Leading Home Care Report #113 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Communicating Expectations and DirectionsOvercoming one of the biggest leadership challenges in Home CareJune 6, 2007~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In this issue...-- Everyone has a "Communication Problem"-- Five Levels of Persuasion-- Jump Start that New Sales Rep with Sales Coaching Intensive-- Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute-- About the Author-- Permission to ReproduceWould you agree,
. . . that "Communicating Expectations and Directions" is a critical competency for home care leaders? And would you agree that communication is one of the most difficult leadership skills to master?
My wife and business partner, Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE has a wonderful saying that helps us understand the challenges of leadership communication. In her seminars, Elizabeth often says, "The problem with communication is the illusion that is has occurred."
In this issue of Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report, we will be focusing on "Communicating Expectations and Directions," the second most important competency in our Top Ten Characteristics of Highly Effective Home Care Executives.
Everyone has a "Communication Problem"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Over the past 27 years, I have worked with over 500 different organizations, including over 400 home care companies. I can say without hesitation that every one of them has admitted that they have a "communication problem." These are great companies with very competent leaders who are smart people.How could it be that over 500 top notch companies with smart, successful leaders all have a communication problem? There are two reasons:
1. Communication is such a big fuzzy word that almost any people problem can be labeled a "communication problem."
2. The problem is NOT that leaders don't know how, aren't able, and don't want to communicate. It's usually that they don't have a process for communicating that works.
So, the solution is to narrow down our communication issues into more specific problems, and then to develop a more systematic process for communicating information and ideas to get the outcome you want.
There are three types of information that you need to communicate to your home care team members:
1. Need-to-know
This is information that employees need to know in order to do their jobs. For the most part, we do a good job of giving our team members what they need to know to get the job done. We can, however, improve the process to get them this need-to-know information more quickly and effectively.
2. Helpful-to-know
This is information that will help a team member do their job more easily, more effectively, or with better results. Often, this "Helpful-to-know" information consists of things along the way that you learned by trial and error, from your own experience, or from OPE- Other People's Experience.
Take time to share this "Helpful-to-know" information your team members to speed up their learning curve.
3. Nice-to-know
This is information that is not necessary, or even helpful, but it is nice to know and helps team members feel like they are included, and that they are "in on things." We've seen that leaders of high performance home care teams share a lot of this "nice-to-know" information to help their team members feel more ownership in the company.
What are some examples of "helpful-to-know" information that you can share with your team members to help them be more productive?
What are some examples of "nice-to-know" information that you can share with team members to help them feel a part of the team?
Five Levels of Persuasion~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As a leader, your job is to get your team members to do what needs to be done to achieve your goals. In other words, you need to get them to take action.The specific actions they take depends on the outcomes you expect to achieve. The more clear you are about your expectations, and the more clear you are in your communication, the more likely you are to achieve the outcomes you want.
There are five levels of persuasive communication that are necessary in order to get your team members to take the desired action.
1. Awareness - the person or group with whom you are communicating needs to be aware of "what" you want them to do.
2. Understanding - the person or group needs to know "why" you want them to do a specific thing.
3. Agreement or Acceptance - the person or group needs to agree that what you want them to do makes sense and is in the best interest of them and the company. If they don't agree, they must at least accept that they need to follow your instructions. (There is a difference between agreement and acceptance.)
4. Commitment - the person or group will then make a commitment to do what you need them to do in order to achieve your desired outcomes.
5. Action - the person or group will then take the action you desire. Demonstrated action is the real measure of successful communication.
As a leader, you will be an effective communicator when your team members consistently do what you want them to do in order to achieve the outcomes that you expect.
Too often, we see leaders short circuiting this process, and leaping from awareness to action. They bypass understanding and agreement/acceptance and then wonder why they are not getting the action and the result they want.
You'll be a more effective communicator and a more effective leader when you remember the three types of information, and the five levels of persuasive communication.
For more information about Communicating Expectations and Directions, explore the leadership development series and our "Academy for Home Care Leadership."
Jump Start that New Sales Rep with Sales Coaching Intensive~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Are you like many home health care executives... challenged by getting a new sales representative up to speed quickly? Are you frustrated by that new sales person who just doesn't seem to be bringing in the referrals like you hoped?If so, you'll want to consider a new process for jump starting the career of your new sales reps. Our Sales Coaching Intensive is a system of one-on-one coaching to get your new person up to speed more quickly. What would it be worth to you to have your new person begin generating new referrals within six weeks instead of six months? What would it be worth to you to have a proven system to measure the performance of your new sales rep in Sales Per Hour?
Because of the success of this process over the past six months, and the demand that has been building, we have refined our process for sales coaching and established regular starting dates for the Sales Coaching Intensive cycle.
- Cycle 1 begins Monday July 2nd
- Cycle 2 Begins Monday, September 3rd
- Cycle 3 Begins Monday, October 15th
- Cycle 4 Begins Monday, November 19th
There is room in each cycle for 15 sales representatives or sales managers. If you or one of your sales reps would benefit from one-on-one sales or sales management coaching, call us today to schedule a slot in our next coaching cycle.
Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back
We are so confident with this sales and sales management coaching process, that we guarantee results. If your sales rep does the things that are suggested in this coaching process, and if you don't get enough new referrals that turn into admissions to double the amount you paid for the coaching, we'll refund your money. That's how confident we are in the process and the results we're seeing.
And we'll know if you're getting results, because we're going to help you measure those results in sales per hour, new admissions, and grow margin dollars per admission. Proven Results! Guaranteed!
Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Here are the latest postings on our BLOG, the Home Health Care Leadership Minute:
- Home Care contributes to Res-Care Profits
- Home Care responds to tornado disaster in Kansas
- Many Doctors get gifts or money from healthcare companies
- Another online referral service for home health agencies
- Large for-profit home health companies explore lobbying options
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.
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.comphone: 1-888-668-9333~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~