Is it skill or will?
Driver coaching problems with opposite responses.
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----- Before you move to discipline, diagnose the problem. <https://em.gomotive.com/dc/x8oo5yEWoe1KuX3TeObV9g-gB9sH3FkKvxEr39U_QKKc7OKJlmv0XOwTPbGtWgmUVtUf5rLcGYEf2gMi3udOxHqIpseuqFpSNmZjZIrjzO-KeIiLdXk-qw1oyFcQyf9EsKqZ7GaJL4TUBGeDiddLnX_9lvTDUutXuXlHFvDFTgNL3aHSZHI2nAF5pDBcFA_9x9Et0u3dO7KXYYlCCkmkKwFeUgkmcSSImAuy8M9g7nI=/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnng56lasT7FBNXFlZEjI5ydlYVq9gXUpIvbXjuEGy1gBlnbx1O1YSOi6TOCzdx288L0=> ----- Jim Higby Lead, Safety Compliance and Strategy -- Many safety programs end up with at least one driver whose name comes up at every safety meeting. Maybe they're taking up a lot of time but not showing a lot of results, or consistently triggering the same alerts over and over. Inevitably, they're labeled "not coachable." And maybe that's true. But in my three decades in fleet and transportation safety, I've found when we decide a driver can't be coached, we usually mean we've run out of ideas. Alongside Gary Johnson, Head of Safety and Safety and Compliance Strategy, I teach a framework at Motive's Safety Leader Bootcamp <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrngx3L_Y4IE32J-S1xOcUORmJD1NwR0GUZ6jRNHl2a0EIIJqMOAIH7h9615xUVtMtIvM=> that starts one step earlier: Before you decide what to do about a repeated behavior, decide what you're actually looking at. Is this a skill problem, a will problem, or both? Sort the behavior on two questions: Can the driver do this safely? And does the driver want to do this safely? That gives you four potential situations, and each one needs something different. - Willing and able. Recognition and a light touch. - Willing but unable. Training, repetition, and time (depending on behavior and company risk tolerance). - Able but unwilling. Firm expectations, objective evidence, and real accountability, while still understanding potential behavioral influences. - Unwilling and unable. Requires the most structured response you have available. These interventions are not interchangeable. If you coach a discouraged driver the way you coach one who is defiant, you will lose them mentally and probably not see improvement in their scores. Put a defiant driver through remedial training and you'll spend six weeks proving something you already knew. I'll also take a moment to note here that I'm talking about assessing how to coach a driver, not making a fitness-for-duty or medical determination, which is very different. If drivers raise medical issues or requests for accommodation, or if behavior could stem from medical qualifications issues or personal safety concerns, the coaching conversation stops. You must then deal with a driver qualification decision and get the appropriate department or people involved. The hardest group. The driver who's neither willing nor capable takes the most out of your team. Poor habits can be contagious and repeated high-risk behavior that hasn't changed after coaching can put the driver, vehicle, and company at risk. So what do you do? 1. Take a look at the conditions around the driver. Before you go further, understand the environment. - Is the schedule realistic, and is the driver getting real rest? - Were the expectations stated clearly by someone the driver trusts? - Is there an equipment problem nobody escalated? For example, lane-change incidents can sometimes be traced to improperly adjusted mirrors where drivers didn't know how to adjust them correctly. - Has coaching been used punitively on them before, potentially explaining defensiveness? - Does your incentive structure reward the behavior you're coaching against? For example, if drivers earn better routes by running harder, that's a systemic problem. 2. Consider a response that doesn't involve escalation. Start with potential reasons why the coaching isn't sticking, rather than immediately jumping to escalation. - Root-cause intervention, not just skill coaching. "Unwilling" behavior can mask fear, stress, confusion, or outside pressure. Start by listening. Let the driver watch their footage a few times without commentary. And when you ask what you can do to help, actually follow through. - Reset the relationship. Resistance can come from feeling targeted or defeated. Commit to helping versus documenting, and try assigning a single coach or coach avatar and stick with them, so a driver isn't subconsciously waiting for another change. - Behavioral micro-targets. Overwhelmed drivers can shut down when asked to fix a laundry list of behaviors. Pick one thing. Following distance or phone use or hard braking, but just one. Define what successful change looks like, put a date on it, and in future sessions focus on clips related to that behavior. - Controlled environment practice. Some drivers fail in real traffic but succeed in lower-pressure settings. Try a ride-along or a parking-lot session — it might surface more than video can. - Peer modeling v. mentoring. Resistant drivers might reject authority but accept peer influence. You can try a shadowing arrangement with a respected, low-ego top performer to see if you get more progress. 3. Let the tech earn its place. Technology adds value to your response in three ways: - Video ends arguments about what happened. You can talk about the decision instead of litigating the facts. - Event trends available through intelligence and analytics can show you whether the one behavior you picked is improving before an incident answers the question first. - Same-day coaching via in-cab or other quick-response options ensures the coaching reaches the driver while the event is fresh in their mind, increasing the chances of developing a self-identifying and self-correcting driver. When you have to be the leader. And sometimes, none of it works. Sometimes the support was real, the expectations were clear, the window was fair, and you went through the process — and the behavior continued. That's when you can make the call on reassignment or removal, but with a full understanding of the environment, causes, and steps you took to coach a driver in the most difficult category. Always remember, your company may have standards and policies that define specific actions for particular behaviors or performance metrics. It's essential you execute consistently on those policies, even when you'd like to give a driver another chance. The point of all of this is, of course, to build operations where drivers are given all the tools they need to succeed and come home safely from every run. If you can get that right, you'll spend less time on drivers you thought you might have to give up on, and create a safer program for everyone. -- Coach the driver in front of you. Technology can help personalize coaching so managers can act on evidence instead of reputation. I was part of a panel on the subject at this year’s Vision conference. You can watch it here. <https://em.gomotive.com/dc/x8oo5yEWoe1KuX3TeObV9g-gB9sH3FkKvxEr39U_QKKc7OKJlmv0XOwTPbGtWgmUVtUf5rLcGYEf2gMi3udOxHqIpseuqFpSNmZjZIrjzO-KeIiLdXk-qw1oyFcQyf9EsKqZ7GaJL4TUBGeDiddLnX_9lvTDUutXuXlHFvDFTgNL3aHSZHI2nAF5pDBcFA_9x9Et0u3dO7KXYYlCCkmkKwFeUgkmcSSImAuy8M9g7nI=/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnng56lasT7FBNXFlZEjI5ydlYVq9gXUpIvbXjuEGy1gBlnbx1O1YSOi6TOCzdx288L0=> ----- Home <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnxaXSvQ2FVS123_klcNDn2Ptk3YqvJOMmXcY3dExtzSiCX8aiDLYkN-bQOdTaemJnPI=> Privacy Policy <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnqJA3Us3DzFl5K3U2ujxYluK_qQXMtvCGr4J_n50_CbvcVyAcpIf_bBgxQVwomwd8bg=> Help Center <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnmHb8c6Tm4X6uGGl2pcoLEGNa9ID3K3XqNWji3wZVY-UdIQTlNKQhRpbBIkchC-v__I=> Facebook <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrn_w-mWFodnYrr7o2QQExbpgutRpWP53yI0V7P_g9d-WiHABqHnM6jMZHDLDPQsf0e7E=> LinkedIn <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnq5VTQzWwOERUoiF0UDN62EUNOqR9_ZDZ26Ms6Axb8766mLa_fziXIcUub4UPT5NbRQ=> X <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnqb67vcE7EWJJH0Ss3HoNPuqkjlejyUoJfWaB2Tf6eObiI8kiS9kopBeL1Mk8OR_awc=> Instagram <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnptvLGGRqXSMnWO0lf39x1qBpKYhucJI0SqCt3QSd2zXGLcMsq_dYLXRgKZEzFLIYTI=> YouTube <https://em.gomotive.com/MjY0LUhSVC00MjMAAAGkiGBrnqjJoYvPqUtDhiwesSm8CUSybaAwEH7vDINJ4rC05F-pHl5bRYEXwXc2mg53lll3Wpk=> © 2013-2026 Motive Technologies, Inc. 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- nse/gomotive/2026-09-28/2751
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- Motive Signals · discover@gomotive.com
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- 28 September 2026 · 19:00 UTC
