Leading Home Care Report #116 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Grow Your Business... Get Ready for the FutureIt's Time to Update Your Strategic PlanAugust 1, 2007~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In this issue...-- Six Strategic Questions You Need to Answer to Get Ready for Next Year!-- Six Steps to a More Productive Strategic Planning Retreat-- Sales Manager Interactive... the Networking Community for Home Health Care Sales Managers and Marketing Directors-- Certify Your Home Care Sales Professionals-- Hospital Based Home Health Agencies Face Unique Challenges in Getting Ready for the Future-- Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute-- About the Author-- Permission to ReproduceSummer's nearly over,
... and it's time to be thinking about your strategy for growing your home care business next year.
Typically, Fall brings budget time and strategic planning time to home health agencies. Now is the time to begin preparing for your annual strategic planning process.
Today, I want to give you some tips and techniques to plan, organize, and conduct a more effective process for strategic planning.
Six Strategic Questions You Need to Answer to Get Ready for Next Year!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The last week and a half was a major road trip to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I drove 2000 miles, held two client meetings, made several personal sales calls, visited two of my three children, played with my grandchildren, and went fishing with my son-in-law.My son, Jason, and I also spent a day updating the business strategy for one part of Leading Home Care. The end of summer and early fall is a great time to take some time away to relax, refresh, reflect, and refocus. Driving back to Louisville gave me many hours in the car to reflect on what's happening in home care, and how we can refocus our business to help you grow your business and get ready for the future.
One of the obvious ways is to refine your Strategic Planning process. I first started in home care in 1982 by leading a board and executive retreat for a very successful home health agency in northwest Pennsylvania. That one planning session led me to an industry that has become my passion. Since then, I've led the strategic planning process for over 400 home care companies and associations.
In reflecting on those 25 years of strategic planning in home care, here are six questions that you need to ask yourself and your executive team as you get ready for the future:
1. Where are we now?
Every year it's important to take a step back to look at your agency as it exists today. Create a snapshot of your current reality. You can assess your current reality at three levels; intuitively, anecdotally, and numerically.
2. Where do we want to go?
What is your vision for the future? How have you communicated that vision to the members of your home care team? Do they see the vision? Do they share the vision?
One of the characteristics of truly great leaders is the ability to create a clear vision for the future, and to communicate that vision to the other members of the team.
3. What's happening in the environment that will affect our future?
As you get started, you'll want to conduct an environmental scan to assess the forces and trends that are shaping the home health care industry. What's happening economically? What's happening demographically? What's happening with our customers? What's happening with technology? How will political change affect our future?
4. What makes us different from our competitors?
Home Health Care is more competitive today than ever before. And yet home care companies are all beginning to look alike. Has home health care become a commodity? What differentiates your agency from your key competitors? How do you know? What do your customers think? How do you want to be seen by your key referral sources?
5. What are our goals for 2008?
What are the SMART Goals we have for 2008? What specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time- based outcomes do we want to achieve? How will we get our team members to embrace these goals? What are the action steps we will take? Who will be accountable for achieving those goals?
6. How will we measure our success?
Is your Strategic Scorecard up to date? Are you measuring more than just the increase in patients served and the financial results? What other leading indicators of future performance will you measure?
As we look at these six simple questions, we realize there is no magic in the questions. The magic is in the answers. What process will you and your executive team use to address these questions and take actions on the answers?
As President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing. Planning is everything."
Six Steps to a More Productive Strategic Planning Retreat~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As you get ready for your strategic planning process this fall, here are six steps to make it more productive:1. Go off site
Make your strategic planning different from all of your other executive team meetings by going off site. Find a unique setting and get away from the office. Find a location with comfortable meeting rooms, a peaceful environment, good food, and space for small group interaction. Over these past 25 years, I've facilitated strategic planning sessions in luxury hotels, state park lodges, on board a 135 foot sailing ship, in a fishing cottage in Canada, and in the living room of the CEO's home overlooking the island of Oahu.
2. Hire an Experienced Facilitator
I know, this sounds self-serving. This is where I put in a plug to hire me to facilitate your next strategy retreat.
But it's okay. First, because I truly believe that every successful planning retreat should use an outside facilitator. As the CEO, you can't be both the leader of the team and the facilitator of the retreat. And it's very hard for another member of your team to be the facilitator. Second... this is my newsletter and I can use it to promote my services. So there!
3. Use a technique like Storyboarding to make ideas visible
Your experienced facilitator will use a technique like storyboarding to make ideas visible and stimulate creative and critical thinking. Too many retreats have great conversation but poor outcomes because no one captured the great ideas and action plans.
4. Encourage participation and open discussion
Too many meetings that are supposed to be strategy retreats end up being reports to senior management by various staff members. The purpose of this process is not to give and get reports. The purpose is to have meaningful conversations that lead to clear direction and focused action.
5. Separate Creative Thinking from Critical Thinking
Again, I've seen way too many planning sessions that are really "brainstorming sessions." Brainstorming is not planning. It's a part of planning. But you also need critical thinking skills and a process to sort through the ideas from the brainstorming session to identify the "critical few" ideas that are going to really make a difference for your agency.
6. Document Your Results
>From your planning retreat, create a truly new strategic plan, or an update of your existing plan. Put it in a format with clear goals, actions steps, accountable individuals, target dates, and measurements.
If you or your team are successful in planning, organizing, and conducting your executive retreat, you will come away with:
- Renewed enthusiasm for the purpose of your agency
- Clear direction for the future
- SMART Goals to define your expectations
- A written plan of action to achieve your goals
- A scorecard balanced to your plan to measure your progress
- A plan to communicate your strategy to other members of your home health team
If you would like information on how we can help you facilitate a powerful planning process for the future, visit our web site below, and then call us at 502-339-0653 to set up a telephone appointment to discuss your specific situation.
P.S. We can also facilitate the strategic planning process for your home care association.
Sales Manager Interactive... the Networking Community for Home Health Care Sales Managers and Marketing Directors~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Last fall, we identified a need for a place home health care sales managers and marketing directors could go to meet and interact with the peers from other agencies in a safe, non-competitive network.
We responded to that need by creating Sales Manager Interactive. Sales Manager Interactive is an annual subscription service that includes monthly interactive teleconferences with Michael Giudicissi, a bi-weekly electronic newsletter, and access to a members-only web site. The web site is loaded with articles and information on how to grow your sales and marketing program.
If you would like your sales manager or marketing director to have more opportunities for personal and professional growth and development, go to the Sales Manager Interactive web site and subscribe today!
Certify Your Home Care Sales Professionals~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~One of the biggest challenges facing rapidly growing home care companies is the ability to recruit, select, hire and train effective sales representatives. The need is great, and the supply of experienced home care sales pros is limited.
Get ready for a fresh approach to home care sales training that will take the guesswork out of predicting the success of your sales team. A program specifically for home care agencies that want to develop Certified Home Care Sales Professionals.
Stephen Tweed and Michael Giudicissi at Leading Home Care have teamed with Dr. Tray Dunaway to create an in-depth, focused sales training program and certification designed to give your sales people the knowledge, skills, and focus they need to reach even the most difficult referral source.
Then we teamed up with Decision Health, the publishers of... Home Health Line, and Success In Home Care... to create an exceptional workshop environment in which to provide this training. Join us in San Antonio, Texas on September 24, 25, and 26 for the 2007 Home Care Sales Professional workshop.
Don't Delay, Register Today!
Hospital Based Home Health Agencies Face Unique Challenges in Getting Ready for the Future~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~By Judith McGuire, BSN, MHA, CHCE, FACHE
Hospital Home Health SpecialistIf you're the Director of a hospital based home health agency, you face unique challenges in strategic planning as you get ready for the future.
You're expected to operate under the constraints of the hospital's strategic plan, budgeting process, human resource policies, and information technology infrastructure. And, you're expected to grow your business, help move patients out of the hospital, and make a profit.
If you have a unique combination of these challenges, and would like some help in creating a clear strategy to grow your business and get ready for the future, visit our web site and then give us a call at 502-339-0653.
CLICK HERE for more information on growing your hospital based agency.
Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Here are the latest postings on our BLOG, Home Health Care Leadership Minute:
- Walgreens expands Home Care business with acquisition of Option Care
- PA Governor Signs Law Allowing Nurse Practitioners to Order Home Health Services
- Ohio Governor Signs Order Granting Collective Bargaining Rights to Independent Home Care Workers
- Mayo Clinic Offers Home Care Advice
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~