There has always been apathy towards training in the industry, and that will only change when getting accredited becomes the norm and those who aren’t interested, become the minority who get left behind.
There are now significant numbers of ex-military entering the industry who have completed very high quality chauffeur and protective driving courses, so before too long, such individuals will have a distinct advantage in the jobs market.
In addition, a lack of opportunity in the close protection industry is forcing many CP licence holders to look at moving over to chauffeuring. Bear in mind, here are a group of individuals who have very transferable skills, an in-depth understanding of client types and an eagerness to develop themselves further. Put these factors together and it’s only a matter of time before there’s a pool of very suitable individuals which will, slowly but surely, raise standards.
But what’s being going wrong up to now and why, as a profession, have we never embraced training? In my mind, three main factors exist when it comes to the industry’s views on personal development and I’ll refer to them as ATM:
Attitude
I have no doubt that there are chauffeurs whose view of their own ability, despite never having done so much as a day’s formal training, will not be swayed one iota as a result of reading this article. In their own minds, they are exceptional drivers and exceptional chauffeurs that can be taught nothing. You’ll come across them time and again, theres no one they haven’t driven and nothing they haven’t done.
The problem is that there’s actually a lot of things they haven’t done, but as an individual, they don’t possess the mindset to do anything over and above the bare minimum. Get onto the subject of training and the stock answer will be that they’re not interested in ‘all that s***’.
I’m happy to say that there are of course those individuals who take the opposite point of view and for whom gaining the necessary skills is a natural progression. These are the people who don’t claim to know it all if they haven’t done it all, but what they do have is a desire to be able to call themselves a professional, knowing they possess a skill set and knowledge that proves it. They see training as both an investment and as advantageous to their employer, customers and themselves.
