~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Next Generation of Home Care Leaders The Top Ten Competencies of Highly Effective Home Care Executives April 25, 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue... -- Your Annual Leadership Meeting -- The Top Ten Characteristics of Highly Effective Home Care Executives -- Keynote Speeches and Learning Seminars for Your Next Leadership or Sales Meeting -- SuperSize Your Sales -- Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute -- Coming Events -- About the Author -- Permission to Reproduce Welcome, ...to this edition of Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. This special report is for CEOs and senior executives of America's leading home care companies. This report is published every other Wednesday by Leading Home Care... a Tweed Jeffries company for our clients, friends, and advocates who want to grow their home care businesses. Leading Home Care Report is a permission-based newsletter. It is only sent to those individuals who have requested it, or who have given permission for their address to be added to the distribution list. If you have received this report by mistake and would like to be removed from the list, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please go to the bottom of this report for instructions on how to unsubscribe.

Your Annual Leadership Meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What's the theme for your annual leadership meeting this year? What are the outcomes you want to achieve? How will you design your meeting to get the most out of your time together? I'm assuming, of course, that you hold some type of annual leadership meeting where you get your managers and executives together for communication, education, strategizing, planning, team building, and fellowship. That's right isn't it? You do bring your leaders together, don't you? As you read this newsletter, I'll be driving from Louisville to Columbus, Ohio where I will be speaking on Thursday to the Annual Leadership Meeting of a large and very successful home care company. I've been working with the CEO to plan this event, and it will be wonderful. The Vice Presidents and branch managers I've interviewed in preparation for my presentation are very excited about coming together, and excited about our topic. One of the "aha's" that I had as I conducted my interviews is the long tenure of these managers. Eight years, 12 years, 14 years, 17 years, 21 years, 23 years. These are long service employees. They love their company. They love their people. They love their clients. And they love what they do. I asked one of the Vice Presidents, "What's your secret to the long tenure of your managers. How do you get people to stay here for so long?" "Selection," she said. "We work very hard at selecting the right people for the job. Then we treat them well and give them the autonomy to run their branches or their departments." So here's a very large and very successful home care company that hires good people, treats them well, and gives them autonomy. And, they continuously develop their leaders. Every year they bring their leaders together for an Annual Leadership Meeting that is focused on some aspect of leadership development. This reinforces one of our fundamental rules at Leading Home Care: "We only work with winners. Because the losers don't call." The real winners in home care are always looking for new ways to develop their team members, grow their business, and get ready for the future. What are you doing this year at your annual leadership meeting to develop your next generation of home care leaders?

The Top Ten Characteristics of Highly Effective Home Care Executives ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the things we'll be doing at this Annual Leadership Meeting is presenting the results of our research on the Top Ten Characteristics of Highly Effective Home Care Leaders. Since 1997, we've been studying the leadership competencies of home care executives. Here's the Top Ten list: Seeing the Bigger Picture Clearly Communicating Expectations and Directions Making Decisions Coaching and Counseling for Improved Performance Setting Priorities and Managing Time Planning Recruiting and Selecting Great People Measuring and Managing Team Performance Inspiring Others to Follow You Solving Problems How are the members of your leadership team doing in these ten areas? What would it take to develop these important characteristics in your team?

Keynote Speeches and Learning Seminars for Your Next Leadership or Sales Meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A big part of what we do at Leading Home Care is speaking at annual leadership meetings, executive retreats, board retreats, and sales meetings. As you think about planning your next meeting, conference, or leadership retreat, you may want to consider bringing in an outside speaker. If so, you'll want to consider bringing in either Stephen Tweed or Michael Giudicissi from Leading Home Care. Here's a new list of our latest keynote speeches and learning seminars. We'd love to work with you to plan, organize, and execute an exceptional meeting for your executive team, sales team, or board of directors. Keynote Speeches and Learning Seminars from Leading Home Care

SuperSize Your Sales ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are you getting your money's worth from your sales representatives? How do you know? What tools are you using to track the performance of your sales representatives? Now you can have proven tools to measure sales performance, and individualized coaching concepts to manage sales results. SuperSize Your Sales: The Home Care Executive's Guide to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance gives you two tracking tools, and a set of step-by step instructions on how to measure and manage the performance of your home care sales representatives. As a result of applying this package, you'll have a new tool to measure the Sales Per Hour Ratio of your sales people, and some coaching tools to help you help them increase their sales performance. Do you want fries with those new admissions? For more information on this powerful new sales management tool, click on the link: SuperSize Your Sales

Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are the latest postings on our Blog, the Home Health Care Leadership Minute: Another online referral service for Home Health Agencies Large for-profit home care companies explore lobbying options U.S. Supreme Court hears home care overtime case Canada home care spending reaches $3.4 billion Care Pilot announces first vertical search engine for Home Health Agencies Visit the Home Health Care Leadership Minute

Coming Events ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are a few of the coming events you'll want to consider to develop your leaders and your sales team: May 3, 2007 - New Teleseminar Series - "The Magic is in the Message" May 16, 2007 - Kentucky Home Health Association - Lexington, KY May 23, 2007 - Sales Training Boot Camp - Richmond, VA June 14, 2007 - Sales Training Boot Camp - Columbia, Maryland June 20 & 21, 2007 - AHHIF Annual Conference - Orlando, FL Join Stephen Tweed and Michael Giudicissi for some great learning experiences.

About the Author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For nearly 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home care companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of five books, four of which were written specifically for the home care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim President & CEO of a $25 million home care company. Stephen is a past-President of the National Speakers Association, a 3500 member international society of experts who speak professionally. He is also the father of a 37 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis. Meet the entire Leading Home Care Team

Permission to Reproduce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Permission is granted to healthcare publications, associations and companies to reproduce this article in your publication, or to distribute copies to your leaders, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. Copyright 2006 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

Contact Leading Home Care ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: stephen@leadinghomecare.com phone: 1-888-668-9333 web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~