What are some soft skills that a driver manager can be trained in to make him more effective?
Soft skills refer to those positive, motivational and sympathetic characteristics you use when interacting with others. In the case of driver managers, soft skill training begins with building awareness and appreciation for the driver’s job. Truck drivers, like other professionals, tend not to respect managers that don’t understand how the people they manage perform their jobs. So it’s important for driver managers to be trained in exactly what a driver does. My recommendation is you white-board driver manager thoughts on what a driver’s daily life is like – from pre-trip to post-trip, and everything in between. Once you’ve listed all the points that driver managers think are part of a driver’s daily routine, bring in an experienced driver and have him audit and correct their list. That should then be followed up with a discussion between your driver managers on all the additional things that were added to the list.
