Strength Based Mentoring

People exceptionally talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.     CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is Marcie Kostrunek. Marcie is the Program Coordinator for the TeamMates chapter of Cozad, Nebraska and has been a strengths champion within the chapter. Her top 5 strengths are Input, Strategic, Responsibility, Developer, and Learner. Here’s what Strategic looks like for Marcie: To me the Strategic strength is approaching a situation and looking at it from many different angles and then coming up with the best possible solution. As a middle school teacher and a busy mom I use my Strategic strength all day long! Teaching middle schoolers involves being on your toes all the time. In our school we have a lot of students that come from poverty and broken homes so I use my Strategic strength to think of ways tha...

People exceptionally talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb. CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is Gigi Inness. As a teacher for Norfolk Public Schools, Gigi helped launch the local TeamMates program in 1998 and served as the local program coordinator. In June of 2000, she became the only regional coordinator for the program (the entire staff was 4 people) and continued in that role through 2016, adding the regional director responsibilities to her job in 2010. She started mentoring in 1998 and has had 4 long-term mentoring relationships. She currently mentors in the Millard chapter and with the TeamMates+ Post-Secondary program. Her top 5 strengths are Input, Maximizer, Relator, Intellection, and Developer. Here’s what Maximizer looks like for Gigi: Maximizer, for me, can be summed up with the phrase “If we are going to do it...

People exceptionally talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions. CliftonStrengths This week our guest blogger is Darynn Ruiz. Darynn has been a mentor, and currently serves on the Sidney, Iowa TeamMates Board. Her top five strengths are Input, Learner, Discipline, Intellection, and Individualization. Here’s what Intellection looks like for Darynn: A few weeks ago, I asked a gentleman on my team what he was thinking.  His response still baffles me: “Nothing. I literally wasn’t thinking about anything.”  The idea of not thinking remains a completely foreign concept to me.  Intellection NEVER stops actively thinking, not even for a second.  Ever.  My mind is always working, thinking, processing.  Whatever the scenario, you can be sure that I have spent a lot of time examining every detail and possibility before I take action.  S...

People exceptionally talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information. CliftonStrengths This week our guest blogger is Allyson Horne. Ally has been involved in TeamMates since she became a mentor in 1999. She has also served as a program coordinator, regional coordinator, expert trainer, and a Teammates mom. She is well known in this community as the TeamMates strengths champion, receiving her certification in strengths-based education in 2010 from the Clifton Strengths School. Her top five strengths are Input, Communication, Strategic, Woo, and Empathy. Here’s what Input looks like for Ally: Most of my life I've heard I ask too many questions, but I have come to know and love my #1 strength – Input.  I've learned I am passionately curious and a researcher at heart. I truly love questions – asking them and being asked them - my favorite kind of sentences end with a question mark. Because ...

People exceptionally talented in the Deliberative theme are best described by the serious care they take in making decision or choices. They anticipate obstacles. CliftonStrengths This week our guest blogger is Janae Solomon. Janae has been a mentor since 2015 and last year took on the awesome challenge of serving as the Program Coordinator for TeamMates of McCook, Nebraska. Her top five strengths are Learner, Deliberative, Individualization, Input, and Developer. Here’s what Deliberative looks like for Janae: When I took the Strengths survey through TeamMates a year and a half ago, Ally warned us that there might be a strength we or our mentees would have a hard time taking ownership of because it had been previously been a label or a perceived flaw. That was Deliberative for me. When that came out as my number two strength, I thought “Yeah, I overthink things and take too long to make decisions. How is that a strength?” Thankfully, because of Ally and Tess’s strength...

People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time. CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is Jen Benson. Jen is the Development Director for TeamMates Mentoring Program. Her top 5 Strengths are Empathy, Adaptability, Ideation, Developer, and Input. Here is what Adaptability looks like for Jen. At TeamMates, we talk a lot about our strengths in terms of their rank.  Adaptability is my “number 2.”  I think of adaptability as a lifestyle, not just a strength.  In high school and young adulthood, I was pretty “type A” in most things.  I was a perfectionist in school, got great grades, took on leadership positions, pursued challenging internships, had my life all planned.  As a busy mom with a demanding job and volunteer work that I love, I still don’t think of myself as a free spirit!  Wi...

People exceptionally talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information. Clifton Strengths Finder People with high Input have an unquenched thirst to know more. They are continuously seeking more information, more knowledge, and more resources. One of my favorite Input-ers is my coworker Allyson Horne. She explains her Input by sharing that her favorite sentences end in a question mark. By asking questions, Allyson shows her love for and interest in the other person’s life. Questions are natural and normal in every conversation for someone with Input. They have an insatiable curiosity. Gallup writes, “A few minutes of surfing on the internet may turn into hours once their curiosity takes in.” People with high Input often collect things. Unlike someone with high Context who may collect maps or historical stamps, or someone with Relator who may save letters and pictures from loved ones, the collectio...