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Founded in 1991, Hile Group recognizes that our ability to successfully deliver is measured by positive impacts to your bottom line. To do so requires a commitment of purpose by both parties to meaningfully reach all key constituents within an organization, and thus prove the value of incremental and ultimately transformational change.
With decades of experience and deep industry insight, our staff offers complementary skill sets to our clients, along with proprietary analytical methods in delivering the desired results.
"In my experience, the depth of strategic thinking, coupled with a unique ability to effectively engage both our executives and line staff, well distinguish Hile Group from their competitors."
Mission
Hile Group is a collaborative, visionary, and trusted associate that advances learning as a strategy to transform the individual, the organization, and the community.
Julie S. Hile
Julie Hile's 27 years in safety and performance consulting have led her to people who work all kinds of jobs at all levels within the companies Hile Group serves. "You have to get the whole system to the table--and I mean really to the table," she explains, "if you mean to create lasting change." Plying her skills as analyst, systems thinker, coach, facilitator, and writer, she draws her partners toward work cultures that embed safety into day-to-day operations. She puts the tremendous knowledge and ability that comes from all players combined to work in order to improve performance results.
Julie's model for participative safety rule book revision is an acknowledged point of entry for advancement of safety culture excellence, and it has driven incident and injury dramatically down and improved the quality of work life in railroads throughout North America. Her team's safety rules revision efforts figure prominently in the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) 2003 white paper on the subject.
Julie heads up Hile Group's work as implementation lead on the FRA's Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) Pilot Project, the first application of such a system in the U.S. railroad industry, whose fourth and final Demonstration Site is currently preparing to go live. The project is generating considerable new knowledge for the industry at large. It has deepened Julie's understanding of team-based Multiple Cause Incident Analysis and the development and implementation of corrective actions that are systemic and sustainable.
Julie's learner-centered leadership development processes integrate strategic support from learners' bosses and peers from the beginning and root new knowledge and skills into immediate application back on the job. New managers and long-time leaders alike have pointed to their exposure to her work as life-changing (and career-enhancing) experiences.
A frequent speaker and writer in the areas of safety culture change, transformative safety, stakeholder engagement, transfer of learning, and safety rules revision, Julie loves few things more than a really awesome new idea.
Christina R. Schulz
Christina Schulz has worked in education and performance consulting for 11 years, 9 of them with railroad professionals and seafarers. Collaborative learning events are her area of expertise, and she brings lively, good-humored facilitation to culture change projects. Currently, Christina is a key contributor to all facets of the Confidential Close Calls Reporting System (C3RS) with particular success in her partnerships with craft employees, management, and FRA representatives on project Demonstration Sites.
In addition to leading participants through collaboration in face-to-face working meetings, Christina has stewarded organizational learning and change through technical writing and the development of stakeholder-informed documentation. For example, Christina has helped drive safety rule book revision processes at CN U.S. Systems, CN Dock Systems, Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Alaska Railroad. Over hauling and improving operations manuals to better reflect new ideas in managing safety culture, again through highly participative writing processes, have also been highlights of Christina's tenure at Hile Group for such customers as American Commercial Lines (ACL) and American River Transportation Company (ARTCo), a subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM).
Whether it is in the classroom, on the phone, or over the Internet, Christina helps Hile Group customers hold themselves accountable to advancing their performance management skill sets and safety cultures. Christina stands by customers as they learn, apply, implement, and replicate the learning for employees and peers.
"There is no better work to me than helping our customers recognize their common ground, come to consensus, and create breakthrough solutions for safety," Christina says.
