Make Your Strategic Planning Fun Instead Of An Obligation Every Year! You'll Get A Lot More Accomplished!

When you think of strategic planning, it is often in a conference room and ends up being a long day of meetings. When it is over, do you have a workable plan you enjoyed putting together or paper that gathers dust? Let’s look at ways to update your strategic planning process while making it more fun to improve your agency.

5 Ways To Improve Strategic Planning:

So, how do you change it up? The process requires the same results and analysis, but how you come to your conclusions is your call. Let’s look 5 ways to make your process better:

1.    Change the players: Do you normally just do planning with your administrative team? You need to include other members of your team. For example, when is the last time you pulled a few of your home health aides into the mix discussing operations or work flow that affects your agency?

2.    Change the location: Before budget cuts and the pandemic, agencies often went off site for strategic planning. If you haven’t considered what a change of scenery can do, then you miss an easy way to potentially have a better process. Host it at your house. Decide on a TV show or movie you all watch during the lunch breaks. Go to a restaurant meeting room. Never underestimate the benefit of the staff being comfortable and laid back. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. 

3.    Change the dress code: It is a good thing for staff to have a break from uniforms and suits. It is not a bad thing for them to see you that way as well. If you want different ideas from people, then ditch the formal or required attire and let people be comfortable. Consider team dress during football season or high school spirit wear for rivalry games. Again, it may sound little, but it changes the vibe for your planning process.

4.   Change up the usual agenda: When you look at your strategic plan over the last 10 years, how many times have you really changed what you are analyzing? When we look at agency’s plans, we often see the same data over time. Although some things always need to be a part of the plan, have you considered what might be missing? How often do you do a deep dive into your ICD 10 coding solution? How often do you analyze maintenance costs? When was the last time you really looked at your EMR to potentially change operational issues?

5.    Change the time: Is your strategic planning always done in a few hours with you and the admin team? Is it always one day? Whatever your timing is, consider it potentially being longer. Ask the admin team and departments if there is anything they would like the team to consider.

Your Process Needs To Make A Difference:

Regardless of how you do things, the document needs to make a difference in your agency during the next calendar year. We have seen agencies that do great strategic plans and visit those consistently to complete goals. We also see those who do nothing with it. When you leave strategic planning, your team should be excited about its potential. Should you need assistance with your strategic planning or feel stuck in the rut of day-to-day operations, Kenyon Homecare Consulting can help. Call us today at 206-721-5091 or contact us online to see how we can help you.