Home Health & Hospice Week

Use these questions to encourage staff behavior changes.

When one employee isn’t held accountable for duties, the problem can quickly spread. Nip this problem in the bud with these two tips:

1. Discuss accountability expectations early. Your staffer agreed to complete a chart audit by a certain date, but you’ve just learned it won’t get finished on time.

What to do: When someone “surprises” you with non-performance, don’t ask “Why?” Instead Mike Scott of Mike Scott and Associates advised in his audio conference, Creating the Culture of Total Accountability, that you ask:

• “What’s your next step to get it done?”
• “When are you going to do that?”
• “Can I count on you for that?”

You can also prevent problems by establishing a policy that the moment a team member knows she will miss a deadline, she must do the following:

• talk to the person she made the commitment to;
• inform the person of the situation; and
• provide a viable solution to meet the deadline.

2. Overcome your hesitation with this comparison. Your agency has established consequences for employees who are late turning in paperwork, and you’ve discussed them with each employee. One of your team members has been late three times in the last two weeks, and you need to muster up some courage to confront her and put your established consequences into action.

What to do: Ask yourself, “How many paychecks would an employee allow to be late, missed or short?” Scott suggested. If employees expect paychecks to come on time, you can certainly expect employees to turn in paperwork on time, and you should feel confident about confronting the late employee regarding her violation of established expectations.