~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The People Pillar in Home Health Care Selection is the key to success April 2, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue... -- Selection is your key to success in the future. -- A Keynote Speaker for your next leadership conference, board retreat, or sales meeting -- Certification Programs for your Sales Professionals -- New BLOG Postings on the Home Health Care Leadership Minute -- About the Author -- Permission to Reproduce Welcome, . . . to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report, the premier online newsletter for CEOs and executives of America's leading home health agencies. (For strategies and insights on how to grow your Private Duty non-medical home care business, we invite you to subscribe to Private Duty Today, our newsletter for non-medical home care.) Happy Day After April Fools! Hope you made it through OK. We're not fooling around today. This is serious business. Growing your home health agency and getting ready for the future depends on your people. And the key to having great people is SELECTION.

Selection is your key to success in the future. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have just finished March Madness in Louisville. The University of Louisville Cardinal basketball team lost a thrilling game on Saturday evening to the number one team in the country, the University of North Carolina Tarheels. We were sad to see them lose, but proud that our Cards went so far this year given the difficult start to the season. Whenever I think about the People Pillar in home health care, I think about college basketball, and U of L coach Rick Pitino. Several years ago there was an article in the Louisville Courier Journal quoting Pitino: "I concern myself all the time with recruiting. If there's one thing I've taken away from professional basketball it's that talent wins and wins consistently." Well, the same thing is true in Home Health Care. As we have worked with hundreds of home health agencies around the United States, I can say that "Talent wins and wins consistently." The agencies with the best people win in the marketplace. While recruiting is critical, and we are continually researching new ways to recruit nurses, therapists and other professionals, I'm more and more convinced that selection is really the key to your success. Your ability to attract a number of great candidates for each open position, and then select the very best person for the job, will determine your bench strength in the future. And building bench strength needs to be your number one priority as an executive in home health care. Several weeks ago, I was leading a Strategic Planning session for a very successful home health company in the southeast. The founder and owner had sold the business to a private equity firm, and the new CEO brought me in to develop a new strategic plan. The founder was part of the group, and contributed significantly to the process. As I talked with him about what had made the company so successful, the answer became clear - selection. Gary, the founder, had an intuitive sense about people and had developed an amazing ability to find and select the right people. That skill had turned into gold for him as he sold his company for millions of dollars. Well, not all of us have that intuitive ability to select the best people to help us grow our home health agencies. That means we need to develop a systematic process to sort through the applicants to select only the best. Here are six steps you can use to choose your new team members: 1. Clearly define the critical competencies of the job What does it take to be really successful in the job you are trying to fill. Let's use the example of a clinical manager. What does your best clinical manager look like? What is her behavioral style? What are her motivators or drivers? What are her talents? Where did you find her? Sit down and develop a very clear description of the competencies of your ideal clinical manager. 2. Recruit a number of capable candidates Keep recruiting until you have at least three capable candidates to choose from. Don't look at one candidate and make a yes/no decision. Look at three and select the best. 3. Use an online assessment tool to help you understand the person. For many years, we've used online assessment tools to help us get a clearer picture of the behavioral style, workplace motivators, and talents of job candidates. These objective, validated instruments will give you a much clearer picture of the fit between the candidate and the job. 4. Use Behavioral Interview Questions to get beneath the surface. Too many managers in home health care have not mastered the art of interviewing, and tend to ask superficial questions that get at the obvious. Or worse yet, they ask very few deep questions and spend most of their interview time selling the agency to the prospective candidate. Well crafted behavioral interview questions will draw out the person and give you a true picture of their capabilities. 5. Use multiple interviewers This is pretty common. But it's still part of the process. Have several key executives interview each candidate. You may even consider doing group interviews where one person starts the interview, and then others join in during the process. This gives you the chance to observe how the candidate reacts to the unexpected change in the situation when a second and then a third interviewer join the meeting. 6. Do thorough background checks Once you have narrowed your selection down to one person, or perhaps two, do your home work. Talk with their references. Develop rapport and dig deep. Don't ask the typical background questions. Develop a specific list of questions that will help you determine whether or not this person can really do what she says she can do. I recently ran into a manager who had been with a client of ours. This person had left the first client and moved on to another company. Later, this second company hired us to help them with marketing and we discovered this manager working there. Within three weeks of our beginning work with the second company, the person left to work for a third home health agency. In each case, this marginally competent manager has stayed with the agency only long enough for them to figure out that he was marginally competent. Then he moved on. In each case, the hiring company had not checked out his previous employers to find out what his true performance had been. Just because someone has home health experience and comes across well in the interview does not mean that they can really perform on the job. There are people out there who have many years of home health care management experience but have been mediocre performers in each job. As an executive in home health care, the legacy you leave behind will be determined by the people you bring in to manage the agency and serve the patients. When there is a solid team of people in place who can lead the agency into the future after you are gone, then you will know you have done your job well. Leave a lasting legacy. Select only the best!

A Keynote Speaker for your next leadership conference, board retreat, or sales meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's conference season in Home Health Care. Yesterday, I spoke for the Tennessee Association for Home Care in Franklin, TN. In a few weeks I'll be at the California Association for Health Services at Home in Palm Springs, CA, and then the Southwest Home Care Conference in Dallas. Speaking at state and national conferences is a big part of what I do. Another part of what I do is speak at home health agency leadership retreats, board retreats, sales meetings, and awards dinners. If you are looking for a speaker for your next company meeting, conference, or retreat, then please click on the link below and visit the speaking section of Leadinghomecare.com. There, you'll find a list of keynote speeches and breakout sessions. Call us, and we'll help you plan your conference or retreat. I've been working with meeting planners and conference committees for 28 years. I've facilitated hundreds of board and executive retreats. I can help you design a meeting that will win praise from the participants and at the same time get across the messages you want them to receive. Effective meetings and conferences don't happen by accident. They take careful planning. Bringing in the right speaker can make all the difference in the world. And bringing in a speaker who can help you plan your conference, and then tailor his presentation to the design of your meeting is a real bonus. Call us today for assistance in planning a spectacular meeting event for your home health agency. Visit the speaking section of our web site for more details.

Certification Programs for your Sales Professionals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the big challenges facing home health care executives who want to grow their businesses is finding and training sales representatives. Our research shows that the number two most effective and most frequently used technique for bringing in referrals that turn into admissions is "Direct Selling", having feet on the street calling on physicians and other referral sources. We also know from our research that most home care sales representatives are not effective, and in fact do not bring in enough admissions to cover their carrying costs. To solve that problem, Leading Home Care has teamed up with Decision Health, publishers of Home Health Line and Private Duty Insider, to offer two sales certification workshops. The Certified Home Care Sales ProfessionalTM This certification is designed specifically for sales professionals representing Certified Home Health Agencies, calling on hospitals, physicians, and other skilled care facilities. This workshop is designed specifically for those selling home health care. We have also had participants from hospice, medical supply companies, home medical equipment, and home infusion pharmacies. The Certified Private Duty Sales ProfessionalTM This certification is designed specifically for sales professionals representing private duty, non-medical home care companies. Although the selling principles are the same, the focus is different. This workshop is designed specifically for those selling private duty. Take a look at the web sites for each program. Then decide which one is best for your sales representatives. We've found that the graduates of these programs are able to demonstrate measurable increases in admissions during the first eight weeks after the course and that more than pays for the cost of the program. The Certified Private Duty Sales ProfessionalTM April 14 & 15, 2008 - San Antonio, TX The Certified Home Care Sales ProfessionalTM June 11, 12, 13, 2008 - Charlotte, NC September 17, 18, 19, 2008 - San Antonio, TX

New BLOG Postings on the Home Health Care Leadership Minute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are the most recent postings on our BLOG at the Home Health Care Leadership Minute: Linking Technology to Improve Quality and Clinician Performance SEIU Rebuffed by California Home Health Care Workers Home Health Agencies use Company Cars to aide Nurse Recruiting and Retention High Tech Home Care Camera let's you peer into your own cavities Click here to visit our BLOG

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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~