~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Executive Strategy Retreat Creating Focus and Direction for Your Home Health Agency January 23, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue... -- The Executive Strategy Retreat -- Storyboarding: A tool for making ideas visible and stimulating creative and critical thinking -- New PPS Teleseminar Series is a Huge Success! -- Seven Steps for Growing Your Hospital Based Home Health Agency -- Power Home Health Referrals -- About the Author -- Permission to Reproduce It's time, . . . to be thinking about getting your executive team together to update your strategic plan, refocus your agency, and review your approach to gaining competitive advantage in the marketplace. Welcome to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report, the premier online newsletter for CEOs and executives of America's leading home health agencies.

The Executive Strategy Retreat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Want to grow your business and get ready for the future? Then you need to get your executive team off site for a day or two to revisit, review and revise your strategic plan. You need to take some time away from the day to day busy-ness of running your agency to refocus and refresh. Just over 25 years ago I received a telephone call from my dear friend, Larry Lottier, at the Dana Corporation in Toledo, Ohio. "Yo Tweed! It's Lottier. I've got some people who are looking for someone to facilitate an Executive Strategy Retreat. Can you do that?" "Yes! I can do that!" "Great. Call this guy and tell him I sent you." "That's fabulous, Larry. Thanks," How am I going to do that? What's an executive strategy retreat. Can I really do that? Fast forward to 2008 and I've planned, organized and conducted corporate planning sessions, board retreats, executive retreats, and association leadership retreats for over 450 different organizations. Using a model of strategic thinking, The Storyboarding Technique from the Walt Disney organization, and ten years of experience working with corporate executives in FORTUNE 500 companies, I crafted a process for creating focus and direction. Based on those 25 years of experience leading hundreds of retreats and planning sessions, here are some specific tips on making your next Executive Strategy Retreat a huge success: Take your executive team off site - overnight is preferable. Develop a clear agenda for the retreat. Be prepared with information and data about the current reality of your agency. Use an experienced facilitator to lead the process. Make ideas visible - use storyboarding, white boards, or flip charts. Stay focused. Keep the discussion on topic and on target. Stay Strategic! Don't allow the meeting to drift off into operational discussions. Stay on time. Follow your agenda. Focus on Action - What are you going to DO as a result of the discussions? Document the results - create a clear plan of action from your retreat. For More Information on the Executive Strategy Retreat

Storyboarding: A tool for making ideas visible and stimulating creative and critical thinking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An important tool for facilitating your next board or staff planning retreat is storyboarding. Storyboarding was made popular by Walt Disney as a tool for planning his animated cartoons. Over the past 25 years I've facilitated hundreds of storyboarding sessions for clients across the country. Whether it's a board of directors strategic planning session, an executive strategy retreat, a department planning session, the development of a strategic recruiting plan, or the development of an individual career plan, you'll find storyboarding to be a valuable tool. Storyboarding uses large foam boards, push pins, index cards, and felt markers to make ideas visible and stimulate creativity. Every member of your strategy team will have the opportunity to actively participate in the process. Participants write their own ideas on cards, and the facilitator pins the cards to the storyboard. In storyboarding, thinking is divided into two phases... creative thinking and critical thinking. In the creative thinking phase, you want to generate as many ideas as possible. You suspend judgement. You limit discussion of ideas. You encourage crazy ideas. Any idea is a good idea. You make ideas visible on the storyboard. After the creative thinking phase, everyone goes into the critical thinking phase, where ideas are discussed, criticized, and prioritized. It is the critical thinking phase that makes storyboarding different from brainstorming. In the critical thinking phase, you eliminate duplication. You look for trends and recurring themes. You attack ideas but not people. The result is that the best ideas... and all of the people... survive. The outcome is a finely tuned plan of action for the future of your organization, department, or career. At the end of your storyboarding session, all of the ideas discussed will be arranged neatly on the boards and the walls of the room. It is extremely easy for every participant to see clearly the results of each discussion. Then your facilitator will take the cards and create a summary document of your planning session. The result is that every participant has a sense of ownership of the plan that you have created. Owning the plan is key to effective implementation. Storyboarding is the most powerful tool we know of to insure the outcomes you desire from your planning process. When you retain Stephen Tweed to facilitate your next board retreat, executive strategy retreat, or corporate planning session, you'll have the opportunity to experience the storyboarding process first hand and see for yourself the power of this terrific technique. For more details on storyboarding

New PPS Teleseminar Series is a Huge Success! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last Thursday, Judy McGuire and I kicked off a new three-part audio teleseminar series on Sales & Marketing Strategies for PPS Performance. We were delighted by the number of companies who dialed in to the call, and to the number of participants at each location. Even more so, we were delighted with the in-depth questions that came our way during the Q & A session. Judy started the program by giving our listeners a detailed comparison of the Medicare PPS system from 2000 to 2007, and the new 2008 PPS system. She focused on what sales and marketing professionals need to know about these changes. Then Judy and I discussed specific diagnoses that bring higher revenue per episode, and new opportunities to partner with physicians to provide care for patients with specific conditions that are being emphasized by the new PPS. During our next teleseminar on February 7th, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. eastern time, Michael Giudicissi and I will be discussing how you can use this information to help your sales representatives be more focused. We'll describe in detail how to guide sales reps to the referral sources with the most profitable referrals. AND, in the third teleseminar, Michael will describe how to measure the results of your sales activity in Sales Per Hour. And Judy will demonstrate how to link case mix weight and revenue per episode to your sales and marketing results. It's not too late to register. Even though you may have missed the first session, you can still register for the series. Dial in LIVE to sessions two and three. We'll send you a complimentary set of audio CDs from all three programs. You won't miss a thing. Match up a growing Sales Per Hour ratio from your sales reps with an increasing case mix index and more Revenue Per Episode, and this teleseminar series will pay for itself in the first two weeks. It's Not Too Late! Register Today!

Seven Steps for Growing Your Hospital Based Home Health Agency ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are the Director of a hospital based home health agency, you face some unique challenges. Your colleagues who run free standing home health agencies think you have it easy. Since you're part of the hospital, they think you get all of the referrals without having to compete for them. Yet we know that it's not as easy as it may seem. You must balance running a profitable agency with helping the hospital manage charity care and discharge difficult cases while covering your share of the hospital's overhead. You must coordinate your programs and services with other departments in the hospital and with the medical staff. And you must justify your costs with people who don't really understand home health care. We'd like to help you grow your hospital based home health agency by giving you seven strategic steps you can use. This is a process that was proven by Judy McGuire as she managed and grew the largest hospital home health agency in the state of Hawaii. Join Judy McGuire and me for a three-part audio teleseminar series specifically for directors and managers of hospital based home health agencies. Beginning on March 3, 2008, we'll share with you the specific details of these seven proven strategies, while tailoring the information to the unique challenges and opportunities facing your agency. Engage: Seven Steps to Grow Your Hospital Home Health Agency Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern time - Seven Strategic Steps to Grow Your Hospital Based Home Health Agency Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time - Assess Your People Strengths, Empower Your Team, and Engage Your Hospital Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time - Involve Your Professional Advisors, Promote Your Agency in the Community, and Measure Your Success For the very reasonable fee of $499.00 you'll receive: Three 90 minute live audio conferences including Q & A Individual learning guide for each participant Facilitator's guide to lead an on-site discussion of the material Continuing Education contact hours for nurses and other professionals Three audio CD recordings of the live teleseminar for later review For additional information on this teleseminar, or other services for hospital based home health agencies, click below. Don't Delay! Register Today!

Power Home Health Referrals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The leading conference on marketing and business development in home health care is the Power Home Health Referrals conference presented by Home Health Line and Decision Health. I've been working with the folks from Home Health Line for over 20 years and I've spoken at this conference numerous times. There is no better place to get the knowledge you need to get more referrals that turn into admissions. As you know, Dr. M. Tray Dunaway, our colleague and faculty member in the Certified Home Care Sales Professional program will be the opening keynote speaker. Dr. Dunaway is a magical presenter who inspires audiences while giving practical, take home information about how to sell your services to physicians. I'll be following Dr. Dunaway, and then we have a terrific line up of industry professionals who will share their insights and expertise. You don't want to miss Power Home Health Referrals 2008, February 11-13 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. See you there! Register Today for Power Home Health Referrals

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 2008 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: 1-866-209-5101 web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~