Meet Cohort One - Gordon Latto

meet the cohorts Nov 23, 2023

Gordon Latto is a Scottish ADI, Fleet Trainer, and Instructor Trainer based in Edinburgh who was one of the very first people to show interest in the Bright Coaching project when we went public in the summer of 2023. He was kind enough to share his thoughts with Stewart on CPD and his professional goals.

We're incredibly grateful to Gordon for his early support and look forward to accompanying him on his qualification journey in 2024.

1.Welcome to Bright. Can you tell us who you are, and a little bit about your background, please?

I'm Gordon, a retired police officer with a Roads Policing background. I qualified as an ADI in 2020. I knew that I wanted to follow this path and so my motivation is not to instruct for the income but to coach for the outcome. Safe, confident drivers.

2.I know you were signed up for the Tri-Coaching Partnership BTEC Level 4 award earlier in the year but were unable to complete that.

a) What are your general thoughts on CPD within the driver training industry, and

b) what is your approach to your own self-development?

CPD is something a lot of people, including PDIs and ADIs don't relate to. I feel that it's crucial, if for nothing else than maintaining an overview of your chosen career.

So I look at several aspects. I sign up for news updates and regular attend webinars to keep up to date. I will also use my experience to assist others through my work with RoSPA and membership of ARRM as well as signposting others.

Important to me personally is my continued development. I have completed my Fleet Training, completed several courses such as unconscious bias and welfare matters.

I started the BTEC Level 4 but unfortunately didn't finish this. It has though, made me read into coaching further and we should always have business continuity plans. Coaching may just be that link.

3.How do you feel about the role of coaching within our industry?

People view this differently and there is always a space to keep an open mind. For me, I have more success through a coaching method than I did with being more instructor led. I think that's me and the way I tick. Being willing to discuss this both with PDIs and learners leads to an environment where we can all achieve our goals.

4.Is there any specific reason (apart from general CPD and improvement) that you’ve chosen to complete the Bright Coaching qualification.

I want to challenge myself but I feel that it would also enhance my business portfolio and perhaps lead to becoming more involved in training around it.

5.What are your goals for your business over the next two years?

I have started to reduce my hours in the car and would like to transition to more out of car coaching, in time.

Meet Cohort One - Gordon Latto

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