Coaching for Driver Development
A practical guide for ADIs

This new book is the first of its kind, written by a working ADI, for those in the industry who want to either learn all about coaching for driver development or enhance what they have learnt about coaching so far.

It is in a spiral bound, easy to read format that allows you pick the book up as and when you want to, and to go back to the chapters you want to try out and explore.

It explains what coaching is, why our industry needs such skills and how it can benefit your business when you use it. It also explains the different types of coaching you can apply, from the popular GROW model to Humanistic Coaching and Cognitive Behavioural Coaching. It doesn’t assume that one coaching method will suit everyone. There are numerous tools and tips for the reader to choose from and many techniques to try out. Many ADIs say they already use the Q and A technique, but coaching is far more than this and the book provides many examples.

There are suggestions on how to get started, aloong with ideas from ADIs who have tried the coaching techniques about how they worked in practice. The section on the qualities of a coach has new ideas about listening skills, how we learn, and quick quizzes to see how good you are at coaching.

Lynne has acquired vast knowledge on the subject by attending many courses and in particular the pilot course for ADIs at East London University. She has also worked with Sir John Whitmore and the first 200 copies of the book sold will come with a free DVD containing an interview between Lynne and Sir John about coaching in the driver training industry.

Coaching can be used at all levels of training from learners to training PDIs and fleet work. It can also be used on your Check Test: indeed the DSA are now looking for it to be used as one of your skills.

It contains 150 A4 pages and is packed with information for you to use.

Come to Coaching! A review by James Quin

‘Coaching’ seems to be the new buzz word in driving instruction. Courses and training seminars are being offered on coaching, coaching is being talked about at conferences, and we have had the EU coaching project, HERMES.

Some driving instructors seem very keen to let others know that they are using ‘coaching techniques’, but I suspect that some coaching advocates are doing little more than asking a few questions, and calling it coaching.
Other ADIs do not know what coaching is, and some take the approach of ‘what’s wrong with the way that I’ve always done things?’

Despite the term ‘coaching’ being gradually used more and more widely, I suspect that while there are some ADIs who are very good coaches, there are many more that need to learn more about coaching skills.
A quick internet search reveals that there are thousands of books on coaching, some of them about coaching a specific activity (e.g. football or cricket) but many of them are about general coaching techniques that could be applied to various activities, but many of these are academic studies of coaching methods, rather than practical ‘how to do it’ types of book.

What is missing is a book about coaching for teachers of driving, until now!

Come to Coaching is written by Lynne Barrie, an experienced, and very well qualified working ADI, who has been studying and developing her coaching skills, and is one of only twelve people to have completed a postgraduate course on ‘Coaching for Driver Development’ at the University of East London, so she has excellent credentials.

In the introduction to her book Lynne says ‘you cannot learn coaching completely from a book’, not the best testimonial, but it is true, no one is going to learn to be an expert coach by reading one book or going on one training course.

What this book will do for ADIs is explain simply and honestly the details of various coaching techniques, it also gives actual examples of when and how these methods have been used, and gives suggestions for how you can develop your skills as a coach, and it is written in a style that feels like Lynne is actually having a conversation with you.

The book initially examines what coaching is, and addresses the issue of whether ADIs need coaching skills, Lynne then goes on to compare instruction and coaching and looks at the qualities of a good coach (how many people will realise that there are five different levels of listening? And we are not talking about volume!). Coaching is then put into context by discussing the learning process and analysing the different learning styles that people have. Lynne then explains in detail three different models or methods of coaching, together with numerous coaching techniques to use within these models. Finally there is a chapter giving advice and suggestions on how to start coaching, and some examples of actual coaching logs from real training sessions.

This book is written by an expert in their subject, but it appears to achieve something that few books on any subject do, for someone with little or no knowledge of coaching, it explains with sufficient detail for them to understand, and to go out and start developing their coaching skills, but for someone who already has a knowledge of coaching it adds extra detail and ideas that only an expert could, which should enable the more experienced coach to also learn and further develop their ability as a coach.

This book will introduce beginners to coaching skills, and it will also enable more experienced or able coaches to either add extra techniques, or develop their skills further, I have read a lot of books about driving, and the teaching of driving, some have been very poor, others have been very good, Lynne’s book is amongst the best, and I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it as a ‘must read’ for all ADIs, and I now intend to go and read it again, because I am sure that I will pick up even more detail and more ideas than I did on the first reading.

Review written by: James Quinn DipDI, DSA ADI
DSA Registered Fleet Driver Trainer
Examiner Diamond Advanced Motorists
Member of Institute of Master Tutors of Driving

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