Smart Driving: Anger Management
SMART DRIVING
MAX KVIDERA
inside. “Outside the wall, the company driver or owner-operator has a lot of time,” he says. “Time can be a real problem if you’re alone in your cab. Inside the wall, they don’t have any time. What is little to a dispatcher becomes big to a driver.” Baker says he tries to get across to those working inside the wall how small incidents often get bigger inside a driver’s mind. “It can be a payroll mistake; it can be a click in his engine; it can be a dispatcher’s tone of voice.” Resolving conflicts involves the best efforts of the driver or independent contractor, the driver manager or dispatcher and the carrier, says Rim Yurkus, president and CEO of Strategic Programs Inc. Each has a role to play to help make the operator’s job easier and less stressful. A driver can head off conflicts by how he or she raises an issue. “Rather than saying, ‘Why did you cheat me on this paycheck,’ which is just begging for a fight, you might say, ‘I’m having trouble understanding the calculation on this paycheck. Could you explain it to me?’ “ Knowing how to cool down before addressing a problem helps alleviate the tension, Baker says. “To be successful in trucking, you have to be able to manage your thinking and your money,” he says. “On the thinking end, the older drivers kind of have that down. They know tablet. to park their truck, get out and walk “They have a tough job,” says around it three times and work off Tres Parker, vice president of opertheir frustrations before calling. The ations at Boyd Bros., based in Clayyounger ones need a lot more online ton, Ala.. “We’ve got to do everycommunication.” thing we can to make their job as Don’t be hesitant about telling easy as can be. We have to keep conyour driver manager or carrier what’s flict away from that driver.” bugging you. Dan Baker, Yurkus says driva motivationSEVEN STEPS ers who are inal speaker and TO CONFLICT troverted and not trucking indusgiven to expresstry consultant, RESOLUTION ing themselves says the indus1. Listen more than you talk may cap their try is divided feelings and not between those 2. Be willing to look for constructive solutions discuss problems. drivers “outside 3. Stay on the issue and get off personalities 4. Keep “blame” and “fault” out of your Carriers should the wall” and vocabulary make it part of dispatchers and 5. Fix the system instead of the blame orientation to safety and main- 6. Be an on-the-spot communicator tell new drivers tenance per- 7. Leave as little for later as possible SOURCE: INDUSTRY CONSULTANT DAN BAKER to open up when sonnel on the
Anger Management
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ou asked dispatch for a load to get you home, but now you’re going to miss your son’s football game. You were scheduled to deliver that load three hours ago, but you’re still waiting for the dock to open up. You don’t understand these charges on your settlement, and no one’s getting back to you. Trucking is full of conflicts and problems that can stress out the most patient driver. From road issues to problems with carriers, shippers and consignees, the trucker’s job is a daily challenge. How the operator, the driver manager and the company the driver’s associated with deal with those challenges, however, determines whether the trucker feels in control of his or her job or is continually searching for another Rolaids
Drivers, managers and carriers all play roles in defusing or preventing conflicts
30 TRUCKERS NEWS SEPTEMBER 2010