Strength Based Mentoring

In Week 29, Genn and Millie talk about living a life of gratitude. They discuss ho to put this into a regular practice, during both times of consolation and desolation in our lives. They share that recognizing those around us can be a powerful way of expressing gratitude.  Take a listen to this week's episode! You can listen here or find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, or Stitcher.  After you have had the chance to listen, here are a few items to take your learning to the next level:  1. Tell us who you are! Find us at the places below and let us know you are listening.  2. Offer  meaningful  recognition to someone in your life in the next week.    For information regarding the topic discussed or for resources mentioned in the podcast, follow us on Instagram @GennandMillie or reach out to Tess at  tstarman@teammates.org

I had the opportunity to meet with a strengths match today and the mentee reminded me about the labels that can often come with our strengths. This mentee, an 8th grader, had the strength of Competing as her #1 strength when she took Strengths Explorer. I asked her to share a time recently when she has used her strengths. She said she had an example but it wasn't a good one. She described gym class earlier that day when she was being a "try-hard", or someone that exerts a lot of effort, especially when it not something that is important. I told her that our strengths are us at all times- at our best and our worst. They are neutral, and in any given situation it is up to us to apply them productively or destructively, positively or negatively. Labels come when someone either does not recognize this character trait as a talent within us, or when what they witness is our strength in the basement. I often hear from mentees about the labels that have been placed upon them

A fun activity we have done with students is Strengths Metaphors. We often have a tendency to limit and confine our strengths to the two-sentence definition of the theme we find on the 34 list. Strengths manifest uniquely in each person based on their other 5 or 2 themes, their age, their background, their life experiences, and so much more. The Strengths Metaphors activity is a great way to break the themes of out of the boxes we put them in. Fill out the worksheet or engage in a conversation using the prompts on the sheet. Pick one of your top 5 or top 3 themes.  Describe what the theme looks like, what color you would associate with it, what it smells like, what it sounds like, and any other sensory descriptors you would add to the selected theme.  Share with your mentee and ask your mentee to share with you. Share with each other why you chose to assign these specific descriptors to the strength.  If you have similar strengths to each other, discuss the differences between