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Allyson Horne is a Training and Support Specialist for TeamMates Mentoring Program, a school-based and strengths-based mentoring program for kids in grades 3-12. Teammates was founded in the 1990’s by Coach Tom Osborne. The program started with a group of about 20 mentors and they now have close to 8,000 mentors across Nebraska and Iowa, expanding into Wyoming, South Dakota and Kansas.
How did TeamMates start?
Coach Tom Osborne had a vision to help students get to the post-secondary education opportunity
Tom was a student of Don Clifton at UNL
Strengths-based focus gives us the opportunity to build trust between mentors and mentees
There are no at risk factors that students have to have in place to be matched with a mentor
We believe all students deserve to have an additional, positive, caring adult in their life
A strengths-based mentor who will journey with them throughout their lifetime who sees what’s right with them from the very beginning
How would you describe strengths spotting?
Grades 3 – 8 grade take StrengthsExplorer
High school students take CliftonStrengths
Print 3 copies of their results - 1 for the student, 1 for parents, 1 for mentor
We equip the mentors with the language to spot strengths in action
Mentees can turn into strengths spotters as well
If I can look at and notice something that is right and then say this is great about you, it builds on your sense of self
What training do mentors get?
The mentors we’re equipping don’t need to be coaches
When mentors sign up they go through a 2 ½-3 hour new mentor training
Right from the beginning we don’t just focus on policy and procedure
We focus on relationship building; showing up and being a good listener
Listen to whatever your mentee wants to talk about; be present in that moment and listen
Meet once a week during the school year, for usually about 40 minutes, over many years
I’m there for you unconditionally, I’m still going to show up and affirm what is right about you
This focuses on hope and research shows that highly hopeful kids do amazing things
If they’re looking forward to seeing you, they’ll be more hopeful and more engaged
Mentors show higher engagement, too
Doesn’t require massive training or education
If you want to build hope in another person, just show up and focus on what is right about them
Reciprocal strengths spotting happens
How have you seen the impact in your own kids?
Received my strengths-based education certificate in 2010
Learning my Top 5 was mind-blowing-I felt like someone had been following me around my whole life taking notes about the way that I uniquely see the world
Understanding our kids’ strengths helped us realize more about them and changed the way we parented
I know where they shine and it’s very different from me
How are you using strengths inside Teammates?
All of us know our strengths
Tess and I offer strengths coaching to all of our staff
Every one of our staff meetings or development days start with a strength activity
We take the activities that our mentors use and practice them
This gives us insight into what works or what needs to be tweaked
I think about strengths all the time, even when I’m sending email to staff
Everyone looks at support differently and needs different things
Look at how you can honor other people’s strengths
Encourage staff to do strengths spotting with each other
We have 20 FTE in central office staff
How do you know they are engaged? We do Q12 measurement
We have 140 chapters of Teammates each with a coordinator
We bring them together for Gallup Strengths day to learn and take learning back to their...
