Welcome,

to this edition of Leading Home Care Report, and our look at the home health Agency Of The Future. The last two issues focused on Quality and Service. Today we begin a series on the People Pillar.

In this issue, I'll be talking about your "Corporate Culture" and how it affects your people and their performance. I'm writing to you live from the floor of the 26th Annual National Association for Home Care and Hospice convention in Denver, Colorado.

"People are our greatest asset."
NO!
"People's strengths are our greatest asset."

That really resonated with me, because it's clear that people are a key pillar of outstanding home health care agencies, but as leaders we need to think, act, and decide differently to become an Agency Of The Future. It's clear that we need to select great people, and then give them the opportunity to use their strengths - to do what they do best and like to do most of the time.

Today, I want to talk about one important aspect of the People Pillar; Your Corporate Culture. We define corporate culture as, "The way we do things around here."

Your corporate culture is determined by four factors:

1. The leadership style of the CEO
2. The core beliefs and values that guide the decisions and actions of managers and executives
3. The behavior that you expect
4. The behavior that you permit

My wife, Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE, often says in her keynote speeches on leadership and personal performance:
"What you permit you promote."

What's the Culture of your home health agency?

First, what's your leadership style? What are your patterns of behavior? What is your communication style? What are your workplace motivators? What are your talents?

Are you spending most of your day using your strengths? (See more on this later in this newsletter when I write about Marcus Buckingham and "Go Put Your Strengths to Work".)

Second, what's the value system of your agency? Have you written and communicated your core values - your "Guiding Philosophy?" How consistent are you and your leadership team in living by your company values? How have you communicated your values to your home health team?

Third, what behavior do you expect? Have you developed a "Code of Conduct" for your team? How do they know what you expect? In a home health care leadership study we conducted several years ago, the second most important characteristic of a high performance home care leader was, "Communicating expectations and directions."

Fourth, what behavior do you permit? Do your meetings start on time or do you permit people to come in late? Do people come prepared, or do you permit them to slip by with an excuse about why they were not prepared? Do your people complete assignments or turn in paperwork on time, or do you permit time lines and deadlines to slip by? The behavior that you permit you promote, and this creates your corporate culture.

Next time, we'll look at another aspect of the people pillar in the Agency Of The Future - AOTF.

If you would like to hear more about the concept of The Agency Of The Future in a live presentation, I've just put together a brand new Keynote speech entitled Home Health Care 2020: Six Pillars of the Agency Of the Future. I'll be presenting this program as the opening keynote for several state associations and corporate meetings. If you are looking for an innovative opening to your next meeting, call Julie Raque in my office at Leading Home Care at 502-339-0653. Julie will be happy to send you the information and make arrangements for me to speak at your meeting.

Yesterday, the highlights for me were hearing Marcus Buckingham, author of "Go Put Your Strengths to Work", and Amanda Twiss, CEO of Outcome Concepts Systems, talking about the future of PPS from a data perspective.

Detailed reports are posted on my BLOG, the Home Health Care Leadership Minute. Just follow the link below.

Home Health Care Leadership Minute

Since then I have come to know Tom and Tom as two highly integrous guys who do a great job of financial consulting for home health agencies. They specialize in Medicare Cost Report analysis and preparation, CFO Outsourcing, Accounting, and Due Diligence.

We share a number of clients in common. In some cases they have connected me with their client, and in other cases I've sent a client to them.

If you're looking for a home health care financial consulting firm that will help you make sense of the numbers, improve your cash flow, and increase your income, call Tom Boyd or Tom Nicholas at Boyd and Nicholas in Rohnert Park, California. You can reach them at 877-424-6527. Tell them Stephen Tweed sent you.

Boyd and Nicholas

Amanda also said:

• One of the attributes of home health organizations with the highest profitability is that they have a formal marketing department.
• In adjusting to the new PPS, successful companies will revise their sales and marketing plans to identify what patients and referral sources to target.
• Industry leaders interviewed by OCS are planning a number of additional strategies, including changing their marketing focus.

If you would like to get your sales and marketing department ready for the impact of the revised PPS, give us a call. We'll help you refocus and refine your marketing process to hit your target markets.

Learn more about Strategic Market Planning from Leading Home Care

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