Driving as a Community Practice, a Values Exercise, and an Identity Formation

Learning to drive has long been framed as a technical challenge: master the skills, memorise the rules, pass the test. But if we step back and ask what driving really is, the picture changes. Driving is not merely about moving a car from a to b. Driving is a community practice, a values-driven exercise, and a powerful moment of identity formation. Recognising this as trainers shifts our understanding of what driver education should be. And it points us toward one unavoidable conclusion: coaching must be at the centre of how we develop new drivers.

Driving as a Community Practice
Every time we enter the road system, we enter into a collective. Roads are shared infrastructures, and driving is a social negotiation. Each decision we make affects not just ourselves, but dozens of other people—some in cars, some on bikes, some on foot. Yet most training treats driving as an individual skillset: turn the wheel thi...

ADI and Parent Communication.

If you sit at the test centre, or in a Facebook Group, for long enough, eventually you will find an ADI complaining about a parent only being interested in getting their child through their driving test as quickly as possible. 

There are two ways for ADIs to deal with this kind of challenge. The first is to accept that it’s just part of the job, try to ignore it, and complain about it to colleagues. We can even get a laugh out of it (😂) if we paint the scenario well enough. 

The second way is to be a bit more reflective and consider the opportunities. Parents have been rushing their children through driving lessons for over 50 years. As an industry, we’re brilliant at complaining about it, but hardly anyone ever tries to do anything about it.  

The fact is that the way we train people to drive has (hopefully) changed. As a result, we need to be able to effectively communicate this to our customers.

If you are an ADI keen to address the higher levels o...

I've just signed up for some coaching. 

I last worked with a coach as part of my coursework for my EMCC Level 5 qualification in Effective Coaching and Mentoring a couple of years ago.

Even though I was being coached by someone like me, someone who was still in training to become a coach, the power of the models we were using and the genuine curiosity of my coach around my obstacles, and her willingness to help me resolve my own issues, was pivotal in the creation of Bright Coaching and the Professional Diploma. 

At that time, I doubted my ability to bring to life the vision I had in my head for Bright Coaching. I experienced self-doubt, imposter syndrome, crippling procrastination, and decided - definitively - twice - that it was never going to happen. 

I'd go as far to say that Bright Coaching only exists because of my coach. So. Thank you, Meg . 

Why am I returning to coaching? Because it works. 

At the risk of over-sharing, I'm feeling a little frazzled. I'm not stressed -...

(Picture: After being knocked out of the 2022 European Transplant Games in Oxford to Italy's Enrico Pitzalis. I am angrier here than I look.)

A week into 2024, I've still not fully settled on my goals for the year. Today, I'm going to develop a goal using the  SMART model. 

Away from business, my goals are usually focused on my health and fitness. Unfortunately, I've brought a hip injury obtained in November into the new year - one final nail into my five-a-side career. The football boots have now officially been hung up for good. (Donated to these guys, to be more literal).

Tennis is now my main way of keeping fit. It's actually a lot more than that from a mental health perspective, but I'll explore that another time. As a kidney transplant patient (2021), I'll be heading to Lisbon this Summer to compete in the European Transplant and Dialysis Games, representing Team GB.

It's a tough tournament. Getting (and keeping) fit enough, while trying to get my game to a level where I can ...