Paul runs a course

Every year the drivers had to be assessed to ensure that they were still capable of doing their job well and safely. The idea that they would ferret out a struggling colleague and deal with the situation themselves was quite outmoded. No, these days there had to be some managerial input into the process. This would make everything better. At least that was the theory.

The problem was that there were an awful lot of drivers. And it seemed that as soon as the assessments were completed, they were due again. Despite the drivers' best effort to stretch the time between these annual ordeals from twelve to fifteen or even eighteen months, this process of documentation collection always seemed to be the paperwork equivalent of painting the Forth Bridge. And now the government had decreed that the whole exercise should be even more detailed with the Enhanced Strengthened Assessment.

So Paul decided to delegate. It was one of his many talents. Several drivers would be trained in the mystic art of assessment and would be taught to count the uncountable. He ran a course.

Ten of the drivers had been persuaded to attend. The head driver, who had already been trained in the art, was leading the day and began by outlining the reasons behind the initiative and the main areas they would cover. The drivers then eagerly awaited Paul to come and give the next talk, setting the context in more detail and motivating them. They waited. And waited. The coffee cups were empty and the small talk had dried up.

The lead driver rang Paul's secretary to enquire politely if he was running late. "Oh, he's on an away day fact-finding mission in a nearby town," he was told. The driver apologised to the group.

The morning passed. They studied the seemingly endless types of Supporting Information that each driver would have to submit in their Reassessment Folder every year. It seemed never-ending. Copies of driving licenses, insurance papers, logbooks of journeys undertaken. Copies of complaints from passengers, reflections on these complaints, outcomes of investigations. Breakdowns, reflections on breakdowns, route cause analyses of the breakdowns. Feedback questionnaires from all one's colleagues, evidence of team-working, statements of good eyesight. And on, and on.

And then there was role play.

A character actor played the role of drivers with problems and attitudes quite unlike anything that the assembled group thought they would ever encounter. They struggled through the use of open and closed questions and discussed the role of the assessor in the resolution of any problems uncovered.

"Is this process supposed to be helping the driver concerned in finding ways to make his working life easier or is it more of an exam-like scrutiny?" asked one of the audience.

There came a long answer but no one was any the wiser afterwards.

"Are we supposed to be judge, jury, facilitator, counsellor or a combination of these?" they persisted.

Another long answer. Still not enlightened.

At the end of the day they were given certificates and told to go forth and assess. "You need to do between eight and twelve a year," they were told. "Each one should take a couple of hours of preparation, two to three hours of face-to-face time and an hour or two of reflection before writing the summary report."

"This is instead of some of our usual driving duties?" they queried, alarmed.

The head driver running the course smiled. "We find that weekends are probably best for this activity," he concluded.