How Interim Healthcare used EOS to grow and build accountability

Executive overview

Interim Healthcare of Sioux Falls is a family-owned home care and supplemental staffing business, now 500+ employees across four cities. Without a shared vision or structured planning, growth stalled despite good intentions. EOS gave the team a common operating system — and a neutral outside implementer who made hard family conversations possible.

The right person in the right seat, hired to core values, is the prerequisite for everything else.

Background and the business

• Founded 1991 by Paul and his wife; second generation took an ownership stake in 2015
• Services: in-home care (bathing, meals, housekeeping) and supplemental staffing for short-handed facilities
• Veteran-owned, women-owned, family-owned branding outperforms all other advertising

The problem before EOS

• Growth ambition existed but lacked intentional strategy — "a hope of where we wanted to be"
• Core values were 30-year-old inherited franchisee boilerplate that no longer applied
• No 90-day, 1-year, 3-year, or 10-year plan; the visionary's goals stayed in his head
• Right person, right seat problems created roadblocks no amount of strategic planning could clear

Why EOS and why an implementer

• Abby read Traction and was immediately convinced; brought it to ownership with full conviction
• Chose not to self-implement — started with an external implementer from day one
• Kyle Kangas, their implementer, was already known to Abby through a peer group; the relationship formed quickly

What the implementer unlocked

• Family businesses avoid candid feedback to protect relationships; Kyle created a space for open, honest accountability
• Impartial, unbiased, direct — kept sessions focused without pulling punches
• Shifted the culture from polite avoidance to "we don't leave anything unsaid"

Results after two years

• Staffing business grew 10% year over year
• Acquired two franchises (Fargo and Bismarck), now covering all of North Dakota and eastern South Dakota
• Hiring now anchored to core values — every new hire must exemplify them
• Full planning horizon in place: 90-day, 1-, 3-, and 10-year targets visible to the whole team
• Vision Traction Organizer (VTO) serves as the shared guide to the future