As anyone who has ever tried to implement a health and safety programme within an organisation knows, it has to be done in the right way. It has to come from the top, but have buy-in at all levels. It has to be required of every individual, but not feel as though it’s just another task on the to-do list.
We’ve spent a lot of time on the Fleetcoach programme to make sure it’s interesting and engaging, so that users get captured from the beginning, and stay interested throughout the programme. Once you’ve decided who needs training here are the steps that make up the rollout process as well as some notes on things we’ve found useful in the past:
1 - We recommend that the first thing you do is proactively communicate with your team before you invite them to the programme, to let them know about Fleetcoach, the purpose of it, and keep them informed on how to get started. We have template letters you can personalise if you wish. We have a useful ‘Getting Started’ guide which you can include here, so that users know where to start.
2 – We’ve made Fleetcoach nice and easy to administrate. As a company admin, you’ll just log in and invite users to join, and then promote them to admin level if required. Once you’ve added someone, that’s all the admin you need to do taken care of.
3 - We’ll then send that person an email invite, which they accept by clicking and filling in their details. They’ll be signed up in a couple of minutes, and through into their new account, ready to get started on their training.
Helpful tips and things we've learnt along the way:
- Make sure your staff are aware of what Fleetcoach is. It’s scientifically backed, it’s a professional development opportunity, and it’s to ensure their safety. You are investing in, and protecting them.
- We know that some managers worry that their staff are going to feel like recommending training is the equivalent to saying they aren’t very good drivers, but this is all in the communication, and it’s important to get this right. The key is to make sure that staff know that it’s an important health and safety issue, it will be implemented across the organisation, and that the course will improve their driving, regardless of which level they’re already at.
- We recommend you encourage users to register as soon as they receive the invitation email. We know your team are busy, and how easy it is for emails to get buried in in-boxes!
- It helps if the leadership team can go through the programme first, so that you can include this in your message. Our experience has shown you’ll get much better buy in if your staff can see that even those at the top have done the course. You could introduce a competitive element if you wanted!
- Celebrate achievement! If staff have gone through and achieved 5 stars, why not email a little message of congratulations? Or have a leaderboard visible, so that people can see how others are getting on.
- You could also ask other users who have already gone through the programme to share their experiences. We hear great stories all the time about users seeing the benefits of Fleetcoach, and it would be particularly effective if your staff heard these from their peers.
- Let your staff know about our blog at Fleetcoach.com/blog, we write about driving-related topics frequently and it would help anchor the learning from the programme, as well as remind staff what the purpose of the training actually is. A good starting point is this blog on why video training works. Or this one about best practice in driver training.
- There are lots of different ways you can launch Fleetcoach. Other customers have held launch celebrations, or given a small presentation to tell people about the benefits of what they were about to undertake. We have lots of ideas so if you'd like to do something interesting, let us know!
If you’d like any further advice or tips on how to implement Fleetcoach in the best possible way, contact us. The key is to get individuals engaged and excited about the training – they’re receiving training from a dedicated employer, rather than an extra hour and a half of work. And once they’re done, they’ll be skilled drivers, and safer on the road!
