Article Category
Execution
Browse Balmert Consulting articles about Execution, with practical safety leadership ideas for frontline teams and managers.
Showing page 1 of 6 / 51 posts
MSP News
Coaching Leaders
May 30, 2026
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News, Gary Rivenes explores what effective coaching looks like when safety leadership moves from the classroom to the field. Gary writes from experience: before joining Balmert Consulting, he spent more than thirty years in mining leadership roles, from supervising a seventy-person crew to serving as Chief Operating Officer. In those roles, coaching leaders was not a theory or a program. It was part of getting the work done safely and sending people home alive and well at the end of the day.
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MSP News
Environment And Safety
February 27, 2026
In this issue of Managing Safety Performance News, Paul looks at why separating “environment” from “safety” misses the point. Using real work examples—from hauling tools over a snowbank to executive debates about compliance—he makes the case that many hazards don’t come from the job itself, but from the conditions in which the work is done. By stripping injuries down to simple “headlines” and sorting them by the source of the hazard, patterns start to emerge that are easy to miss in root cause analysis reports. The takeaway is straightforward: environment and safety are inseparable, and leaders who want better safety performance need to see the work—and its hazards—clearly, from the moment it begins.
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MSP News
About Those Details
April 30, 2025
This month Paul applies some of the key lessons he and Dr. Pete Robison explored in last month’s Managing Safety Performance News and the accompanying That’s A Darn Good Question podcast to a real case study involving two fatalities. He draws three very important lessons about execution that can make all the difference between going home alive and well at the end of the day… or not.
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MSP News
Execution and Leadership
February 27, 2025
This month Paul examines execution in business and as it relates to sending people home alive and well at the end of the day. He shares the story of one of his former bosses who thought like McKay. Paul explains plans are important, but execution is what is done, and how well things are done. He says, “Yes, there can be cases where failure was a function of a terrible plan fabulously executed, but they’re pretty rare.” He discusses the problems with execution and leaves us with some valuable lessons that can make a difference ensuring everyone goes home safe every day.
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MSP News
Leading – And Managing Safety
January 7, 2025
This month Paul hails Ceasar’s selection of New Year’s Day as the beginning of the next trip around the sun, as well as the perfect moment for every manager and supervisor to plan and evaluate. He points out there is nothing more important than planning for actually making things safer for those who do the work of the business. In the process he takes on “the next big thing” and “conventional wisdom” that frequently appear during the planning process. He leaves us with thoughts on the critical importance of leadership and execution if the goal is to see that everyone goes home alive and well the end of the day.
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MSP News
About Practice
November 22, 2024
This month Paul examines the art and science of practice, specifically of safety leadership practice. When it comes to safety leadership practices, he clarifies what that means and how to evaluate the practices. He shares his thought on the critical nature of improving the practices and thoughts on how to do it. This is definitely one of the most important messages he has shared in the Managing Safety Performance News.
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MSP News
Your Job
August 29, 2024
This month Paul discusses the difference between “what’s your job” and “how do you do your job?” In examining a “a day in the life of a leader” he focuses on front-line leaders and their role of making sure everyone goes home alive and well at the end of each and every shift. He talks about the critical difference between “checking the box” and successfully and effectively executing the activities that are critical to sending people home safe. He makes the case that doing those activities well takes training and repetition to make the common practice that makes a difference.
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MSP News
The Investigation Process
June 28, 2024
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul shares his journey to understanding and investigating problems and stirs the pot to examine the investigative process. He, once again, asks questions about the process that are easy to ask but you might find the answers troubling. He and Bill Wilson, a Balmert Consulting teacher and consultant, make the point that problems and successes are treasures and knowing how to properly investigate them deserves your attention.
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MSP News
Earbud Nation
April 30, 2024
This month Paul examines multitasking and distracted walking. From his own experience as a pedestrian and data in a recent report he draws some lessons that can help us back on the job with earbuds, hazard recognition, and distracted working, including walking and driving.
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