Coaching, Consulting & Training
for High Value Personnel
What Others Are Saying
I would strongly recommend First Steps to any individual or organization with a desire to foster professional and personal growth for those who want to become better leaders in their job, or just a better person period.
Director, Radiology
Our Team
GEORGE LOYER
George Loyer is Director of Product Development and Instructor Certification at First Steps Training and Development. He has an international reputation as a Consultant and Seminar Leader in Project Management, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Performance Engineering and Customer Service. With over 25 years of experience as an Executive Consultant, George is a seasoned professional with a practical and reality-based perspective. George's expertise in training design, his dynamic skills as a master presenter (he has conducted over 500 successful seminars and train-the-trainer sessions), and his commitment to organizational change through quality instruction make George an invaluable asset for our clients.
He has a proven track record of helping clients achieve high return on their training investments. At Procter & Gamble, his efforts ranged from developing and implementing a master facilitator program to improving operational critical thinking skills with a one time $2.5 million investment; through these efforts, P&G was able to save $10 million in less than one year with an ongoing $3 million annual cost avoidance. George also developed and delivered a customized operator training package to improve operator training skills in a high turnover, rapid skill acquisition environment. This training reduced scrap cost by close to $40,000 per new hire.
George is also recognized for his expertise in restructuring existing organizational methodologies to achieve greater efficiency. For example, he developed a Project Management system for a large, privately held aerospace company. This Project Management system integrated existing Project Management components with new technology. The resulting Project Management system was cost effective and easily integrated into existing, related management systems.
George has a Chemical Engineering background from Baldwin-Wallace and a Management degree from Rutgers The State University as well as post-graduate work at Monmouth University. He and his wife Stephanie Picard live in Lexington, KY.
ROB BENSON
Consultant and author Rob Benson is the President/CEO of FSTD corporation, a firm which provides Reality-Based Training, Coaching and Consulting for High Impact Issues and High Value Personnel. He is a sought-after speaker and coach who advises senior personnel on systematic approaches to engagement, performance and productivity.
Rob has achieved prominence in the Training & Development field, having earned the highly respected International Association of Facilitators Certified Professional Facilitator, a designation achieved after rigorous examination and held by less than 500 facilitators world-wide. He is a Charter member of the Society for Advancement of Consulting, an international organization which grants membership based on demonstration of the candidate’s professionalism, ethics, and history of successful interventions. A Certified Master Trainer of the Best-in-Class Trouble Shooting Logic methodologies, an Inscape Certified DiSC Trainer and a University of Southern Mississippi Certified Training Professional, Rob has designed and delivered customized training and train-the-trainer sessions for a diverse range of organizations. The Mid-South Region of the Association for Experiential Education honored him and two partners with the "Challenge Award," given in recognition of "a collective effort to provide a community with outstanding services [i.e., training] that are experiential in nature."
In his decade of guiding and growing FSTD, the firm has served a diverse clientele, from small non-profits and business start-ups to Georgia-Pacific, BorgWarner, Dow Chemical, Baxter Health Care, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. He, his wife Melissa and their three children live in Fayetteville, GA.
FLEX PARTNERS
Earl LeBlanc, senior facilitator, specializes in structuring high-performance work teams and developing risk management tools to increase safety performance in extreme-risk industries. Beginning in 1987, Earl pioneered workshops utilizing outdoor adventure-based training courses (ROPES) to service the needs of the local community. In the early '90's, he expanded his work and developed training modules that increase personal and team performance in both local and international corporate work team environments. Since 2000, Earl has focused on behavior-based safety programs, working extensively with the oil and gas, construction and power distribution industries. His innovative approach blends Safety Core Concepts, Personal Accountability (So I Stay Safe), Interpersonal Skill Building (So that We Stay Safe), and Experiential On-Job Applications to practice, troubleshoot and reinforce the attitudes, behaviors and skills learned. Earl lives with his wife Donna in Lafayette, LA.
OUR CONSULTANTS
In addition to our staff, we rely on an extensive network of Certified Master Facilitators. Each is matched with our clients to best reach client goals.
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