Strength Based Mentoring

People exceptionally talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.    CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is Christian Warneke. Christian has been a mentor in the Omaha Catholic chapter since fall of 2014. He has been a strengths-based mentor since 2016. His top 5 are Restorative, Positivity, Woo, Individualization, and Includer. Here’s what Restorative looks like for Christian: Four words and funny YouTube videos. Sometimes four words, maybe even fewer, or a quick YouTube video, are all you need to change someone’s day. We’ll get to this later. A favorite quote and life motto, of sorts, I’ve followed for the last decade come from Sir James M. Barrie, the playwright who brought Peter Pan to life. “Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves,” he said. This is what Restorative means to me: doing what I can to improve peopl...

People exceptionally talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership over what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.   CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is Christy Scott. Christy Scott is a mentor and the Co-Coordinator of the TeamMates chapter of Waverly-District 145 in Nebraska. Her primary role in the district is as a High School Match teacher. Her top 5 strengths are Responsibility, Harmony, Communication, Relator, and Focus. Here’s what Responsibility looks like for Christy: When I wear my teacher, coach, or coordinator hat, my Responsibility drives me to create a plan, stay organized, and prioritize in order to get “it” done.     When I wear my mom, wife, or friend hat, being responsible makes me reliable and dependable to family and friends.   While I lead with Responsibility, it is usually never alone.   Communication and Focus help me to keep my Responsibil...

People exceptionally talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.   CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is Dawn Stock. Dawn has been the Program Coordinator of TeamMates of Doniphan-Trumbull for the last three years. In addition, she has been mentoring since 2013, seeing her initial mentee through graduation and beyond.     Her top 5 strengths are Relator, Harmony, Responsibility, Adaptability, and Arranger. Here’s what Relator looks like for Dawn: One of the biggest struggles for me is speaking in front of a large group of people. I KNOW I can do it, but the build up makes me want to bolt.  However, if you put me in front of two or three people that are engaged, I thrive.  That’s what a “Relator” means to me.  It’s someone that enjoys the close, personal conversations with people in a one-to-one or small group setting.  It’...

People exceptionally talented in the Positivity theme have contagious enthusiasm. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do. CliftonStrengths This week, our guest blogger is JerLene Mosley. This blog, and the entire strengths-based mentoring movement would not be possible without her. JerLene began her journey with TeamMates in 2011 as our Gallup champion. A long-time employee of Gallup, JerLene works with school districts and other organizations to become strengths-based. JerLene is also a large TeamMates champion within Gallup, encouraging others to mentor a youth in the community. She has been mentoring the same mentee since 2012, within OPS and the Gretna chapter. Her top 5 strengths are Individualization, Communication, Activator, Positivity, and Woo. Here’s what Positivity looks like for JerLene: Positivity! Exclamation points! Smiley face emojis! Those are a couple of my favorite ways to punctuate my messages, and they are groov...

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 Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them. CliftonStrengths This week our guest blogger is Tess Starman. Tess first became involved with TeamMates as an intern with the Central Office in 2015, and she is now the Research Specialist. She has been mentoring in the Omaha Public Schools chapter for 2 years. Her top five strengths are Context, Adaptability, Strategic, Learner, and Individualization. Here’s what Learner looks like for Tess: My Learner looks like a craving to know more. I like to say that my best friend is Google. My mind naturally gets curious about many topics. When I don’t know something, whether it is a cultural reference in a movie, a question posed by a friend, or a person quoted in an article, I instinctively look it up. I find my search for answers never ends; one Google search leads to more curiosity, which leads to ...

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...