Doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t

What are we working on?

Being AWESOME! This month has been full of awesomeness. Here is just a short list of all of the wonderful things happening:

- We had our DODD audit and passed with ZERO citations! - We received a large t-shirt vinyl heat press order for A1, a professional property services company. - Annette, the director of X-Excel day habs will start doing yoga classes at our Alliance location. - The North Canton #1 location picked up a new volunteer opportunity at Hartville thrift store. - We had so many success stories, that we couldn’t fit them all in this newsletter! Now, THAT’S a success!

Our field can be pretty overwhelming and honestly a real challenge at times. We always have future goals to keep improving and do better, but it is important to celebrate the accomplishments along the way. We hope you can celebrate with us by continuing the read this month’s newsletter!

Chandler riding the bus!

Shelly showing her embroidery skills

Laura hiking with friends

Geraldine caught on camera!

Cynthia eating lunch at Sonic

Shelly working on the embroidery machine

Opal is one of the most talented artists we have met!

X-Excel 2018 www.xexcel.net

“We can all be more than we are. Life is a process of

improving oneself.”

G. Mark Phillips

August 2019

,

Feel Overwhelmed? Try this breathing technique. It’s also

can help calm the mind and body before bed.

4-7-8 Breathing

1. Exhale completely. 2. Inhale through your nose for

the count of 4. 3. Hold your breath for the

count of 7. 4. Exhale loudly through your

mouth for the count of 8. 5. Repeat x 4.

One thing I have been impressed about by Director

Jeff Davis (I was going to say, see Jeff, I found one! But then I remembered I need to BE KIND) is that he is asking a lot of questions.

From issues like policies and practices, single ISPs

and assessments, to where we want to take this field, he is asking questions. How did you do that, what will make it better, who would know how to do that? This is the sign of a good leader.

Good leaders don’t fall into the trap of “paralysis

by analysis”. Once you have weighed all options, you need to pull the trigger and make a decision. You also need to take responsibility for that decision. Constructive criticism should help refine what you believe, not make you mad that people don’t agree with you.

Too many organizations have leaders that are

“often wrong but never in doubt”. If something goes wrong, they blame someone, something, anything, because the Lord knows it could not have been their inadequate (I wanted to use “piss poor,” but Annette vetoed it) decision making!

So, if you haven’t yet, put on your big boy and big

girl pants, and do the best you can. The people we serve depend upon you.

Thanks to one of my many awesome staff,

Jeannette Coleridge for providing the topic.

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.”

Andrew Carnegie

Tom

From the Desk of Tom Rickels

Asking for help as a Leader

Asking for Help as a Leader

1. You’ve decided to work in discomfort. A leadership position forces you to grow and develop. If

you were comfortable all the time, you would not grow or change anything for the better.

2. You protect yourself. Essentially, if you break, your team will break!

3. You gain many insights. A study through Tanner Institute showed that 72% of people who

received awards for their work asked for advice, help, insights, and opinions from people outside

their inner circle. They got fresh ideas and created something stronger and better.

4. You’re building the people around you. Recognizing someone’s strengths can come in the form

of asking for help. Asking for help is a way to show people that you trust their ideas, feel

competent in their skills, and value their advice.

A leader asking for help can be incredibly motivating for the team. Asking for help is not a weakness, it’s

showing that goals require many people’s assistance to achieve them.

Asking for help can be difficult. It can hurt our pride and

make us question our abilities.

Strong leaders ask for help. WHY?

It’s the Little Things that Matter

This past month our company received an internal email from Whitney, the PC at NC2. She started by telling us about Shalonda who recently started at NC2. She had been extremely unhappy at her last Day Hab and felt like she wanted more opportunities in the community. She was very hesitant to start here, but has been thriving.

Whitney continued, “last week she complimented my bracelet, and I didn’t think anything of it and I just took it off my wrist and give it to her. I wasn’t having the best day today, I was overwhelmed and just not feeling like myself. Shalonda and her provider came in today to talk to me about how much she loves X-Excel. I hadn’t thought about the bracelet until Shalonda’s provider told me how much that meant to her. Shalonda went out this weekend to get me a card and a candle. I was so shocked that something so little to me, had so much value to her.

She instantly revived my spirit, and I was reminded what we do matters. We live in a society where the little things we do often get overlooked and it has a way of making us believe that those things don’t matter.”

Thank you to Whitney and Shalonda for reminding us that the small things in life really

do matter. Our words leave a mark, our actions are noticed, and in turn our hearts can be fuller.

DSP All Star

The Stark County Board of DD awarded Mary a DSP All Star award!

Michele the PC of Alliance nominated her by saying:

“Mary has a permanent smile! She possesses the

ability to see the good in people and makes every day count. Mary loves her work and says working in this field has been a life choice and can’t imagine doing

anything else.”

Congratulations to Mary on a well-deserved honor!

In April X-Excel had an 80’s themed dance. Alexis attended with Susie who both work at

Alliance. To get there, Alexis showed Susie how to ride SARTA (the public transportation).

Let’s fast forward a few months. In June Susie (on the left) was offered a job at We’re Rolling, a

pretzel company located in Walmart. Guess what? Because of the training Alexis taught her,

she takes the bus to work.

X-Excel

1098 N. Main St. North Canton, Ohio 44720

330.768.7786 www.xexcel.net

From X-Excel to College

Anniversaries at X-Excel

Mary V 8/8/2014

Stella S 8/13/2018

Brandy P 8/26/2013

Barb, the PC at Jackson sent out an email with this note “Rebekah put in her notice today. She will be attending Shepherds college a three-year program majoring in electronics of some sort. I am so proud of her and I think she will do great things.”

Rebekah handed Barb the below resignation letter.

Rebekah has been added to the

success wall at Jackson.

It keeps growing!