Authentic, neutral & non-judgemental communication
The EU HERMES Report says that coaching should involve ‘authentic, neutral and non-judgemental communication’.
Authentic communication means that the person doing the coaching is convinced of its effectiveness as a training intervention. As driving instructors we clearly have to work with conviction. We have to believe that what we are delivering to learner drivers will equip them with the knowledge, understanding and skills to be able to anticipate hazards on the road and drive safely. However, we have to question our methods when we read the statistics that tell us one in five newly qualified drivers will be involved in a road traffic incident and that this risk is greatest during the first 250 miles of driving. Obviously it is not all down to us that young people are involved in this horrendous crash rate. We do of course recognise that learner drivers bring a whole load of baggage with them when they learn to drive. The way they have been brought up, where they rank with their siblings in the family, their emotional intelligence, the friends they have and the circles they move in – all these and more have helped develop and form their views, opinions and values; and have also influenced and been influenced by their congenital personality traits. How can we take these learners, each with their myriad of individual differences, and teach them to drive, without believing that coaching is the most effective way to get to the heart of what makes them tick?
Coaching is all about raising awareness and building responsibility. It is a training intervention that enables us as driving instructors to deliver the Goals for Driver Education (GDE) and, in particular, level 3 (Goals and Context of the Journey) and level 4 (Goals for Life and Skills for Living). Coaching is never about ‘us’; it is always about ‘them’. It is not about me, the instructor, the ‘Great I Am’, telling my pupils what to do, why to do it and how to do it – and then telling them what they have done wrong, why it was wrong, and how to correct it. It is about finding out what they can bring to the task from the outset that will help them achieve the goal / objective of the lesson; and asking for their feedback on how they think they are doing, how they are feeling, what their thoughts are, what improvements they would like to see, and how helpful is my input. In this way, coaching is authentic because it is used with the conviction that self awareness and self responsibility in learner drivers will result in newly qualified drivers, who have skills in self evaluation; and drive, taking advantage of their strengths, managing their limitations and reflecting on their development needs.
Neutral communication means ensuring that what we are saying is not being misinterpreted by our pupils. This comes back to self awareness, which is the key to being aware of others and being able to empathise with them. Too often, what we say is misinterpreted by our pupils because of our tone of voice or the words we have chosen to use. Being in rapport with our pupils is about understanding how they learn, the kind of risks they are likely to take, and adapting the way we choose to communicate with them to ensure our message is received as it was intended. Recently, someone told me that a friend of his couldn’t get on with his instructor because he shouted a lot. I thought this was strange because I had already heard from other people that this particular instructor was popular with his pupils and had a really good manner. If we are going to adopt a uniform approach in the car with our pupils, then we are not using neutral communication. A ‘one size fits all’ approach is not coaching and therefore is not going to raise awareness and build responsibility in the learner driver. Neutral communication ensures there are no barriers to achieving the goals in driver education; and enables us to focus on the higher levels by building rapport and asking questions so that novice drivers gain an insight into how their thoughts and feelings affect their behaviour.
Non-judgemental communication means avoiding criticism or blame, which can result in defensiveness and make the learner close up. It can be a challenge to understand how to avoid criticism within the context of driving instruction because everything revolves around the core competencies of fault identification, fault analysis and fault remedy. However, if we focus on the higher levels of the GDE and aim to raise the learners’ self awareness, then we broaden the context to identify their strengths, limitations and development needs. It is important for learners to understand how their personality impacts on the way they control the car (Level 4); and to recognise how they will cope with distractions, passengers and unfamiliar driving situations, such as night, bends and motorways (Level 3) once they are qualified. Adopting a uniquely fault-based approach does not encourage learners to take responsibility for the whole of their driving because they sit back and allow themselves to rely on us for guidance and feedback.
With non-judgemental communication we ask pupils what they think happened, and how they think it could be improved; we focus on the specific situation rather than their general ability to drive; and we look for the positives first.
Coaching is an effective intervention in driver education because it enables both the instructor and the pupil to address the whole of the GDE Matrix.
The EU HERMES Report says that coaching should involve ‘authentic, neutral and non-judgemental communication’.
Authentic communication means that the person doing the coaching is convinced of its effectiveness as a training intervention. As driving instructors we clearly have to work with conviction. We have to believe that what we are delivering to learner drivers will equip them with the knowledge, understanding and skills to be able to anticipate hazards on the road and drive safely. However, we have to question our methods when we read the statistics that tell us one in five newly qualified drivers will be involved in a road traffic incident and that this risk is greatest during the first 250 miles of driving. Obviously it is not all down to us that young people are involved in this horrendous crash rate. We do of course recognise that learner drivers bring a whole load of baggage with them when they learn to drive. The way they have been brought up, where they rank with their siblings in the family, their emotional intelligence, the friends they have and the circles they move in – all these and more have helped develop and form their views, opinions and values; and have also influenced and been influenced by their congenital personality traits. How can we take these learners, each with their myriad of individual differences, and teach them to drive, without believing that coaching is the most effective way to get to the heart of what makes them tick?
Coaching is all about raising awareness and building responsibility. It is a training intervention that enables us as driving instructors to deliver the Goals for Driver Education (GDE) and, in particular, level 3 (Goals and Context of the Journey) and level 4 (Goals for Life and Skills for Living). Coaching is never about ‘us’; it is always about ‘them’. It is not about me, the instructor, the ‘Great I Am’, telling my pupils what to do, why to do it and how to do it – and then telling them what they have done wrong, why it was wrong, and how to correct it. It is about finding out what they can bring to the task from the outset that will help them achieve the goal / objective of the lesson; and asking for their feedback on how they think they are doing, how they are feeling, what their thoughts are, what improvements they would like to see, and how helpful is my input. In this way, coaching is authentic because it is used with the conviction that self awareness and self responsibility in learner drivers will result in newly qualified drivers, who have skills in self evaluation; and drive, taking advantage of their strengths, managing their limitations and reflecting on their development needs.
Neutral communication means ensuring that what we are saying is not being misinterpreted by our pupils. This comes back to self awareness, which is the key to being aware of others and being able to empathise with them. Too often, what we say is misinterpreted by our pupils because of our tone of voice or the words we have chosen to use. Being in rapport with our pupils is about understanding how they learn, the kind of risks they are likely to take, and adapting the way we choose to communicate with them to ensure our message is received as it was intended. Recently, someone told me that a friend of his couldn’t get on with his instructor because he shouted a lot. I thought this was strange because I had already heard from other people that this particular instructor was popular with his pupils and had a really good manner. If we are going to adopt a uniform approach in the car with our pupils, then we are not using neutral communication. A ‘one size fits all’ approach is not coaching and therefore is not going to raise awareness and build responsibility in the learner driver. Neutral communication ensures there are no barriers to achieving the goals in driver education; and enables us to focus on the higher levels by building rapport and asking questions so that novice drivers gain an insight into how their thoughts and feelings affect their behaviour.
Non-judgemental communication means avoiding criticism or blame, which can result in defensiveness and make the learner close up. It can be a challenge to understand how to avoid criticism within the context of driving instruction because everything revolves around the core competencies of fault identification, fault analysis and fault remedy. However, if we focus on the higher levels of the GDE and aim to raise the learners’ self awareness, then we broaden the context to identify their strengths, limitations and development needs. It is important for learners to understand how their personality impacts on the way they control the car (Level 4); and to recognise how they will cope with distractions, passengers and unfamiliar driving situations, such as night, bends and motorways (Level 3) once they are qualified. Adopting a uniquely fault-based approach does not encourage learners to take responsibility for the whole of their driving because they sit back and allow themselves to rely on us for guidance and feedback.
With non-judgemental communication we ask pupils what they think happened, and how they think it could be improved; we focus on the specific situation rather than their general ability to drive; and we look for the positives first.
Coaching is an effective intervention in driver education because it enables both the instructor and the pupil to address the whole of the GDE Matrix.
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