analytics-centric scoreboard, you can find answers to essential coaching questions, such as:
1) Which risky driving behaviors are drivers exhibiting?
2) What is each driver doing well in terms of performance?
3) How has each driver improved?
Third base: Pay attention to progress
Along with performance insight is the ability to measure your coaching strategy over time. It’s imperative that you consistently tune in to what’s working for drivers and what isn’t. The coaching culture you establish today may — and will likely — need some revamping in one, two, or five years. After all, our industry, technology, and company cultures evolve constantly.
When drivers view you as a peer they can rely on, rather than an unrelatable leader, they will likely become far more comfortable turning to you and voicing any concerns or feedback they have.
Home run: Gain confident and satisfied drivers
When you round the three bases of coaching musts, you are far likelier to inspire satisfied drivers who are more loyal to your business and take greater pride in their roles. Professional drivers, just like all of us, nurture environments that nurture them.
Successful coaches identify tangible growth opportunities for drivers and help them strengthen their safety scores and overall performance. While most professional drivers undoubtedly aim to excel in their roles, many are not given adequate resources or support. When your bases are covered, you pave the path for a future full of home runs for your business.
Find out more about how you can utilize effective coaching strategies to create better drivers in this recent webinar!