Delivering great care while driving the business...

Client need

A leading provider of home health and hospice care in the United States consistently delivers high quality care but strives to be the premiere solution for patients across the country to age in place. To meet this ambitious goal, the organisation identified the need to develop their people, providing them with the leadership and business skills necessary to drive results and continue providing top-of-the-line care.

At the company, often the best physical therapists, nurses, and occupational therapists are selected to lead care centres, shifting roles from a caregiver to a business leader. Care centre leaders report to regional heads and are responsible for managing their care centers’ P&L, holding other caregivers accountable, and growing the business. These major responsibilities can be challenging for many new care centre leaders. While they have excelled as caregivers, their background is not in business.

“I would definitely recommend this experience to my colleagues. Information shared on giving feedback both positive and negative will be a game changer for this organisation.”

“I learned more about my leadership abilities and ways to improve it or correct it than any other meeting I have attended”.

“This conference brought to light more of what I have been doing ‘wrong’ but certainly opened my eyes to what I can do better to assist my care centre in future growth. Thank you!”

The solution

To mediate this issue, the organisation engaged with BTS to help care centre leaders gain the skills required for their role and familiarise themselves with the tools that will enable their success. Through a series of intensive interviews, BTS created a customised program to fit the healthcare company’s specific needs.

The program was a two-day offsite, during which participants embark on an experiential learning journey to practice their business acumen and leadership skills. In addition to the 25 care centre leaders in attendance, there are also a handful of regional heads who participate, making a total of 30 participants, with several senior observers overseeing the program. The goal of the program is to reach all care centre leaders within the organisation, equipping them with the skills and tools to successfully lead and grow the business.

Before the program kicked off, participants were asked to read a short article on Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers, which prepares them for their leadership learning journey.

On the first day of the program, leaders immediately jump into a customised business simulation, running a care centre in a simulated environment. Both new and tenured leaders test the behaviours and skills required for the job in a risk-free environment where their mistakes will not affect the business. In this first round of the simulation, leaders focused on optimising their caregiver mix and utilisation levels, ensuring resources are adequately meeting patient needs and providing the best care profitably. This round took half of a day, but simulated an entire quarter of running a care centre. Participants later received feedback on their performance in the simulation, learning how their decisions impacted their simulated business. All of the results are contextualised in the company’s service-value chain so that participants can understand how both their business and leadership choices make a measurable difference.

In the afternoon, leaders were exposed to the BTS Multipliers Framework, based on the concepts from Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers, which describes how leaders can encourage those around them to reach their full potential by tapping into their teams’ natural talents and ‘multiplying’ their impact. Leaders were also exposed to ‘accidental diminishers’, which described well-intentioned behaviours that accidentally inhibit people’s ability to make mistakes and subsequently learn and grow. Participants engaged with these concepts through a moments-based playbook, learning What Great Looks Like and What Not So Great Looks Like in the most pivotal moments they encounter in their role.

For the remainder of the day and in the following morning, leaders were divided into two cohorts, one of care centre leaders and the other of regional heads, to respectively practice giving feedback and coaching skills. The division of these two cohorts allowed for more candid conversations and targeted learning opportunities, as they discussed existing challenges they face in their role and potential ways forward.

In the second round of the simulation, participants had the opportunity to run their care centre again, and this time are better equipped for success. The results of this round allowed participants to see how applying their learnings could enhance business performance, and what mistakes to avoid when applying their skills to their care centre in the real world.

At the close of the two-day program, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and President presented the company’s future outlook, inspiring participants to apply their learnings in support of the company’s ambitious growth goals.

Results

Since the program’s inception, net income from operations (NIFO) has improved by roughly $10M, fostering a business-focused, feedback and coaching culture through improved alignment. Based on post-program interviews, the organisation estimates that at least 30% of the $10M in additional NIFO was due to the training initiative.

In addition, the program received world-class results with an average NPS of 9.2. Over 350 care centre leaders and regional heads have been through the program, with more than half (63%) reporting knowledge
transfer and nearly all (97%) participants reporting behaviour change.

The healthcare provider is still on its leadership journey, but the results so far prove the program provides significant impact on the skill level and tool application for leaders, giving them the capabilities they need to successfully run the business while continuing to provide the care that their patients deserve.