Fleet Safety: Don’t Overlook the Interaction Between Driver and Supervisor in Coaching Sessions – Safety

We met Matthew Betz, a recent Automotive Fleet Hall of Fame inductee, a couple of weeks ago when he visited Colorado. Our conversation touched on many industry topics, but one topic stood out — the interactions between managers and employees in coaching meetings related to safety behaviors. 

When done well, coaching is a strong tool to enhance safety performance and develop rapport with employees. Nevertheless, Betz identified that coaching, as a rule, is ineffective.

In May of 2024, Betz wrote an article titled, “Why Won’t My Drivers Do What I Need Them to Do?”. In his article, he discusses common mistakes organizations make when attempting to alter driver behavior and several other strategies based on behavior science that produce robust, long-term changes in driver behavior.

In this text, we wish to expand on a critical piece of the behavior-change puzzle: the interaction between manager and worker during coaching sessions. Our goal is to briefly describe aspects that influence behavior, describe how coaching interactions can turn out to be problematic, and leave you with strategies to treatment the problem within the workplace.

Why Drivers Engage in Unsafe Behavior

Before we explore coaching interactions, consider these three well-supported aspects that influence behavior. The primary two aspects, effort and time, greatly influence behavior. If a task is just too time-consuming or effortful, people avoid it or take shortcuts. 

In your next commute, you’ll notice people speeding or breaking safety rules to save lots of a couple of minutes. Third, our experiences with others, especially those which can be negative, influence our future interactions with them. 

These three aspects will recur in several forms throughout the rest of the article.

Does This Look Familiar?

Upon receiving a telematics report indicating several instances of unsafe driver behavior, a manager reaches out to their worker and requests an end-of-day meeting. Throughout the meeting, the manager stated, “Our company prioritizes worker safety. Based on the report I received, you might have had greater than our allowed variety of infractions. It’s good to stop driving so unsafely.” 

The worker may blame the unsafe behavior on other aspects or could also be dismissive within the coaching session. The unsafe driving behavior will proceed over the approaching months. The manager can have several meetings with the worker to reiterate the seriousness of the issues of safety until the manager pursues disciplinary motion.

Causes of Problematic Interactions

Frequent Coaching Is Critical To Good Performance but Takes Effort

Coaching consistency and accuracy are key to improving performance. Unfortunately, several aspects can demotivate managers from providing consistent and accurate coaching.

For managers, providing safety coaching can involve undesirable tasks like extra documentation, reporting requirements, or uncomfortable interactions. When an individual is presented with the dilemma of either saying something and creating more work for themselves or refraining and avoiding extra duties, some will invariably select the latter. 

Moreover, coaching sessions result in awkward or difficult interactions, and the character of those interactions may make managers hesitant to deliver coaching in the longer term. Some managers may inaccurately report that employees are acting safely or skip coaching altogether to avoid confrontation.

Inaccurate reporting and avoidance can result in extreme outcomes in high-stakes scenarios like driver safety, where unsafe behavior places employees, managers, and firms in danger.

Worker Behavior Is Not Changing

The aim of coaching is to supply changes in worker performance. When that change occurs quickly and consistently, it encourages the manager to make use of coaching in the longer term. When coaching fails to supply quick and clear results, managers turn out to be less more likely to provide coaching in the longer term and should view coaching as difficult or time-consuming. 

Managerial practices are sometimes a product of what has worked prior to now, especially if outcomes are immediate and consistent. When coaching fails to supply change, managers usually tend to resort to punitive tactics, no matter their desirability from a company leadership or worker perspective.

The Worker Is Dismissive or Reactive

We’ve all experienced situations where well-intentioned coaching was received poorly. People can turn out to be reactive after they feel criticized. They might blame performance on aspects “outside of their control”, react emotionally, and lose sight of the greater purpose of managerial coaching: performance improvement.

Alternatively, an worker could also be dismissive, acting just like the manager’s emphasis on the performance issue is an overreaction. 

When two people have a history of negative interactions, they have an inclination to avoid one another in the longer term. Avoidance may be physical or more nuanced, like having briefer interactions, communicating less effectively, and sharing minimal information with one another. When an worker often receives coaching poorly, they discourage future coaching attempts by their manager. Problematic interactions result in poorer performance and reduce manager-employee engagement and satisfaction.

Addressing Problematic Coaching Interactions

We emphasize that if you might have a pulse, you’re prone to problematic interactions. Every organization experiences these interactions to a certain degree, and addressing them pays off in dividends.

Often, firms can avoid costly and complicated behavior change initiatives by specializing in fixing the systems that they currently have in place. By ensuring that current coaching systems function well, firms can produce a culture where managers navigate difficult conversations without hesitation, employees are receptive to coaching, and leadership feels confident that they’re keeping their employees secure.

Emphasize Accuracy

Teach your managers to acknowledge situations where they’re more likely to deliver inaccurate coaching. Help managers discover and prioritize the critical information they need to use of their coaching interactions. Teach them to design coaching interactions which can be flexible and straightforward to guage over time. 

Constructing skills around effective coaching makes coaching easier and fewer time consuming to deliver.

Help Your Managers Understand Human Behavior

Your managers don’t need a Ph.D.-level understanding of human behavior, but they need to have a basic idea of how teams of people interact. Help your managers understand the facility of positive reinforcement, how specific forms of quotas and performance goals may incentivize unsafe behavior, and methods to navigate difficult situations in a respectful manner.

Teach Employees to Receive Coaching Well

Help your employees understand why they’re receiving coaching and reorient them to the greater purpose of maintaining a secure, respectful, and productive work environment. Teach employees what is anticipated of them in coaching meetings. 

Moreover, empower employees to supply feedback to their managers and encourage a culture inside your organization that’s comfortable, relaxed, and respectful when discussing serious issues.

Discover When Coaching Will Actually Work

Coaching can fix many issues, but it surely just isn’t a magic bullet. Some workplace concerns require additional support or a very different approach. Leadership should discover essentially the most appropriate time to prescribe managerial coaching for the best return on investment.