Have you ever asked yourself why some trucking companies do better than others? Perhaps you have asked yourself why a certain fleet won a trucking industry award. What are they doing differently from you? Furthermore, what would your fleet need to do to get the same kind of recognition, whether financially or in the marketplace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many similar themes and best practices shared\namongst the best-performing fleets. Success does not happen in a vacuum.\nSuccessful fleets focus their efforts on the same areas as those among the ranks\nof the best fleets in the industry. Don\u2019t you want to ensure your fleet is one\nof the safest and most sought-after on the road? Of course, you do! But how do\nyou go about doing that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Start with Your Safety Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact is this: Your safety culture starts at the top.\nEnsure everyone understands your culture and how it impacts their job\u2014from your\nhighest-ranking executives to drivers on the road, including office personnel,\nwarehouse workers and vendors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your safety culture is not thought of as a one-off or\nsomething you can just cobble together at the last minute when the auditors are\nknocking. Rather, safety culture should be incorporated into everything your\norganization does and continually reinforced. Encourage employees to understand\nhow your safety culture impacts their individual job while also impacting the\noverall company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider things like investment in video, which has helped many\nfleets significantly reduce risk and strengthen their culture of safety. We\nlive un an era where truck drivers understand how important safety culture is.\nIt should not be difficult to get buy-in from across your organization. This\nshould be your number one consideration as you build a trucking company to be\nenvied. Still, it should not be your only<\/em> consideration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All too often companies of all types and sizes fail because\nthey had trouble sticking to a careful safety strategy they spent a long time\ndevising. Whether it\u2019s a risk management strategy or a safety strategy, it\u2019s\nimportant to set your strategy, determine your criteria and stick to it. Even\nthe smallest deviation from the plan can be catastrophic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, when it comes to risk management, you want to\nensure your hiring criteria is solid and consistent. You also want to make sure\nyou are providing quality on-boarding and on-the-job training (coupled with\nextensive\/ methodical online training). Don\u2019t forget about sustained coaching\nwith progressive discipline and professional development training of\nnon-driving staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For your safety strategy, engage associates at all levels\nwith frequent and comprehensive training, communications, and opportunities for\ncontinuous improvement. Not only will your truck drivers thank you, but so will\nyour CSA scores and your overall bottom line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep Truck Drivers Front of Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Guess what? Your number one customers are not the suppliers or brokers or other vendors you deal with on a regular basis. No, they are actually your truck drivers. The fact is your truck drivers should be your number one customer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are very specific ways that you can ensure you are\nprotecting your truck drivers. Make sure you proactively prevent risk, protect\nthem when an incident occurs, take an out-of-the-box approach to improve their\nhealth and wellness, recognize, incentivize and reward them, and provide them\nwith opportunities to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From your first interaction in the hiring process to daily\ninteractions when they\u2019re on the road or in your facility, your truck drivers\nneed to be the people you think about every day. How can you encourage, reward\nand protect them while also protecting your company?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And consider this, truck driver engagement matters because\nyou benefit from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Importance of Professional Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coaching is integral to your fleet\u2019s safety. Ensure clear,\nconcise, consistent communications. For truck drivers on the road, a driver app\nwill allow them to see the impact of their habits. When coaching, follow the three\nSteps to Coaching Success:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last, but not least, focus on coaching effectiveness to\nensure you\u2019re maximizing your coaching efforts and include progressive\ndiscipline as part of your coaching process. Remember, the goal is improvement,\nso make sure you\u2019re measuring performance over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When recruiting, be realistic and don\u2019t overpromise when it\ncomes to earnings and home time. Consider an aggressive new hire orientation on\nin-truck driving, e-logs, securement, etc. But, don\u2019t stop there; continue\nregular, on-going training throughout your drivers\u2019 careers. Develop a\nmentorship program; mentors encourage communications and help new drivers feel part\nof the family. Develop a career path and encourage drivers to participate.\nRemember, truck drivers have a voice. Listen and learn through continual\ncommunications, such as daily and weekly calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professional growth is important from a goals standpoint. Set\ngoals and work backwards to establish a program that will be successful by\ncreating a program that\u2019s measurable and attainable. Keep the program simple.\nProvide continual communications and allow drivers to measure their own\nprogress through a mobile app. Focus on frequent safety bonus payouts (monthly,\nquarterly) with multiple winners, along with annual goals. Don\u2019t focus solely\non monetary rewards; find out what will motivate your drivers. Use videos to\nregularly recognize good driving habits, while recognizing award-winning\ndrivers throughout your company<\/p>\n\n\n\n Invest in Your Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Above all, be proactive in the evaluation and adoption of\nfleet safety technologies; get ahead of the curve\u2014allowing you time to test and\nensure you have the right technology for your fleet. Do not wait for deadlines\nand mandates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Use technology to create a safer environment for your truck drivers,\nnot only helping reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries, but also\nimproving driver retention. Don\u2019t focus on cost\u2014the marginal cost of new\ntechnologies (such as video) is more than returned in lower turnover, reduced\nrisk and decreased liability claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key component of many new technologies is the ongoing\ndriver safety coaching effort that allows us to coach drivers to be better and\nsafer drivers. You simply have too many options out there to help your truck\ndrivers grow to not invest in at least one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Share the value of safety and technology with everyone\nthroughout your organization, including maintenance, operations, and the\nexecutive team, allowing them to see what your drivers face every day. Empathy\ncreates understanding and urgency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Use video to not only coach your drivers, but to teach your\nteam. Focus on specific driving habits (speeding, distracted or drowsy driving,\netc.) throughout the year\u2014using video to illustrate both the good and bad\u2014so\nyour entire team can see your company\u2019s Safety Score improve. Encourage drivers\nto self-coach by watching their own video through the mobile app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping a Handle on Your Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Use data to help measure your results and continually\nimprove your safety program. What areas do you need to pay attention to or to\nfocus on for improvement? Once isolating those, then you can continually raise\nthe bar. In addition to improving safety, data can help you improve efficiency\nand reduce costs by monitoring fuel habits, CSA scores, incident rates, late\nloads, productivity, maintenance, driver home time and more. Data is also an\nintegral part of your driver incentive program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with so many technologies and systems out there to help\ncompanies keep track of organize and act on data, there really is no reason not\nto invest in one of these systems. Far too often fleets have too much data. Technology\ncan fix that<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t change, how will you improve? Create a vision for change. Change is not comfortable, but the results are usually worth it. Identify the problems you\u2019re trying to solve. Solve them one at a time with a plan that\u2019s embraced from the top down. Identify the right stakeholders and bring in outside help if needed. Be aware that if the pace of external change exceeds the pace of internal change, you\u2019re in trouble. Communication and transparency make change easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone should strive to be an award-winning fleet. Not for\nthe award, but rather, for the improvements and developments you achieved in\nthe process. Create big, bold, brave goals. But, work through them with small\nsteps. We tend to forget that small wins will move you forward and can take you\na long way over time. Not only will you better protect your truck drivers and\nmake your fleet safer, but you\u2019ll also become a more effective and efficient\ncompany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"