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Welcome to Balmert Consulting

We look at things a little differently!™

Practice Overview

Our consulting practice can be summed up in one word: Execution.

Execution simply means “faithfully carrying out the plan.” When it comes to getting results, our careers as managers at some of the biggest names in the industrial world convinced us that execution is the difference that makes the difference.

Sure, policies and procedures pay an important role. So do programs. But they’re just print – until they are converted into action. In the world of operations, line management determines how well that conversion takes place. When it comes to execution, no level of supervision plays a more critical role than that of the front line supervisor.

Whether we’re teaching or consulting, we take a practical, common sense view of problems and solutions.  Our training courses – from the Managing Safety Performance suite to professional development courses, like Influencing Skills – teach what to do and how to do it. Our approach to teaching is based on the Socratic Method, the oldest teaching technique on the planet, but still the best. Our consulting work is built on the Law of the Critical Few: find the real problem and come up with simple and effective solutions. That’s where the critical time and resources of management can be best employed.

We believe that’s what sets us apart from the rest of the consulting world. And why our work has helped make a real difference in the performance of our clients.

Managing Safety Performance™

While the organization depends on front line managers and supervisors for execution of safety programs and processes, rarely are they taught how to lead and manage the safety effort. Management just hopes they'll figure how what to do on their own.

"Hope is not a method."

As experienced line managers, we teach practical leadership techniques that every supervisor and manager can learn and put to immediate use. Our Managing Safety Performance courses provide the "what to do" and "how to do it" for effective safety leadership.

Today, thousands of managers and supervisors around the world are getting great safety results using the techniques we've taught.

Most of our workshops are taught at our client's work location however we offer some public sessions for people so you can come and see what we do.

Upcoming 2008 Workshops

Managing Safety Performance

Managing Safety Performance:
Skills for Supervisors & Managers™

July 21st & 22nd - Humble, Texas
September 15th & 16th - Humble, Texas
December 8th & 9th - Humble, Texas

(Click here to find out how you can attend as our guest)

More Info

Influencing Skills

HSE professionals in many organizations are at the heart of ensuring the safety of every individual in the company and protecting company assets. For HSE professionals, producing successful results takes more than just authoring a new procedure and an occasional speech at a safety meeting. The Influencing Skills workshop gives HSE professionals the practical tools they need - and can immediately begin using - to positively and effectively influence their organization.

Influencing Skills:
for HSSE Professionals™

September22nd & 23rd - Humble, Texas

More Info

Health, Safety and Environment Assessments

Our consulting practice focuses on improving execution in the manufacturing and industrial services sector. A key step in the performance management and improvement process is conducting an HSE Assessment - determining the current state and identify opportunities and provide specific recommendations for improvement of Health, Safety and Environmental processes and execution - represents. Our definition of an HSE Assessment is “an evaluation against mandatory government requirements and recognized industry best practices.” In the typical HSE assessment we do for our clients, the evaluation cover matters such as management leadership, employee participation, incident reporting and investigation, management and staff organization for the required Health, Safety and Environmental work Our team of consultants brings a world of knowledge and practical experience to the task of understanding the way things really are, and what it will take to achieve the HSE goals that have been set for the operation. Our assessments are helping clients around the globe achieve the level of health, safety and environmental performance they have set for themselves.

Back to Top

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Balmert Consulting is in the business of business process improvement. Our consulting focus - no matter what the problem or where it is found - will always "follow the money" to The Four P's™.

© 2000 - 2008 Balmert Consulting

updated June 16, 2008

Managing Safety
Performance News™

The leading source of Darn Good Ideas™

June 2008

In this edition Paul continues the discussion he started in the March Managing Safety Performance News™ about perception and reality when it comes to the important task of sending people home safe at the end of the day. Here he discusses the importance of understanding and managing the gap up the organization and offers some ideas on how to take reality to those further away from the work - "Mind the Gap!"

Past issues are available in the newsletter section of the web site. Npte: registration required. To receive the newsletter delivered to your inbox every month go to the BC Cave and register.

Mind The Gap

by Paul D. Balmert
Principal , Balmert Consulting

 

"There is nothing new under the sun"
~ Ecclesiastes 1

If you've ever ridden on the London subway - known by the locals as "The Tube" - you know there's a design problem at many stations. The track is curved and the cars are straight. That creates a hazard for riders: a space between car and platform. If you're not looking down, it's easy to trip and fall. Or worse.

You might think that should call for an engineering solution. Those managing the subway thought otherwise: over the loudspeaker passengers are frequently reminded to "Mind the Gap."

For this visitor the approach worked perfectly.

The warning, "Mind the Gap" came to mind when I read the results of a couple of recent surveys on customer service. I know what you're thinking: "What do either have to do with sending people home safe?" Bear with me: in a moment, it will all make perfect sense.

First, the survey, reported in the April 27th Wall Street Journal:

"...three-quarters of chief executives in an Accenture study believed that their firms provided "above average" service. Yet almost 60% of those same firms' customers were upset with their most recent service experience."

Ok, so the CEO might possibly be misinformed on the subject. Nobody is perfect. Here's the next line in the story.

"Senior executives at most companies, the authors believe, are simply in the dark."

Senior executives in the dark. Are you shocked by the conclusion? Not likely. How many times have we all said that our leaders really don't know what's really going on down in the bowels of the organization?

Now you're beginning to see the gap that needs to be minded: the often dramatic difference between perception that exists at the top of the organization and the reality that those in operations live with every day.

If that's true about customer service, what about safety performance?

Perception - and Reality

In life there is perception and there is reality. What leaders perceive is not necessarily reality. That observation is fact - not perception. The April 27th edition of the Wall Street Journal attests to it.

That begs a question. How do those at the top form the perceptions that they are so certain reflect reality?

Continues...

To continue reading this month's Managing Safety Performance News or to see it on a single page or to read previous editions in the newsletter archives
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