Have you heard of low-impact driver training? If not, it’s time. It’s revolutionizing driver safety results. Here’s how.

The Failure of High-Impact Training 

Imagine you’re trying to lose weight. You hire a personal trainer. She says she can only see you on a workday. Then she brings you in on the first day, but instead of 1-on-1, you’re in the class with 60 other people, all at different fitness levels. 

Your personal trainer walks in and says: 

“Okay, guys. Today we’re going to hit every aspect of core and cardio because you’re all out of shape. Also, most of you need muscle-building. And a few of you have injuries we’ll need to consider. And Frank, your balance is way off. So today we’re going to work on all of it. For everyone. For eight hours.”

Then she tells you she’s pretty busy, so you’re going to do all the exercises everyone needs for the next three months.

And you’d better be fit in the meantime! If not, she’s going to call you and give you a piece of her mind, because fitness is really important!

And help yourself to coffee and free doughnuts in the back.

Top Training Problems You Need to Tackle

That’s a picture of high-impact training. It’s providing as much information as possible into learning sessions spaced far apart. This is how many trucking companies are still training their drivers!

But that’s not how memory and learning work. Driver training based on experience and adult learning uses a low-key strategy to make the bigger impact by training in frequent small bites over time.

In-person training sessions alone, no matter how well you do them, is an unreliable method for success:

• • You’re not getting training to many of your drivers.
• • You’re pulling drivers off the road, losing their money and yours.
• • You’re teaching according to methods that contradict experience and research.
• • There’s pressure to train every driver on all issues (whether applicable to that driver or not) to cover your bases.
• • You’re often not able to be efficient with driver time (and they know it).
• • You’re spending money and time on meetings that may not be effective.
• • You’re spending money and time on remote remediations that may not be effective.
• • You have to harass drivers with reminders, pressure, and threats between training events.
• • You’re not seeing dramatically better results. And you may feel like time is running out.

Changing driver behavior, like losing weight, isn’t about stressful “cram” sessions. It’s about changes over time, changing habits, and providing support. The only thing that’s going to do that is frequent, consistent repetition, in much smaller bites. 

Benefits of Low-Impact Training

This is why online training works especially well in the transportation industry. It supports drivers remotely, everyday, in a 3-Step Model for Change:

AWARENESS → RIGHT DECISION-MAKING → RIGHT OUTCOMES

• • Instead of being inundated with information a few times a year, you’re making it easy and convenient for drivers to have continual AWARENESS of top-of-mind issues. 
• • Instead of touching base every so often, or building negative experience with the company, drivers are equipped and supported every day to MAKE RIGHT DECISIONS. 
• • Better safety decisions mean you see more of the RIGHT OUTCOMES. 

When online training is well-designed, supported by automated documentation, and based on a low-impact strategy of short, frequent training sessions, you’ll find the following success factors:

Convenience

Make training available anytime, anywhere, on any device. Don’t pull drivers off the road unnecessarily, when they should be delivering freight. During any waiting time, drivers can log in, watch a video, and complete safety reminders and messaging. 

This also allows drivers to be more efficient with their time. You certainly are being more efficient with their time! Drivers see and appreciate that.

Consistency

Deliver the same content to all employees, whether onsite or remote. People repeatedly need time getting connected to messaging before it starts to take hold. 

And create a more consistent relationship between the company and the drivers. They may not see anyone from the company for weeks or months. Instead of trying to tell them everything they need to know a few times a year, you’re connecting on a regular basis. 

Effectiveness

Use a micro-training strategy of short videos and messages to improve comprehension and retention of material. Effective = efficient. Impact turnover, too! Independent contractors are independent for a reason. You can’t demand that a person who’s not an employee show up somewhere for half a day. When you respect drivers’ time, you respect their paycheck. 

Programmability

What issues always need repeated coverage? What only needs an occasional review? Schedule routine training and best practice safety reminders to come at regular intervals.

Flexibility

Deliver specialized training topics to those employees who need them (i.e., hazmat, fuel efficiency, driver/dispatcher, etc.) Infinit-I Workforce Solutions offers a bilingual learning library of over 850 topics.

Timeliness

Push out training in response to incidents in real-time and automate corrective actions. React quickly! Snow coming next week? Send a reminder right away for those drivers facing inclement weather.

Customization

Personalize messages from the CEO, send birthday wishes, and share holiday greetings. This builds relationships and rapport among remote teams, which increases employee retention.

Low-impact training has a formidable record of effectiveness. And that reputation is only growing. Effective training saves you money in vital business areas, from training and re-hiring costs, to lawsuits and DOT inspections. With a 93% year-over-year client retention rate, we know that our model works in helping trucking companies like yours meet serious business goals.

Request your free demo of Infinit-I Workforce Solutions today and see for yourself.