Why Won’t My Drivers Do What I Need Them to Do? – Safety

I even have had hundreds of conversations with people answerable for the management and safety of the world’s largest fleets. Those conversations gave me insights into the fleet industry, and in some cases, I had an idea or two to share with the person facing a challenge.

My fleet profession has spanned 50 years and though the content of those conversations has modified over time, one sentiment stays constant. Leaders at different levels and across industries often ask: “With every thing I’ve implemented at this organization, why haven’t I had a positive impact on my drivers’ behavior?” 

As a fleet skilled, you are trying to make use of best and current practices to enhance safety and behavior: You order the perfect safety equipment for vehicles, pay for the perfect driver training, enroll the corporate in fleet safety programs, install in-cab cameras and telematics, and so forth. But these efforts still don’t at all times influence decisions drivers make behind the wheel. 

What More Can You Do? 

I’ve asked this query quite a few times, and after I turned to my fleet colleagues for a solution, they were at a loss and had exhausted multiple solutions. So, I talked to my daughter. Dr. Alison Betz is a behavioral scientist who conducts research on driver safety and presents on the NETS, NAFA, and AFLA conferences and on webinars.

Alison and her colleagues at ABA Technologies analyze explanation why people behave the way in which they do, how the environment encourages or discourages certain behaviors, and what managers can do to advertise protected and productive driver behavior. 

Common Mistakes Stopping Changes in Driver Behavior

Based on her learnings, she shared the next insights on common mistakes and actions managers can take to correct them:

• A sole concentrate on compliance training. 

Drivers are sometimes required to attend compliance training that covers the do’s and don’ts of the job and what laws or regulations are enforceable. Nevertheless, compliance training has rarely inspired positive change.

After compliance training ends, we still find drivers violating company policies or driving in ways in which lead to an incident.

• Training without follow-up coaching. 

Most drivers need some level of coaching to learn their job, but it surely doesn’t stop there: coaching, feedback conversations, and performance observations are essential to keep up positive change. Managers and supervisors are largely answerable for conducting regular coaching sessions, but many supervisors don’t learn effective coaching strategies.

As an alternative, they learn methods for correcting unsafe behavior, reasonably than taking preventive motion.

Training sometimes sends employees a unique message about what is predicted on the job than the fact.

For example, during training, a pharmaceutical sales rep may learn protected driving practices they will’t comply with once on the job. For example, their managers ask them to go to an unreasonable variety of doctors’ offices per day and meet sales goals that promote unsafe behavior.

In other words, the message is, “When you plan to satisfy that goal, you’ll need to cut corners.”

Strategies That Get Results

Now that we’ve identified potential mistakes which can be keeping you from getting through to your drivers, listed here are some strategies to drive behavioral change.

• Slightly than taking a one size suits all approach, thoroughly assessing telematics data to pinpoint any concerning behaviors per department, region, area, etc.  
• Don’t assume each worker is identical and desires the identical support. Tailor coaching sessions for field supervisors, empowering them to effectively address these behaviors and align driver actions with company safety objectives. 
• Replace your quarterly or annual safety review with an lively and continual evaluation. The corporate’s safety culture, messaging, and actions enable us to craft messaging that fosters meaningful behavior change amongst employees. 
• Conduct audits of coaching materials to discover needed adjustments that resonate with drivers, sparking a real desire to adopt safer practices. 
• Don’t forget that change is required at every level, not only with the drivers. Assist in aligning executive communication with the overarching goal of driver behavior improvement.
• Finally, work with experts to implement and constantly refine the answer, driving enhanced driver performance, improved safety outcomes, and a positive company culture.