Strength Based Mentoring

This week I am bringing you an activity that both you and your mentee can use in every match meeting to come. This is an adaptation from the 60-in-60 Document on the Strengths Drop Box which you can find by clicking here . Start by gather a set of index cards and some markers or pencils. Then, take time creating one card for each of your strengths (Top 3 or Top 5). Depict these strengths however you want to by writing and coloring on one side of the index card.  Once you are finished creating your cards, go on to another activity (play a game, do a craft, etc). As you go about another activity during your mentoring time or the next time you meet, be aware of how your strengths are being used. When you notice a strength in yourself or your mentee, hold your card up, explain how the strength is in use, and then make a note on the back of the card.   Keep the cards and use them often when you meet in order to strengths spot each other. This very simpl...

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 diffe...

Ally and I were at Norris earlier this week for their first strength day. We were meeting with the younger Strengths Explorer students, helping to facilitate the survey and talk through their results. There was one student who had to come from another building, so he had to wait until all students were done with their surveys so that the Coordinator could walk him back to his class. He finished his survey quickly and his Top 3 were Competing, Achieving, and Confidence. While he was waiting, I saw him messing around, looking a bit bored. He started stacking markers together making a tower, like most kids (and many adults) do. So, I went over to him and asked him if he wanted to do a fun activity. I said, "I wonder if you could make a marker sculpture to depict your strengths." He quickly took on the challenge and we gathered all the markers to one table. He got to work. I didn't make one full lap around the room before he declared, "I'm done". I went over t...

Yesterday, Ally and I were in Plattsmouth, NE for their Strengths Day. I kicked off the morning with a training at 7am with 10 mentors. As I walk talking about strengths, I was explaining the Student Success Model from Gallup. Since it was Boss's Day, an example came to me regarding the parallel to the workplace. I talked about the difference between two bosses I have had. One boss, from a previous job I had in college who was very laid back and aloof. He was concerned with his own work and outcomes. My work contributed to that, so every once in a while, I would have interactions that were not that  negative, but also not encouraging. He would say things such as "where are you at with this project, would you be able to get it to me quicker?" Beyond checking in and asking about my work, our interactions did not go very far. I wanted to have further conversations, but it did not seem like he had the time nor the desire to do so. He was not a bad   boss at all, but rather ...

The activity I wish to share with you all today is one of the TeamMates Strengths Team's favorites! Strengths is more about simply identifying talent; when done well, it reaches the core of who you are. What you love is an activity that guides you there. The activity it simple: it is a set of questions based around the Five Clues to Talent that Don Clifton discussed in the first strengths book, Soar with your Strengths. Here is a link to an article from Gallup that explains these Five Clues for those wishing to learn more. This activity involves mulling over this set of questions:  Who are you?  What do you love?  What do you need?  In the best of all worlds, I would spend more time doing ___________. What is the best form of support you can receive?  At TeamMates we do this activity in true artistic fashion, by asking for participants to somehow depict the answers to these questions. We have had pictures of hammocks, mountain ranges, stick figu...