Certification, while not a necessity, produces better-trained driver trainers, which produce better-trained drivers. Producing better-trained drivers helps reduce turnover, accidents and injuries, and prevents customer service problems.
With this in mind, the North American Transportation Management Institute’s (NATMI) Certified Driver Trainer Program is something every training professional in the fleet industry should consider. The training for the Certified Driver Trainer (CDT) credential is geared to improve your abilities as a trainer. You can attain a professional designation for your chosen career, which helps set you apart from your peers.
The benefits
For employers who provide training in the fleet industry, and for employers who invest in their training staff, NATMI training and certification programs help fleets reduce collision rates, and recruit and retain qualified drivers. It also brings an effectiveness boost and shows that top management is willing to invest to long-term success. And for the individual training professional, certification provides a formal means of establishing a professional reputation, a process for improving your work performance and advancing your career. It also measures your professionalism against objective standards respected industry-wide and improves your performance and take you to a new level of ability.
Focus on performance
The driver trainer certification program has the following four elements, which must be fulfilled in order to be granted the CDT designation:
- Experience: minimum of two years as a training professional
- Education: two-day Essential Instructional Skills for Professional Driver Trainers course
- Examination: certification examination given following the required course
- Expertise: a portfolio of work experience and proven on-the-job performance
Most certification programs require either education or testing, sometimes both. Many require experience. But very few require the most important measure of professionalism in NATMI’s view: performance.
NATMI places the most emphasis on the last aforementioned element, the exhibit or portfolio of professional accomplishments, which applicants must submit. Through the exhibit, candidates demonstrate the continuing education they have received, their level of professional development, but most importantly their effectiveness on the job.
While enhancing an individual’s professional standing in the industry is important, the real value of certification is performance improvement. Not only does NATMI certification set recipients apart from their peers, it also helps them do their jobs better. That increases their value within the company, improves the company’s operations and makes the highways safer for the public.
For more information on how to become certified, visit the NATMI website at www.natmi.org and look for upcoming Certified Driver Trainer programs scheduled throughout the USA and Canada.
