By Stephen Tweed 
As you probably know by now, I’m a bit of a numbers guy. I preach the wisdom that says, “What gets measured gets managed. What gets rewarded gets repeated.”
A while back, someone sent me the attached photo of the great quality guru, W. Edwards Deming, with the quote, “Without data, you are just another person with an opinion.”
My friend Dan Burrus, one of the world’s leading technology forecasters taught me that there are four levels of your “datastream”:
- Raw Data – the bits and bytes of information that you gather on a daily basis.
- Information – when you tabulate the data
- Knowledge – when you analyze and synthesize the data and the information
- Wisdom – when you mix knowledge with grey hair. “Knowledge plus experience is Wisdom.”
As leaders in home care, you need knowledge and wisdom to make key strategic decisions to take your agency into the future. To get the knowledge and wisdom, you need the data and the information.
Capture the Data
You only get raw data by tracking it every day. We say to the members of our Mastermind Groups, “Measure Everything”. You need a scorecard to capture and track data on a weekly basis. Your software system will help you capture the data and develop reports to fill in your scorecard.
Once you have the raw data, you can tabulate and analyze the results to get the information you need. Use the information to communicate with your team members, measure your progress, and solve problems.
Benchmark Information 
Having data and information about your own company is critical. Comparing your own data to industry data using benchmarks gives you the information and knowledge to know how you are doing compared to the rest of the industry.
For the past eight years, we have worked closely with Home Care Pulse and HCAOA to collect and analyze industry data that results in the annual Home Care Benchmarking Study. There’s no one in the home care industry who advocates participating in this study and buying a copy of the final report than me.
If you are the Owner, CEO, Administrator, or marketing person for a private pay home care company, you need to collect the data, participate in the study, and own a copy of the final report.
A Timeline for the 2017 Home Care Benchmarking Study
Below are some key dates for the study. Add then to your calendar and be sure to participate.
January 1st
2017 Prep Worksheet available for download from benchmarking.homecarepulse.com to help participants prepare their survey responses.
February 1st
The 2017 Online Survey opens at benchmarking.homecarepulse.com.
February 15th
Last day to participate early and take advantage of the biggest discounts on pre-orders.
February 28th
Last day to participate in the 2017 Online Survey.
March 31st
Last day to pre-order the 2017 Study.
We’d love your thoughts on this.
Go to our Leading Home Care Network on LinkedIn
or our Leading Home Care Page on Facebook to join the conversation. 
