Coaching Coaches

Provide a framework. Think flat - everyone is a colleague. Learn about the experience levels among those colleagues. Turn them loose, trust the process, and check in.

I don't know what you did over the winter, but I added stuff. I became the web guy for my bicycle club, Unione Sportiva Italiana, and said yes to being the Chief Instructor for NASA Northeast. While I ran the novice High Performance Driver Education (DE1) group I noticed something was missing between what the instructors did in the car and the classroom. I think some of it is that driving/being on track is a lot more fun than talking about driving. I also think that the instructor training could be better aligned with the novice classroom instruction.

Our instructors have told me what they like most about being instructors is the joy that they feel in sharing their passion with someone who wants learn. They also told me that what they like least is students with fast cars that don't take instruction.

My takeaway is that if you want happy instructors all you have to do is give them students who want to learn.

Their feedback is about safety. If a student is following instructions then the instructor feels in control and able to justify the risk involved with getting into someone else's car on track. If a student won't listen to their instructor it's a scary proposition.

My highest priority is keeping our instructors safe. Next comes helping our events run smoothly followed by having an environment that's fun for our instructors and their students.

No one can guarantee what's going to happen when you get into a car to instruct. What we can do is prepare for scenarios, make people feel welcome by treating them with respect, and ask them to comply with our safety guidelines which will be enforced.