Professional Service Agreement

The SESCO Report – June 2024

Effective Leaders Understand, Appreciate and Maximize Their Strengths and Minimize Their Weaknesses

The DiSC Personality Profile Is a Critical Tool in Improving Leadership

Effective leaders, whether a newly promoted supervisor or a tenured general manager or president, internalize their strengths and weaknesses (behavioral tendencies).

Successful Leaders...

  • Understand themselves and how their behaviors affect others
  • Understand their reactions to other people
  • Know how to maximize and leverage what they do well
  • Have a positive attitude about themselves which increases others’ confidence in them
  • Know how to adapt their behavior to meet the needs of other people and particular situations

To accomplish these key leadership tenets, the DiSC Personality Profile program is extremely effective. It is easily and quickly completed; the reporting is simple but effective and factual and it is extremely inexpensive. All organizations should utilize this most effective tool which will benefit the effectiveness of their leaders individually as well as a team.

Behavior as Basis of DiSC

  • People have natural ways of behaving which can be predicted
  • People use different behaviors to get their needs met
  • People are naturally motivated to get their needs met
  • When you understand someone, you can then better predict their behavior
  • Our basic behavioral patterns tend to remain stable because they reflect our individual identity

The DiSC Personal Profile system divides behavior into four (4) main dimensions: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness.

Dominance: When the environment is perceived as unfavorable and the individual feels more powerful than the environment, he or she expresses a Dominant response. This individual will likely try to direct, change, fix, or control the situation.

Influence: When the environment is perceived as favorable and the individual feels more powerful than the environment, he or she expresses a desire to Influence. This person will likely try to bring others around to his or her point of view. To influence or persuade.

Steadiness: When the environment is perceived as favorable and the individual feels less powerful than the environment, he or she expresses behaviors that offer support and help others. This person will likely try to keep the situation stable and support those in need.

Conscientiousness: When the environment is perceived as unfavorable and the individual feels less powerful than the environment, he or she expresses Conscientiousness Behaviors. This person will likely set clear rules within the situation and work very hard to follow them.

Paradigm of Reality

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!

What are you going to do differently?

Contact SESCO to discuss the DiSC Personality Profile system for your leaders, teams and key positions.

Transitioning to the Management Team

When you move from being a "worker" to being a supervisor, you make a transition. In this transition, you move from product and production to people management.

The transition process consists of three steps:

1. ENDINGS — In the ending, you cease being in the old relationship and prepare to enter the new one. You let go of one identity so you can begin a new one. This process is described in these words:

  • Disengagement — Separating yourself from the old.
  • Disidentification — Giving up your old identification.
  • Disenchantment — Desiring more than you have been getting in the old position.
  • Disorientation — Who am I now that I have given up the old identity?

2. NEUTRAL ZONE — The neutral zone is the time between the old and the new. The old is no longer your identity, and the new is not comfortable.

In the neutral zone, several activities take place:

  • Surrender — Acceptance of the change that is about to take place.
  • Reflection/Renewal — A chance to ask the hard questions about the change. These include: Can I do it?, Am I qualified?, Will I be comfortable?
  • Gain Perspective — An opportunity to see clearly where you are going.

3. BEGINNINGS — When you have completed the ending and made your peace in a neutral zone, you are ready for a new beginning:

  • Steps in Beginnings:
  1. Stop getting ready and start.
  2. Start identifying with the new beginning.
  3. Take things one step at a time.

Mental Health in the Workplace

In the past three (3) years our practice has received a significant increase from clients concerning mental health in the workplace. We will not delve into the many reasons for this unfortunate increase, but we all know family, friends and co-workers who have suffered or are suffering mental health challenges.

From an employer's standpoint, managing mental health within the workplace is rather complicated both from an employment law compliance standpoint as well as balancing productivity versus showing patience and concern.

In the past years, we have assisted clients with employees who engaged in workplace violence, threats of suicide, actual suicide, mental breakdowns, shutting down completely with co-workers, customers and in the workplace and other challenges. These are all most difficult to address but we believe one of the most important recommendations we can make is not to avoid what appears to be a mental health issue and hope it goes away.

We have found in our practice that there are many, many resources available to those experiencing challenges including suicide. What we feel may be lacking in terms of professional services are those friends, family members and co-workers who lost someone to suicide. It is obviously very devastating for those individuals as well. Those individuals need assistance as much or more as anybody experiencing the actual mental health challenges.

For those who have been touched by mental health and suicide, we strongly recommend:

"Little Boy Lost: A Story of Hope and Redemption, Set Amidst the Backdrop of a Mother's Suicide"

Little Boy Lost — is the true story of one boy's heartache and hope while coming of age in small-town Tennessee in the 1970's. David Peters thinks that having a mother who spends months at a time in psychiatric hospitals is normal. Then on St. Patrick's Day 1974, his world shatters when she commits suicide.

The story continues while he is left struggling to make sense of his mother's death and other significant family challenges. In the end, David discovers that even in life's darkest moments, if you look hard enough for the light, eventually the sun will rise again.

He hopes by sharing his story that readers will gain an understanding of how to find hope and healing after family trauma from mental illness and suicide.

Little Boy Lost has been a best seller three (3) times and has a 4.8 rating on Amazon. It has only been on the market since November 7, 2023.

We urge for your reading or as a gift for a friend, family member or co-worker to order this book on Amazon. It may be the help that is much needed.

Congratulations on Your Retirement

Gary Duncan, Duncan Automotive

SESCO has had the privilege of providing professional services to one of the most successful automotive dealership organizations,
Duncan Automotive.

Gary Duncan, a close friend and owner of Duncan Automotive is retiring and on behalf of the entire SESCO staff we wish
him a well-deserved retirement! Not only has he been a very successful automotive dealer, but he has also given untold monies
and time back to his communities. We are very proud to call Gary a friend and, based on the following personal email he sent, is
a class individual.

Bill,
I am leaving the new car business after 52 years, selling Honda Hyundai to Shelor at the end of June. My brothers
and sisters will continue with their dealerships.
I can't thank you enough for what all you have done for me during my career. Always a phone call away to keep me
out of trouble! Check out Duncanimports.com

Thank you my friend, Gary Duncan

SESCO Client Feedback

"All of this information is outstanding and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for your prompt and thorough response!" ~ Natasha Guy, Human Resources Specialist — Cedar Lane Senior Living Community

"I was unable to attend the webinar on the 20th and finished it earlier today. I just needed to tell you how much I appreciated the depth and breadth of information you covered. This information is very timely, and you delivered it extremely well. It will help me coach my clients on several aspects of this material and know they always have SESCO to turn to when needed. Thank you for our working relationship with Elite Worldwide." ~ Randy Pickering, A.M.A.M., Certified Business Development Coach — Elite Worldwide

"I really appreciate you getting back to me so quickly. I believe I will do the monthly plan. I will get the agreement back to you soon, but I may need help with some of the handbook answers. Thank you again for the help in getting a small firm up to speed in the 21st century." ~ Homer Elwood — Gray Funeral Home & Crematory

"I believe we are coming up on a year of being a SESCO client. We only signed a one-year agreement. Mike and I would like to continue your services, we have found them EXTREMELY valuable. We would like to have you review our handbook again and make any revisions you see fit or do a whole new handbook for us." ~ Timothy P. Nye — Sandyside Senior Living

Special Thanks to New SESCO Clients!

Maclane's Automotive — Downingtown, PA

Genesis Healthcare Center — Johnson City, TN

Emmaus Worldwide — Dubuque, IA

SC Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association — Columbia, SC

Eline Funeral Home — Hampstead, MD

Titan Mechanical — Manassas Park, VA

Coffee County Teachers Federal Credit Union — Douglas, GA

Margaret B. Mitchell Spay/Neuter Clinic — Bristol, VA

Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center — Charleston, MO

Kentucky Farmers Bank — Ashland, KY

Thomas Family Funeral Home — Minot, ND

Virginia Network of Private Providers, Inc. — Richmond, VA

Blackburn, Childers & Steagall, CPAs — Johnson City, TN

Zimmer Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM — Florence, KY

Home Source East Tennessee — Knoxville, TN

Soco Auto Clinic, LLC — Austin, TX