Training the trainer

Jonathan Welch speaks to Park’s of Hamilton about its programme of bringing training in house with specially-trained staff

There are three letters which are almost guaranteed to make drivers and operators grimace. Mention ‘CPC’ and people will draw breath through their teeth, groan and recount training courses which were as dull as dishwater, delivered with all the enthusiasm of a damp dishcloth and were maybe even barely relevant. But they ticked a box.

Training is a vital part of any industry, but is something that is often overlooked or pushed down the agenda in favour of more pressing needs like putting a bus on service when drivers are scarce, or fulfilling a school contract. And when it does come to training – which for the majority of those in the industry means annual driver CPC training – the courses are often seen as being somewhat generic or lacking in anything to which drivers can really relate.

Regardless of whether it’s CPC training, initial driver training, or ongoing professional training for office-based staff, one thing is key. Regular readers will have read Alan Payling’s piece in our Christmas issue, in which he recalled his time as a trainee driver with London Transport, as it was then. He recalled with clarity and admiration his driving instructor Harry Baggelley, many years later. Harry made an impression, said Alan, and set him up for a lifetime’s work. Making training not just informative but memorable is a skill in itself, and one which is vital. There’s little point in spending time in a classroom if trainees are going to walk away and forget everything. A course needs to be engaging as well, in order for participants to buy into it, and it will help to ensure that they remember it.

So how can that be done? As Park’s of Hamilton found out when it was looking to improve the CPC training it offered to its drivers and introduce it’s own driver training programme, the first step is to train the trainer. An information-packed course is nothing if it isn’t well presented, both in terms of the person presenting and the presentation of the content.

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In mid-2022, Park’s looked at how it could improve its training, and brought in specialist training provider Rose Reid Training to put its driver trainers through a People 1st International Professional Certificate in Training Design and Delivery course. Participants included assistant Operations Manager Billy Dunsmore and Steve Brocklehurst, who headed the training at Park’s Plymouth depot, as well as depot trainers, driving instructors and compliance and traffic officers, and the course was headed by experienced approved People 1st International trainer Margaret Rose Reid, assisted by South-West-based colleague Tim Ripper.

A ‘blended learning’ approach meant participants taking part in online sessions as well as in person practical training and assessments, with the course held at the operator’s Greater Glasgow headquarters as well as its depot in Plymouth, with the aim of equipping its trainers with the transferable skills to design, deliver and evaluate training on any topic.

Training the trainers

We spoke to Margaret and Billy to find out more about the course and how it is helping the operator to improve the training it offers to drivers. Billy started by explaining more about why training was brought in-house: “We decided a couple of years ago to bring our CPC training in-house. We did that through an external company, which registered the courses and we ran the courses on their behalf. After some research it became apparent that we could set ourselves up as a JAUPT-approved CPC centre, which we’ve done. This is our second year with JAUPT.

“We initially had one course, which was on drivers’ hours. That’s a very relevant subject for us, drivers’ hours and tacho rules. We tailored that to our drivers and made it relevant. There’s nothing worse than doing a course where you’re just sitting there and being spoken to.

“I’d done a People 1st training course a few years ago through National Express. After a number of conversations, we managed to get funding to make my colleagues Paul Divers, David Beggs and Robert McCutcheon advanced driving instructors, which means if someone has an accident they can work with the driver to assess and correct their driving behaviour. I was a training assessor, so could do a driving assessment but wasn’t qualified enough to correct driving behaviour.

“We decided that if we were going to do the training, it was worth having Paul, Robert and David trained as well to do CPCs as I can’t focus solely on that. Because I’d done the People 1st training before, I contacted them and they put me in touch with Margaret, who is our most local People 1st trainer. She explained the options, and we opted for a five-day training course which would help us not just deliver courses, but to write courses. We had experience of delivering them, but not of writing them. We needed to know how to best write a course that’s relevant to us, and how we take our experience and apply that to the training.

“The course was hard work and needed a change of mindset but was very informative. We all know there’s been an adverse reaction towards the CPC, people see it as something they have to do. It makes it hard. So we took the opportunity to see how we could write courses that were more relevant and involving; the drivers’ input is just as valuable as the trainer’s. They’re doing the job every day, they have the knowledge and experience.”

Asking questions

“Through the People 1st training with Margaret, we learned techniques such as asking open questions rather than telling them things. Just now, we’re at the stage where we’re trying to write more courses to expand the CPCs, and in the meantime we’ve taken the experience from People 1st and applied it to other training as well, like for staff who work in the yard. We’re asking them ‘how did that go?’ or ‘what could you do here?’ rather than just telling them what to do. Out on the road too, when we’re doing driver training, we’re asking questions like ‘how are you going to position the bus at this roundabout?’ or ‘where are the back wheels going to go?’ instead of just talking at them. It’s making them think about what they’re doing, and why.

“It gets them into the mindset of thinking about what they’re doing. It seems to be working. We’ve had a good success rate so far, although one made a mistake on his test and didn’t pass first time. The training has really helped us change the mindset when we’re training. ‘What would you have done differently?’ is a phrase I use a lot now. It’s a good way to review and makes them think about what happened if they’ve had an accident. It’s better than chastising them.”

Engaging training is equally important for experienced drivers, Billy added, since it’s easy to become complacent and just keep making the same mistakes or repeating the same bad habits over and over. Feedback so far has been very good too, he said, especially from new drivers starting out in their career and learning to drive a coach.

In fact, Billy said he was proud of the trainees who have passed their tests recently, something which is also new for Park’s as it had previously only taken on experienced drivers. With ongoing driver shortages, though, the firm decided that recruiting from outside the coach and bus sector could prove worthwhile.

Satisfaction

“That’s where the satisfaction comes,” said Margaret, “when the trainers see the results of how they’ve communicated and the trainees have successfully achieved the learning objectives.”

Billy agreed, and added that the greater understanding and control the People 1st training had given him and his colleagues meant they had flexibility to mould courses and training to individual needs. “We definitely have more confidence now, the training has given us a good baseline to work from. What we’re doing seems to be working, so now we’re formalising a new training policy based on our experience so that new drivers know what to expect from us and from the training. And once they pass their test, we don’t just send them out. We want them to be up to the standards that we want before they go out and drive by themselves.

“Would I have been confident doing all of this a year ago?” Billy asked rhetorically, talking about the process of establishing a training programme for new drivers, as well as assembling a CPC course. “No,” he said. “I’ve over 20 years of experience in the industry but knowing how to do it doesn’t always mean you are good at passing something on.”

“I’ve met lots of experts from many different fields” added Margaret, “and often they have occupational expertise, however the ability to communicate this information in the best way is taken for granted, and they lack the skills to inspire and motivate their trainees, provide engaging, fun and interactive training and evaluate the effectiveness of their training.

These are all essential ingredients for supporting trainees learn.”

Margaret explained that when she first receives an enquiry, she identifies what the company is looking to achieve from the training and discusses the best option available. With decades of experience behind her, Margaret joked that on leaving school she had never considered that training could be a career, but it has become one which has taken her across the UK and Europe as an approved People 1st International trainer delivering its complete range of ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes.

“Once we’ve agreed the best course to meet the client’s requirements we’ll arrange the practicalities of how we’re going to proceed with the training and assessments,” Margaret explained. “What we did with the course for Park’s was took a blended approach, as we were still in the pandemic. It allowed us to run one course with two people at the Plymouth site and four here in Blantyre, rather than run two separate courses at twice the cost.” And whilst some of the training for Park’s was carried out online, some was done in person, which meant enlisting the help of another experienced trainer based in south-west England, Tim Ripper, who worked with colleagues at Park’s National Express-focused depot in Plymouth to provide the face-to-face aspects.

“We’re replicating what we’re doing here in Plymouth,” Billy explained. “We’ve already had one successful driving test there. We originally looked at bringing the instructors up here for the training, but it would have been much harder to organise and schedule.”

Nervous

Initial feedback has been very positive, said Billy. “We’re all very good at our own jobs, but there’s a nervousness kicks in when it comes to doing training. You have to reach a certain standard to pass the course.”

Margaret explained that the course was assessed on an ongoing basis against a clear list of criteria, as well as a final assessment. “I’m taking note the whole time, and if I think someone hasn’t understood, I’ll coach them using open questions,” she explained, proving the saying about practising what you preach. The trainees were also required to demonstrate a training session, including best use of question technique, feedback, flipchart, practical exercises and powerpoint, to show that they had not only understood but were also aware of how best to present information visibly and in a synchronised, joined-up manner.

“It’s important to make a course inclusive,” Margaret added, which is as valid for her own courses as those delivered as a result of it. “You have to make sure you’re demonstrating what you’re saying,” she said, highlighting some of the basics, including not standing in front of a screen or flip-chart, and not writing in red pen which can become difficult to read and a barrier to learning. “It’s important to make learning enjoyable and interactive,” she explained.

“One of the things I took from it was that everyone is different,” Billy added. “You have to be able to demonstrate that you can target your training to the audience. You can have all the experience, but it’s important to understand how to convey that knowledge and information. It’s about working out how we can best help someone to learn. The training has really worked for us in that respect.”

Margaret agreed. “You’ve hit the nail on the head,” she said. “Training’s not about the trainer, it’s about the trainee. It’s about how you can help them to learn.

Vital

The importance of good training is not to be underestimated, explained Billy. “We don’t just want bus or coach drivers, we want Park’s drivers,” he said. “We have some very high-profile clients such as football teams. We need people who can go out and represent us. That’s why we’re doing a lot of this. It’s about how we mould these people into Park’s drivers, and if I have to change how I teach them, that’s OK. It’s not about me, it’s about getting them to the goal. It’s all about having the right attitude.”

Trainer Paul agreed that the course had been helpful. “I’m new to doing training,” he said, “so it opened my eyes and showed me how I can help people better. There’s nothing worse when you’re training than ‘death by Powerpoint.’ I don’t know what I was expecting but it’s made me think more about training. The course helped us look at how we can improve ourselves all the time. It’s already helped with our four driver trainees so far, they’ve enjoyed the course but we’re asking for feedback to help us improve even more.”

Having come from a driving background, and before that working in construction, Paul said he was apprehensive but learned a lot through the People 1st course. He explained: “Even something as simple as thinking about what words your using can make a big difference. I’ve been on training courses where you just switch off. Especially if you’re doing it all the time, the course has to be interesting.

“Because I’d never done it before, I was nervous about standing in front of a group of trainees. Even back at school I wasn’t one for that kind of thing. The course has given me the confidence to do it.”

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