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Home Care's Single Most Important Management Tool
CARING Magazine September
2008
Dr. Robert Fazzi, Managing Partner
Eileen Freitag, Partner
It is a management tool that NAHC uses.
So does nearly every other national and state association.
In fact, nearly every small, medium, large, regional
and national home care and hospice agency in the country
either use it every two or three years or at least
consider it. And here is the most important point
of all: for the vast majority of agencies and associations,
it is the single most important management activity
that shapes their future. What is it? It’s strategic
planning and if you are not doing it now, it is clearly
time to consider it.
Insights from
the Rest of the World
Over the past 14 years, Bain and Company,
an international consulting firm, has completed 11
surveys on companies use and satisfaction with management
tools. Over the years, they have assembled a database
that now includes 8,504 respondents from more than
70 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa,
the Middle East and Latin America. In their most recent
study (Management Tools and Trends 2007), they focused
on the top 25 management tools used by companies.
One of their goals was to determine which tools were
most commonly used and what the levels of satisfaction
were with those tools.
Over 1200 executives from throughout
the world responded to the survey. Their number one
finding? Strategic Planning was once again the number
one management tool used by companies world wide.
It also had the highest level of satisfaction. And
here may be the most important finding of all –
strategic planning has been the number one management
tool since 1996.
What We Know
About Strategic Planning
Over the past thirty years, Fazzi Associates
has been involved in conducting strategic plans for
state and national associations, for home care and
hospice agencies of all sizes and for an array of
health, human services, educational and community
efforts. While the size of the agencies, their location,
number of people involved and even the length of time
differed, there were clearly strong similarities among
the most successful planning efforts.
Leaders Were Actively Engaged: Strategic
Planning is about the future of your agency. If the
leader is not actively involved and zealously committed
to making it a success, most members of the planning
committee quickly question the value the process.
Their question: “What are we doing this if our
leader is not involved? Are we simply wasting our
time?” Not a good start for a planning process.
The Planning Process Focuses
on Both Outcomes and the Actual Process: Committed
leaders realized that there are really two outcomes
they are striving to achieve – an excellent
plan with clear goals and strong buy-in by all those
involved. The leaders realize that the process must
be one that is engaging, inclusive and is designed
to increase buy-in and commitment, particularly from
those who will ultimately be responsible for implementing
the plan.
Honest Assessments Were Valued
and Insisted Upon: You can’t realistically
plan for the future unless you have a clear understanding
for your present and future realities. If the planning
team is fearful of hurting peoples’ feelings
or strives to avoid turf issues, you won’t get
honest answers and you won’t get an honest plan.
Successful planning processes always insist that there
is a real effort to honestly assess every aspect of
the agency – its programs, quality, staffing,
finance, board, etc.
Everyone Understands That Changes
Will Most Likely Occur: Periodically, we
find ourselves entering a planning process where those
involved don’t realize that major changes may
emerge from the plan. Strong strategic planning processes
very often identify incredible opportunities or significant
challenges where rapid, major changes are essential.
When the committee and agency is prepared and receptive,
there is less resistance and the planning process
is far more successful.
Strategic Planning Is Viewed
as a “First Step”: The very best
strategic planning processes are those where the committee
constantly considers how the plan will be implemented.
They understood that the strategic plan is the foundation
for the annual operational plan. The strategic plan
answers the questions, “Where are we going and
why,” while the one year operational plan answered
the questions, “How are we going to get there
and what will we do this year to make our strategic
plan a reality.”
Strategic planning can be fun, exciting
and incredibly worthwhile. It is also a process that
methodically looks at the realities of limited resources
and unlimited opportunities. As Bain and Associates
points out, “strategic planning asks and answers
the most critical questions confronting a management
team—especially large, irrevocable resource
commitment decisions.” It is the perfect tool
for home care agencies facing significant resource
and service challenges.
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Dr. Robert Fazzi is the Managing Partner and Founder
of Fazzi Associates. He is an author, researcher,
and consultant who has provided consultation and training
to the home care and hospice community for over thirty
years. Most recently he has served as Co-Director
of the Philips National Study.
Eileen Freitag has over 30 years experience in the
home care field. She has served in various operation
positions, was marketing vice president and later
CEO of one of the largest home care agencies in the
US, the Boston VNA. She has also served as president/CEO
of a large integrated long-term care system and vice
president of Business Development for a start-up software
company that specialized in products for seniors.
Eileen is director of Fazzi Associates Marketing and
Customer Service Consulting Division.
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