4. How to train using client-centred and coaching approaches

The first three articles in this series on instructor training covered the following topics:

• A historical overview - my personal experience as an instructor trainer
  
  
• Whether the Part 3 exam is fit for purpose
  
  
• How the Part 3 fits with the new Standards Check
  
  

The next three articles will look at:

• How to train using client-centred and coaching approaches
  
  
• The link between road safety and instructor training
  
  
• The future of instructor training
  
  

This article, therefore, focuses on how to use coaching or client-centred learning approaches when training people to be driving instructors. I want to approach this in two very distinct ways:

1. The Training Relationship - Trainer (ADI) to Customer (the potential driving instructor)
   
   
2. The Training Content - Trainer to Instructor of Customer (the learner driver)
   
    
   
   

1. The Training Relationship - Trainer to Customer (the potential driving instructor) – Do you remember the four principles of reflection that we looked at in last month’s article? These are linked to four principles of learning. Remember here, that ‘learners’ refers to anybody who is learning something, so, in this case I am talking about people learning to become driving instructors:
   
    
   
   

• Learning is individual – All learners start from their own position of knowledge and have their own personal set of experiences to draw upon.
  
   
  
  

• Learning is contextual – The context in which learners learn and operate affects how and what they understand.
  
   
  
  

• Learning is relational - In order to make sense and achieve a deep understanding of material and experiences learners need to relate new information to existing knowledge and experiences.
  
   
  
  
• Learning is developmental - Having made sense of new information and integrated it into an existing framework of understanding learners can then make informed choices about what to do next and how to develop their understanding.
  
   
  
  The first one, that learning is individual, could not be truer for people, who come into this profession looking to become driving instructors. Consider for a moment what experience and knowledge you already possessed when you decided to become a driving instructor; and ask yourself how many of your fellow ADIs had exactly the same upbringing and conditioning as you and therefore held the same values, views, beliefs and opinions. I can guarantee that out of the 43,000 ADIs on the Register not one will be like you; and yet many will have been trained the same way. It is impossible to learn effectively like this. If you put a trainee driving instructor into a traditional, hierarchical relationship where the Trainer is considered to hold all the relevant knowledge, understanding and experience and will pass this onto the trainee as and when the trainer sees fit, then learning will not take place - at least nowhere near as effectively as if the trainee takes responsibility for their own learning.
  
   
  
  First and foremost, therefore, the relationship needs to be equal and be built on the belief that learning comes from within and that the trainee driving instructor has all the resources that they need in order to become a successful driving instructor. The trainer’s role is simply to facilitate the development of the trainee. The trainee must be motivated and prepared to take responsibility for their learning and the trainer may need to coach them in this respect.
  
   
  
  As part of establishing the relationship the Trainer needs to hold a conversation which focuses on raising self-awareness and building responsibility in the trainee driving instructor. The following questions are all very helpful in setting the tone for each session and building a coaching relationship:
  
  ‘What goals do you have?’
  
  ‘Do you know how you learn best?’
  
  ‘How would you like your sessions to go?’
  
  ‘What support will you need from me?’
  
  ‘What would you like to achieve today?’
  
  ‘How will you know when you have achieved your goal?’
  
  ‘Which seat do you need me to sit in?’
  
  ‘What role do you need me to play?’
  
  ‘How will you measure your success?’
  
   
  
  If, as the trainer, you go in with a pre-conceived set of ideas of exactly what is going to happen on each of the sessions you deliver with a trainee driving instructor then you are not applying coaching or client-centred learning approaches and you will be limiting the individual’s ability to learn effectively. You will not be giving value for money and learning will not be taking place.
  
   
  
  There is no reason why the relationship cannot be client-centred and this is regardless of the content of the training.
  
   
  
  

1. The Training Content – Trainer to Instructor of Customer (the learner driver)
   
    
   
   Personally, I don’t care what you teach a trainee driving instructor providing the relationship is client-centred and you are focused on developing an individual, who is self-aware and will be able to take responsibility for the job they will be doing.
   
    
   
   Many ADIs moved quite quickly into instructor training when they found that their new career as a driving instructor was challenging in terms of building a business and nowhere near as financially rewarding as they had hoped. So they went out and found a ‘train the trainer’ provider and invested in a course that would enable them to be a trainer on ORDIT (Official Register of Driving Instructor Trainers). This would give them an additional income source – even if not that regular. However, it is the very fact that the income is not that regular that many trainers have to rely on the training they had and stick to a rigid syllabus that happens to comprise of the ten pre-set test combinations (PSTs) of the Part 3 test. If you are only training a small handful of driving instructors each year then it is understandable that you will want to have a routine and syllabus to follow.
   
    
   
   If you vary the methods you use to engage the trainee in the learning process and practise essential coaching skills then you will be addressing the higher levels of the Goals for Driver Education Framework, developing higher order cognitive skills and meeting the standards in the National Driver Training Standard that I spoke about in my last article. The content is just a small part and if your content happens to be the PSTs then that is okay providing you are practising the following essential coaching skills:
   
    
   
   

• Rapport – building an equal and non-judgemental relationship in the belief that learning comes from within and that the trainee driving instructor holds all the resources they need
  
  
• Questions – effective questions that help the trainee explore the relationship between their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. These questions will raise their self-awareness and build their responsibility
  
  
• Listening – remain on the trainee’s agenda and not on your own by practising your listening skills and using techniques such as silence and repeating back to check and confirm understanding
  
  
• Feedback – encourage the trainee to develop their self-evaluation skills by eliciting feedback more than you give it
  
  
• Intuition – notice when the trainee is no longer engaged in the learning process by watching for signs with body language and eye contact – then ask them what would be more helpful.
  
  

By engaging with the trainee you are also developing their understanding of how to engage with their customers – learner drivers – when the time comes. Don’t make the content of your training programme the be all and end all of your training. Be client-centred in your approach and the rest will fall naturally into place. Trainee driving instructors will be able to take responsibility for their own learning and therefore determine for themselves what they need to do to achieve their Goal of becoming a successful driving instructor. The Part 3 test is just a small hurdle or intermediate goal along the way.