TeamMates: Mentors Who Are Keeping Their Promise to "Be There"

It's easy to imagine how the coronavirus pandemic would have thrown a face-to-face mentoring organization -- whose motto is "Be there" -- a giant curveball. While that might be true, the story doesn't end there. TeamMates, a school-based mentoring organization founded by Tom and Nancy Osborne (Tom was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1973 to 1997), has had to adapt over the past year and a half, but it has persisted in fulfilling its mission to be present for the mentees it serves. Learn how this has happened, the integral role of CliftonStrengths, and the benefits for mentee and mentor, as Allyson Horne, Training and Match Support Manager at TeamMates, and Morgan Holen -- Miss Nebraska 2021 and state representative for Miss America 2022, as well as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach -- join the webcast for an inspiring look at mentoring.

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 9, Episode 45.

I made a commitment years ago to this relationship ... And I didn't say, "I'll show up if it works for me or if it's convenient or if it's something I'm comfortable with." But that I'll show up every week, no matter what.

Morgan Holen, 27:37

Organizationally, our stories of success are all related to hope. And they are not just from the mentee side.

Allyson Horne, 50:17

Students sometimes come to the table with ... a long list of pressure. And one of the things I've heard from students is, "My time with my mentor is when I don't feel a sense of pressure. I just get to show up. I just get to be who I am." And I think there's a lot of magic in that.

Allyson Horne, 14:09

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on October 8, 2021.

Meet Our Guests on This Episode

Jim Collison 0:18
Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world. If you're listening live, love to have you join us in our chat room. There's a link right above our video up there, on the live page. It will take you to YouTube. Sign in with your Google account. Join us in chat and ask your questions live, if you want to do that. If you're listening after the fact, you can always send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app -- Called to Coach is the, is this. We have lots through Gallup Webcasts, or they're on YouTube; hit the Subscribe button right below the video down there. Allyson Horne and Morgan Holen are my guests today. Allyson manages training and support for TeamMates mentoring, and has worked in the field of mentoring and as a Mentor Coordinator for over 15 years. And Allyson, you're the face of TeamMates for me. Welcome to Called to Coach. Your Top 5: Input, Communication, Strategic, Woo -- which is the best theme -- and Empathy. Welcome to Called to Coach!

Allyson Horne 1:21
Thanks, Jim, it's so great to be here. And so good to see you again.

Jim Collison 1:24
We've had you a couple times, by the way, just as a side note, with TeamMates. If folks go back to gallup.com and search "TeamMates," all those videos will come up. We're gonna catch up with you here in a second, but let me just say thanks in advance for being a great partner on Called to Coach over the last 6 or 7 years we've done this, and of course, a very important organization to Gallup. Thank you for the work that you've done.

Allyson Horne 1:46
Thanks, Jim. It's an honor to be here.

Jim Collison 1:49
You bet. Morgan Holen is a recent graduate from UNL -- or we, we, that's what we call it -- University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. She serves as the reigning Miss Nebraska -- that's a lot of pressure -- and is going to be the state representative for the 100th anniversary Miss America. Her Top 5: Achiever, Responsibility, Significance, Harmony and Belief. Morgan, welcome to your first Called to Coach!

Morgan Holen 2:13
Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Jim Collison 2:15
Great, great to have you. How many hours go into being Miss Nebraska? Like, I mean, what do you think -- I know you didn't track it, but it's gotta be a lot. If you were gonna guess, what does it take to prep for something like that?

Morgan Holen 2:27
We call it a 24/8 job. You're constantly moving in a different town or city in Nebraska about every 2 days. So factor in travel, preparation for speaking, I don't even know how many hours it would get to, but it is certainly a full-time job, if not plus.

How Does TeamMates Work?

Jim Collison 2:45
Yeah, huge commitment. Congratulations on that, by the way. Huge commitment to get there and, and a lot of work. You've got a lot of work to prep to get to the Miss America competition that's coming up here at the end of the year, but excited for you and wish you the best on that as well. Allyson, let's start with you. Let's get a little, let's get caught up a little bit on TeamMates. Can -- for those who aren't familiar with TeamMates, would you give a little bit of an intro to it and then kind of catch us up?

Allyson Horne 3:10
Absolutely. TeamMates is a school-based mentoring organization, founded back in 1991 by Coach Tom and Nancy Osborne. We are celebrating our 30th anniversary. And we are unique in a number of ways as a mentoring organization. First of all, we're strictly school based. So everything that we do is, is at and through the school. Great relationship with school districts in our 5-state region: Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas. And then I think another component that makes us unique is it's a long-term relationship. So when we match a mentor and mentee, it's intended to be for many years.

Allyson Horne 3:46
So, for example, my mentee and I were matched in fourth grade, when Haley was in fourth grade. And she's a senior this year. And I think that that long-term trust building gives us an opportunity not only to learn about one another, but to also build trust, and that, and that takes time. And then a really unique component for TeamMates is that we're strengths-based. So we train our mentors and our mentees to look for and notice the good, the uniqueness, what is right about one another. And then we form conversations about that. It's never meant to be prescriptive, but just an opportunity for us to celebrate what is right with one another.

Jim Collison 4:24
How big, from a, from an organizational standpoint -- you mentioned 5 states -- but as we think about both those who are the mentors and the mentees, what sizes are we talking about? How many students are affected,

Allyson Horne 4:37
We serve over 10,000 matches, so that means about 20,000 humans, but 10,000 matches in 5 states. When I think about that, that's currently; so, for many years, 30 years, the impact and the ripple effect of someone showing up for the other. So I tell people often in TeamMates, when I do new mentor training, what an impact it is for a student when you show up for them, not because you have to, but because you want to. Students often ask me a lot of questions about TeamMates. The most common question that I've received, Jim, in the last few years is, "How much is my mentor paid?" And when they find out that their mentors truly volunteer, they're a little bit in awe of that, not only when someone show up once a week for me -- that's our design is one-time-per-week meetings -- but for many years, they kind of question that initially as to, you know, why might this person be doing this for me?

Allyson Horne 5:35
And then we have so many examples of when the relationship becomes the mentee as the mentor. So when the mentee is actually teaching the mentor how to do things or learn things, or, as I always say, no matter what, you're going to have generational differences and diversity that way, because students are experiencing life from a different perspective. I don't know what it's like to be a fourth grader in 2021. I don't know what it's like to be a senior in high school in 2021. I know what it's like to be a senior in high school in 1993. And I appreciate that you were directing the questions about Miss Nebraska to Morgan, in case anybody was confused; it was me at the start of the show. I show up a little bit differently than Morgan does. But I think that I have learned that those generational differences and that strengths-based lens really gives us an opportunity to celebrate the differences and -- in such a way that gives us language to talk about that.

Jim Collison 6:33
How do you think, so how does strengths benefit, and how do you guys use that? What, what kind of lift, from an organizational standpoint, do you think that gives to you in the organization, as you're using that as a framework?

Allyson Horne 6:47
We train our mentors to really learn the language for themselves first. So a mentor comes into training. They learn more about their Top 5. We give them some conversation starters. In all training that we do in TeamMates, we get into practice. We come in with beginner's mind; as mentors, we're never an expert. So we get into practice right away. I tell mentors, If I called it "role playing," they would, you know, get up and leave. So I just call it "practice." But we train them to first really embrace and get to know their Top 5. That language for themselves is critical before they can start strengths spotting with their mentee. And when they show up and are sharing their unique awesomeness, they really encourage a student to feel comfortable doing the same. So we do that training for mentors; that's a requirement.

Allyson Horne 7:36
We move from there to provide code and instructions for the students. And then we do a brief student training. We design -- third through eighth grade, they do StrengthsExplorer; in high school and beyond, they do CliftonStrengths for Students. So we have that opportunity for, for mentors and mentees to first learn about the language. And then the conversations that we, the conversation starters we provide are pretty simple. You know, "Tell me about a way that you used a strength today" is a great conversation starter. Or "Tell me about a strength that you noticed in the classroom," whether that was in a classmate or your teacher or your family. So we really give those simple conversation starters to get going. When a student, as an eighth grader, is moving on to high school, when they have the beginning -- what I like to call the early strengths language -- they seem to be much more open to the language and the aiming of their Top 5. So it's really our vision to get strengths language in students' hands as soon as possible -- as early as third, fourth grade.

Jim Collison 8:41
Allyson, have you seen mentees become -- you've been doing it a while -- so have you seen mentees become mentors? And, and how does that, how's that process work? What, what kind of, what have you seen there?

Allyson Horne 8:53
We see a lot of mentees now becoming mentors. Actually, this morning, on a staff call, Anna -- Anna Young, who works in our office as well and helps with training and match support -- was sharing a story about training new mentors and how a couple of them were former mentees. My personal example is my daughter Lauren. She started her mentoring journey as a fifth grader with her mentor Ellie in Hebron, Nebraska, where we used to live and where Lauren grew up. We had a community of about 1200 people; in our first year; we had 60 mentor-mentee matches, my daughter lucky enough to be one of them. Lauren continued her mentoring journey with Ellie permanently -- they call Lauren calls her a "forever friend" -- but they went all the way through high school. Lauren was part of our TeamMates Plus Program, which is really an opportunity for our college students to have continued mentoring. And then Lauren, 2 years ago, became a mentor at Millard Public Schools. So Lauren is now mentoring, as well, that ripple effect, and that continued -- what we'd like to call the story of mentoring -- is a personal example in my own life, but also for thousands of our students and our mentors, programwide.

Allyson Horne 10:03
So great to hear! I mean, just the legacy of that. And the long, the, you know, the long legacy of it's awesome. Morgan, let's, let's talk to you a little bit. How do you fit into TeamMates? How did you find this and get associated -- tell us your story.

Morgan Holen 10:18
I was involved in college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in a mentoring program. And I started mentoring my mentee, Claire, when she was in seventh grade. And the entire premise of that organization was strengths-based as well. And so we identified her strengths in, while she was in seventh grade and realize she has very high Futuristic, very high Competition. And so we would then structure our one-on-one time around strengths. So we set aside time for her Futuristic strength for her to write down about the future, for her to home in on what that messaging looks like, and how she can share that with other people and how we can make that language a little bit more crisp. And as we've grown older together -- she's now a junior in high school -- she's been able to utilize those strengths and form a ripple effect in school and have those intentional conversations.

Morgan Holen 11:06
And so when I graduated from the university, I knew I wanted to be more involved with strengths-based mentorship, and what that could look like. And I knew TeamMates was a strengths-based organization. And so I actually had a conversation with Allyson probably 2 years ago now -- which seems like it was yesterday -- but about 2 years ago, about my ideas and what I wanted to do and how I was so invested at the university level. And so we then started a partnership. And at the time, I was serving as Miss Omaha. And then we had the pandemic. So we had a postponed year and waited for another year. And then I competed at Miss Nebraska. But every woman in the organization advocates for something she's passionate about. And so it only made sense for me to advocate for strengths-based mentoring, and specifically be partnered with TeamMates.

Jim Collison 11:57
Allyson, anything you want to -- you are on the other side of that. Anything you want to add to that? As you, as you think about, as we think about onboarding, recruiting, those kinds of pieces, anything you want to add to Morgan's story on that that's important?

Allyson Horne 12:10
I think, first of all, we're just so grateful that Morgan is in a position to use her voice. And the fact that she has chosen to do that, not only through TeamMates, but through this strengths-based mentoring component, we're very grateful for that. She has an opportunity to be in many communities and sharing a little bit about that. But the other thing that I appreciate about Morgan is she walks the talk. So she is an experienced -- we like to call them "seasoned" -- I love that you said, "grow older together"; I'm going to maybe tag on to that, Morgan, because I've grown older together with a lot of people in my life. And that's a much better way than I usually phrase it. But you've walked the talk of being a seasoned mentor. And that is one of the greatest pieces of recruitment that we have.

Allyson Horne 12:58
We have a fantastic Marketing Recruitment Coordinator, Hannah Miller, at the TeamMates office, who is going to love every single word that you're saying. Because even though it's Hannah's job to put together recruitment resources, our greatest recruiters are our mentors who share their experience and share their story. And we have 10,000 of them. But we ask them to really think about who they know that would be a good mentor; who they know that would be able to give back about an hour a week and really show up, not as an expert, not as -- you don't have to be good at fifth grade math, thankfully, or they would never let me in; I'm not good at math yet. But they, the opportunity that we all have to show up and just be ourselves and listen to someone else -- that's kind of a sacred space, I think, that maybe we all deserve a little bit more of.

Allyson Horne 13:49
I like to ask mentors, "When was the last time you sat across from someone and you weren't distracted by your phone or your to-do list, and you get to play a game of Connect 4 and just really get to know and celebrate someone?" You don't have to, again, do fifth grade math, but you also don't have to worry about the -- what I think students sometimes come to the table with is a long list of pressure. And one of the things I've heard from students is, "My time with my mentor is when I don't feel a sense of pressure. I just get to show up. I just get to be who I am." And I think there's a lot of magic in that.

Jim Collison 14:27
Morgan, you probably have gotten to the point where you're looking forward to your time with the mentee, right? It's not, it's a, it's not, "Well, I gotta go to work." It's like "Yeah!" It's, it's, you know, it's that time that I get to spend with it. I'm sure you look forward to it as well. Morgan, how much, as you as you've gotten to know your mentee, how much does strengths play a part in your conversations? Is it, is it something that just naturally happens or do you have to kind of work at it?

Morgan Holen 14:54
At the beginning, it was a little bit more of a "work at it" because we both were getting more familiar with strengths language, and especially knowing and understanding her strengths and maybe how they could interact with mine, and how we could build on a relationship in that way. But eventually, it started to become so natural to be part of our conversations, because she would tell stories about what was going on in her day. And it was so easy to spot some of those strengths throughout her day. And maybe she didn't even realize that she was doing them, because that's how strengths work: They become natural behaviors for us. But to be able to hopefully identify those strengths for her so that she can do them on purpose and she can identify them herself. And then give her those situations and almost challenge her, especially with her Competition, challenge her in ways that she does use those strengths. And so it grew to become a lot more natural.

What Has TeamMates Learned During the Pandemic?

Jim Collison 15:42
Yeah, that's, it's always good to hear. Allyson, as we think about -- and Morgan mentioned this a second ago -- the pandemic, and that changed a lot of things for a lot of people. How did you guys grow through that, and coming, coming out the other side, wherever we're at with it -- you know, who knows where we're at in the process -- what did you guys learn through it? How have things changed? Or, and has it made the organization better in some ways? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Allyson Horne 16:08
I love that I see here in the comments that Kevin noticed "growth mindset." That's something that I practice. That's something that we also train our mentors to do -- the "power of yet" is really around growth mindset. None of us knew what to expect in March of 2020. I've been reading and learning a lot about the psychology of returning. And wherever we're coming back to right now is unknown. And a lot of times, when you think about a return, it's usually to a memory. We don't have a memory of this return yet. We're in that practice. And I think what we did organizationally is we demonstrated that no matter what, we show up anyway. So that's, that's our mission, vision, values is all around how we show up for students. Our motto is "Be there." And so we really moved into how can we be there, when we can't be there in person face-to-face. We are a face-to-face mentoring organization. So it posed a lot of potential roadblocks for us.

Allyson Horne 17:09
So we dove heavy into technology. One of the things I thought I would never ever say is that I did a Facebook Live, and we jumped right into that space. I wasn't good at it. If you go to the TeamMates, if you follow us on Facebook, you'll see some calamities, real-life calamities, of me trying to navigate through Facebook Live space. But also demonstrating programwide, that even though we don't know what we're doing, we're going to try to show up anyway. We worked with an organization to set up our TeamMates portal, which helped give safe space for us to have mentors and mentees connect. So one of the components of TeamMates is about safety. So again, as I mentioned, we meet at and through the school. So we don't exchange contact information. And we don't have our mentees in our homes or our vehicles or any of those situations; it's all through the school. So we worked with an organization to be able to structure safe Zoom space. So we were third-party monitored, we had the ability to have a mentor and mentee connect without sharing private, personal information. And we jumped right in.

Allyson Horne 18:22
The first few meetings -- I'll give my own example with my mentee -- I'm part of the tech implementation team to build this portal. And it took us 3 times to be able to meet in the space. So I was able to speak to the frustration that a lot of mentors had, you know, going through the training and learning how to utilize the portal and learning how to log into Zoom. I remember learning about Zoom years ago and wow, do I wish I would have invested in it at the time. But we didn't know what we were doing. We just got into practice space. It took me 3 times to meet with Haley, and by the third time, very similar to what it's like for me to meet with her in high school. I sometimes go to the library and I wait for her, because she doesn't get there right away. Same thing happened in Zoom space. I had to sit there and be patient. It's really interesting how impatient I was in Zoom space versus the library. So I waited for Haley to log on, and here, here pops up Haley's face. And I had not seen her in months. So I started clapping. I was so excited. And she looked at me and, and very Haley -- typical Haley behavior -- said, "I see you still clap all the time." So what I loved is that, no matter what, she knew I was going to be there. She, she didn't doubt that I would eventually get to meeting her again.

Allyson Horne 19:47
So we're very fortunate. We have a hybrid situation now where she's a senior in high school. This is her last year in, in what I call regular TeamMates. So we have a hybrid. Haley and I will meet sometimes in Zoom space, and we'll, and we'll meet in person. So she's most excited that I'm, I will be back in Nebraska next week -- I live in Colorado now -- I'll be back in Nebraska next week. And we're both excited about being able to see one another. But she knows I'll clap, whether that's in Zoom space or, or in person. We did have to navigate through a lot of that. What I loved is I had to check my own assumptions, Jim. I made all of these assumptions about who would show up, if we did it utilizing technology. And I was proven wrong, time and time again. It was some of my oldest, my oldest mentors, who were in their 80s, who showed up most willing to say, "Hey, help me with this. I learned how to utilize Zoom to see my grandkids. So absolutely, I'm going to utilize this to see my mentee, because I made a promise. And my promise was that I was going to be there." And I think that's a really meaningful statement that we make to to another person, when we say, "I'll be there for you, no matter what. So I'm going to show up even when it's hard."

Jim Collison 21:04
I completely agree. I mean, this has been my mode of communication for a lot of years pre-, you know, probably 7 years before the pandemic and, and it's made my life different in both how I communicate with people and how I coach people. Because now they're, they're actually more open to the kind of, these kinds of conversations, these kinds of sessions. They're almost more coachable in them than they were before because they've, they're comfortable in it. They're comfortable in that space. And I'm sure both the mentors and mentees got more comfortable and then began to say, OK, the technology drops away and the, and the relationship come comes back. Morgan, in in your case, you know, theoretically, you're younger, even though we won't, we won't say that publicly here. You should be good at this already. Did that change anything for you? And what did you learn kind of during the pandemic, as a coach, as a mentor in this space? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Morgan Holen 22:06
in March of 2020, when we were all sent home, that was my senior year of college, and so I no longer had classes in person, and all of a sudden, everything was on Zoom. But that included, yes, that mentoring relationship. And in the program, I was also overseeing a couple other mentor-mentee pairs. And so it was navigating -- and we had some growing pains -- it was navigating how to meet with the mentees and how to make it meaningful, and how to get them to be a participant as well. And I found personally that my mentee was more wanting to be away from the screen and not wanting to meet at all. But it wasn't out of not wanting to meet one-on-one; it was out of almost wanting to isolate herself, because she didn't know how to handle the situation as a whole. And so it made it even more important that we set aside that time -- that we met face to face or in person, when it was OK to do so, and that we engaged in different activities.

Morgan Holen 23:02
So we would find things around the house that represented something and talk about them. Or I would set up online games that we could play and share the screen and get to talk through, because we always knew that when we went on walks, we were a lot more likely to have open dialogue than when we were sitting still. And so how could I still create that space, even in an online fashion? But I will say at the beginning, it was, it was not easy. And even though I'm young, she's young, we love to interact online through FaceTime, through Zoom, whatever it may be, that was not the way that we were getting the most out of our relationship initially. And so we really had to change our perspective and shift our perspective to have those continual conversations.

Jim Collison 23:48
Allyson, you're shaking your head as she's talking about that. What, were those stories amplified across the organization? And did you hear that coming from a lot of folks?

Allyson Horne 23:57
We did. And we found surprises along the way. It was hard. I think some of the surprises that we found -- Morgan speaks to this beautifully, but it's hard to, as a mentor, sit down. We don't want you to just stare across the table from one another. So we usually have activities or there's kinesthetic movement, whether it's a walk or shooting hoops or something that doesn't feel like an interrogation. And we had to come up with on the fly some resources pretty quickly. We shifted our mentor training, our renewal sessions, our Academy sessions completely virtual, so that we were able to still engage our mentors, because it was just as challenging for the mentors as it was for the mentees. But I love that Morgan brought up the perspective of the mentees, because they didn't know what to do with this space either.

Allyson Horne 24:48
I had a session, a portal training session with a group of seventh graders in central Nebraska. And by the way, they are, in my opinion, my hardest group. That's my hardest audience. I can speak to a group of 500 adults, no problem. But you get me in front of a group of junior high students, and I'm sweating it. My kids give me the best advice, which is, "Don't try to be funny, mom." But I walked into that space and -- virtually -- and I could hear the students coming in. And I heard this young man say to the teacher, "What's going on?" And she said, "Oh, Allyson from TeamMates is going to help you to utilize the portal so you can see your mentor." And I heard him say, "You mean, I still have a mentor?" And it really shook me, because it reignited my purpose and passion, and the mission of this organization, which is promise keeping.

Allyson Horne 25:44
And so I've told that story many times to mentors, because sometimes we doubt our impact. We think, "Oh, this kiddo doesn't really care if I show up or not." And the likelihood, by the way, of a seventh grader looking across the table and saying, "Jim, you are an amazing human who gives me more hope. And you help me look towards my future" -- the likelihood of a seventh grader saying that is, it's not likely. But they will tell others -- they tell their teacher; sometimes they tell me. And I think that's really powerful. The "showing up, no matter what" on both sides is such a testament to a trust-building relationship and a developmental relationship.

Allyson Horne 26:26
To be able to pepper strengths into that -- one of the conversations that we had as an organization is, you know, how do our strengths show up in times of challenge? I like to refer to it as "the sunshine or the swamp; your strengths are your strengths." So could we lean in on different strengths? Could we find complementary partners? I don't have high Adaptability, as I mentioned to both of you in the green room. So I'm very grateful that Morgan does, because if, if Jim, for whatever reason, would have a freeze or a shutdown, I will go into full panic. And knowing that Morgan has high Adaptability, I could lean in on that strength. We really were able to see that through mentors and mentees, in how we adapted and how we came up with new ideas during a very difficult pause point for us organizationally, and I think as a world.

TeamMates and CliftonStrengths

Jim Collison 27:17
Morgan, with your own Top 5 and you approaching this, how do you think that played into the way you mentored through this? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Morgan Holen 27:28
I think like Allyson was mentioning, mentioning with keeping a promise and saying that you're going to do something -- I have Responsibility at No. 2. And so I knew I made a commitment years ago to this relationship that I would show up every week consistently as someone who believed in this student. And I didn't say, "I'll show up if it works for me or if it's convenient or if it's something I'm comfortable with." But that I'll show up every week, no matter what. And I think my Responsibility definitely came through because initially, when we had to adapt to the online forum, it was never a question of "looks like we can't meet anymore; we'll have to figure out another way. We'll start back up at the next school year, when things have died down." But it was even more so thinking to myself, If I were a sophomore in high school right now. And everything else in my world was inconsistent, and the only thing I could rely on was that relationship, how much more I would lean into that, and how much more I would value it. And so I think my Responsibility said, "We're gonna make it happen! We're gonna get it done, no matter what it takes, what learning curves have to be overcome. But we will meet as a one-on-one relationship.

Jim Collison 28:34
Were there any moments you doubted on this? Like, "This isn't gonna work!"

Morgan Holen 28:40
Absolutely. I had the opportunity to to lead some other students in their mentor-mentee relationships as well. And you have to motivate not only the mentees but the mentors, like Allyson was mentioning, to want to meet. And everyone comes from a different perspective, a different experience. Everyone takes on the pandemic in a different way and has different levels of stress and anxiety that come with that. And so it was first navigating, How do I inspire those mentors to continue to want to be a mentor and to show up every day? Because not everyone's wired the same. But also the same for the mentee. And so of course, every week, there was almost a different challenge of, How do we make sure that this is functioning properly, and that we're still keeping that promise with our mentees?

Jim Collison 29:24
Allyson, you have high Empathy. I imagine during this time, how'd, how'd that work for you? And how did you use it in both a way that you could cope with it, because I'm sure it was hard, and use it to your advantage during this time?

Allyson Horne 29:39
Well, I'll go back to that seventh grader. When I heard that comment, it ignited my Achiever in a different way. Achiever is No. 6 for me, and it made me want to do hard things so that I could help others to show up. It made -- it inspired me in a way that I hadn't been inspired maybe before. I'm very fortunate within my role that I am programwide, so I'm often in communities, and I get to talk to students. I get to talk to superintendents. I get to talk to school counselors. I get to talk to parents. And it made me think if that one seventh grader is doubting, there might be another. And that seventh grader's mentor might be doubting. I just started thinking about and my energy sensory started thinking, "Oh, my goodness, are there people that are thinking this is just done? Like, we're going to stop now?" So it, it really pushed me.

Allyson Horne 30:35
I am not good at technology yet. And I dug my heels in initially, really resisting that we would move into this space, because it, in my mind, it wasn't who we were. We're face to face; we still are face to face. But it really ignited my other strengths and the strengths of those on my team to say, We're going to figure this out. Because we want to make sure, to Morgan's point, that we keep our promise, and, and we do that from both the mentor and mentee side. What's been even more magical, I think, for my Empathy is now hearing the stories of resilience through this. And now they're seeing one another in person again. And there's a renewed -- in a lot of ways, we're starting over. I, I may have been with Haley since fourth grade. But we had gap in our relationship together that sometimes I feel like I'm going back to that beginning stages of the mentoring relationship where I'm rebuilding trust with her that I am going to show up no matter what.

Allyson Horne 31:31
Interestingly enough, she's been sharing with me that she may graduate early. And I said, "OK, you know, you graduate in December; what does that look like?" And she said, "Well, what happens to you?" And I said, "Tell me more. What does that mean?" She said, "Are you still my mentor?" And I said, "Haley, I'm -- like you, at this point, you're not getting rid of me. I'm your forever friend. And I am, I'm here." I think the ways that we grew through that during the pandemic, as a collective, are numerous. And so my Empathy is fueled by the stories of hope and engagement. We're often surprised: We, we are student-based, and that's, that's who we serve. But I'm amazed at what the stories that mentors will say and share about their hope and their engagement has been increased because of the impact of a young person in their life.

Jim Collison 32:27
Morgan, do you think -- you know, you never wish for a situation like this to ever happen, especially in a global, you know, the global calamity that we've had. But do you come out the back side of this kind of seeing like, well, there were new opportunities for me, and there were maybe some things I wouldn't have done if I hadn't been forced to. Can you talk a little bit about that where, How do you feel now kind of 2 years later, you know, kind of getting through that experience?

Morgan Holen 32:55
Absolutely. I mean, outside of the technical perspective, we're nearly as comfortable now doing this type of thing than we would have been in the past with all of our Zoom experience and, from a very practical standpoint, gaining those skills. But I also think it made our relationships more real, because we had dialogue about things that were very difficult that maybe we wouldn't have thought through if our lives were continuously busy and on the go, and we didn't have time to stop. And now that we've had time to stop and think about what we value, where we want to value our time, what our time means to us and how we'd want to volunteer our time, I think that made all the difference. Because now I feel like I walk away with wanting to invest my time in other places that maybe I wouldn't had in the first place. I know, I was able to volunteer in a lot of different capacities that would have never been possible had I been on the go as normal. And I know those relationships grew differently as well.

Jim Collison 33:51
Allyson, she said, "more real in a virtual environment." Like, did you see that, do you see that happen, like multiplying across the organization, where all of a sudden, we thought we were virtual, but this actually opened a world that was more real than maybe it was before?

Allyson Horne 34:09
I think so. An example that I'll give is Haley and I came into Zoom space for a meeting. And she was listening to music as she was coming in. And this space of virtual, like we're in the moment more. I think for me, as a mentor, it's, it's been multiplied. Haley was listening to music, and I said, "What are you listening to?" And she goes, "You probably don't know them. It's Fleetwood Mac." And this is my senior-in-high-school mentee, and I said, "What are you listening to?" She's like, "I'm listening to a song called 'Dreams.' And I picked up my laptop and I went to my, my record player -- I'm a, I'm big into music, and I collect vinyl. And I, as quick as I could, went to my Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits album and played it, you know, needle hitting the record. And Haley, I know she saw me differently than she'd ever seen me before. Because when I come into the school space, that's a different container. I'm not bringing my, my records in; I'm not bringing this piece of my life in. So we had this moment of connection that we wouldn't have had, had it not been for virtual space.

Allyson Horne 35:20
Now, that's a low-level example of that. But I think of the ways that through technology, we have been able to be more present. So scheduling is sometimes a big challenge for our mentors. We've had over the years, snowbirds, who have said, "You know, I can't mentor because during these months, I can't show up." But now we have an opportunity here that we can say, Yes, you're in person as much as you possibly can. But if there is an extenuating circumstances, or circumstance, we can work with you, that we didn't have. And I think, you know, there are lots of examples for all of us that way. I started things, I call them "COVID keeps" rituals that I do now that I wouldn't have done. I have a group of girlfriends that we call each other, "The Golden Girls." We are all over the United States. And at the start of the pandemic, we started a Zoom happy hour. And I wondered why we hadn't done that before. It's -- and we still continue to stay connected. So I think connection has been changed for us in the virtual space. Even more being there, as Morgan said much more eloquently than I am here, there's just a lot of different ways that we can do that now that we hadn't thought of before.

Jim Collison 36:35
I still do Zoom happy hours with local folks. You know, because it's, it's, it's sometimes more convenient. And, and I've also found, and I've mentioned this on Called to Coach before, but I've turned this one-on-one Zoom relationship into an advantage from a Woo-Relator perspective. I never realized it was better than oftentimes being in person. You go to a noisy restaurant; you go to a noisy cafe. There's distractions. You got to drive there. With this, you can literally say, "You got 5 minutes?" And you can jump on and be connected pretty quickly. Right? Works pretty fast. So I, for me, I don't know, in some regards, I want to go back. I know that sounds crazy. But, but that's one of the thoughts. Let's, let's take some questions from the chat room really quick. So Kevin says, Let's say I don't have any background in working with that age group, whatever that age group happens to be, as far as how they learn best and how to connect with them. How do we get past that barrier into working with that group? And Allyson, let me throw that to you. What kind of advice do you guys give as these mentors are jumping in, thinking, "Ah, fifth graders! I don't know!" What do you say?

Allyson Horne 37:49
Show up. Just show up. And they'll guide. They, especially if we're talking about the third to fifth grade age group, let them guide. Ask them what they'd like to do during their mentoring time. One of the things I should have said earlier, as an organization that makes us unique is that we're for all kids; the only requirement that we have is that a student raises their hand and says, "I want one of those people." And that's how our students are nominated for TeamMates itself. It comes from a place of, "I'd like to meet with this person." So when they come in, you do not have to know how to do a lot of different things. But ask them what would they like to do during your time together. They may school you in Connect 4, like my mentee has for many years. I'm still not a Connect 4 master. And one of the things that Haley told me early on is that if I ever wanted to win, I needed to work on my face.

Allyson Horne 38:44
It was actually some of the best advice I'd ever been given. Because with my high Empathy, I show emotion. So when I'm about to block her, or she's about to win, I show it in my face before I make the move. And she's taught me that. Like Allyson, you've got to be a little bit better. I think the kinesthetic movement, you know, of a board game or a conversation starter or a walk or shooting hoops. Those are really the ways to, I think, enter safely into what is their container. Ask them to show you around their space. Ask them what was the best part of their day and the silliest part of their day? Asking meaningful questions to open up that dialogue. You really don't have to be perfect, or, or good at any of this yet; just show up and be you.

Jim Collison 39:34
Morgan, would you add anything to that with your own experience? By the way, I would think some of the things you're doing like Woo and Communication would be really, really helpful for you. Those don't necessarily show up in your Top 5. So how do you approach that from your own unique set of talents and what else would you add to that?

Morgan Holen 39:53
I was thinking, through TeamMates specifically, there's no phone usage when you do a one-on-one meeting. And I think that eliminates a lot of the potential fear of not being able to relate to a fifth grader because at its core, you're having a one-on-one conversation, and it's a person. And so exactly what Allyson was saying: Ask them what they like to do. Ask them those open-ended questions. And you'll probably pull more information than you think, especially when neither of you are looking down at your phone. But when I go into schools, we talk a lot about bucket filling, to make it very simple for elementary school. And we talk about what you can write down on a "Drop" and give it to someone who's made a difference in your life. And when you bring it down to that level, all of a sudden you're connecting with them. So I agree with Allyson on that one-on-one front: asking them questions, asking them about what we'd like to call "hot buttons," what they light up when they talk about it. And then when it's an audience perspective, finding language that they can resonate with. So instead of talking high level, saying, "Write down something that someone did nice for you on this Drop, and then give it to that person. And that'll fill their bucket. And it makes it very simple, very easy for them to understand.

Jim Collison 41:00
I just found being goofier than they are is a is a good trick -- to be like, "Hey, I can be just as weird as you. So don't, don't try it 'outweird' me." As we think about the future a little bit, Lisa asks this great question. Because of Zoom, are they expanding, you know, geographically, in terms? So Allyson think through, like, why the 5 states and what's a little bit of future TeamMates? And has the pandemic changed that future in any way, because now you see a little different way of doing this? Can you talk a little bit about the future?

Allyson Horne 41:33
One of the things that I love about our organization is that no matter where we are, we adhere to our core values. And so those are unchanging, very much a testament to Coach Tom Osborne and his wife Nancy, and the way that they created this organization 30 years ago. We are intentional about growth. We are never about quantity; it's always about quality. So we want to make sure that with intentionality, we grow. I don't see us becoming an e-mentoring organization, because that's not who we are. And there are some great organizations out there doing that. So although we may have technology options, I don't think it's going to change our core values of being a school-based, in-person organization. Our growth in other states has come very organically, but also with tremendous intention and planning, and thoughtfulness around support. It's our local communities, our local school districts that are supporting our mentors and mentees.

Allyson Horne 42:31
And so we want to make sure it's a good fit for that school district. We want to make sure it's a good fit for TeamMates, and that they're on board with our core values. That this is not about -- we never use the label "at risk." We believe that all of us are at risk if we don't have mentors in our life. So if there's an, a misunderstanding of, of what mentoring is, from our point of view, that may not be a good fit for us. And same for the school district -- we want to make sure that we can support the students at the school and through the school. I think right now, our hybrid or our technology options are really intended for extenuating circumstances, intended for where we need to bridge the gap in between in-person. But as we think about this as an organization, it has given us some some hope and some light and some new idea generating.

Allyson Horne 43:24
I love that Tom and Nancy, 30 years ago, sat down and took an idea to 20 football players and said, "What do you think about this?" And they said, "Sure, we'll try." And from there, now we serve 10,000 matches in 5 states -- within a 30-year time frame, that's a pretty meaningful intention behind an idea. So I'm, I'm excited about how we celebrate 30 years. I'm also excited about how we consider quality growth and intentional growth.

Hope for the Future

Jim Collison 43:56
Morgan, I'm gonna ask you a similar question here in a second. But, Allyson, as you were talking about this, and I just think about all the strengths work that's happening at UNL, from the Institute that's kind of embedded in the College of Business there. We're doing an interview next Tuesday with the NIL athletics program, as we think about strengths and coaching and athletics and how that's, how that's beginning to work. Of course, TeamMates started with these football players -- that started in a program that's a big deal here in Nebraska but now has then gone out to these 5 states. Morgan, as you think about your, your future in this as, you personally, as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, as what you're doing with the, with the Miss America organization, and you think about your future and mentoring, what do you hope, what are some hopeful things for you for the future as you look ahead?

Morgan Holen 44:49
After just graduating, I was completely surrounded by strengths, as you mentioned, whether it be through the institute or with Gallup in our backyard in Omaha. But what I'm noticing within the athletic department, which I'm so excited for them to now have this program where the athletes will know their strengths and be able to use their strengths every day is that it totally changes your perspective. And so my hope, after getting certified, was working with things that I know, so students who were in college or students who are in high school and younger.

Morgan Holen 45:19
And I think through what would happen if even at -- as Allyson was mentioning -- at the third grade level, the seventh grade level, what would happen if you knew your strengths and you had confidence in yourself in that way, because you knew what you could bring to the table, how you could succeed, and what way you can handle situations that you would feel the most fueled, how much of a difference that would make in a child's perspective of themselves? And how much more they would be willing to put themselves out there, apply for things, go after big dreams and goals, because they're confident in what they can bring to the table. And so I, after graduating, I noticed how much that was a part of our culture at, at the University of Nebraska, but how much more of an impact that can make if we started all the way from the third-grade level from our school districts. And so that's one of the hopes is that by the end of my year that more students will be aware of their strengths and that they will be able to live a life where they are fueled by their strengths.

Jim Collison 46:15
Allyson, I saw you shaking your head while she was talking. Anything, as we think about Morgan specifically, but mentors in general, what do you, what, maybe after a couple years of mentors doing these kinds of things, what else are you hearing hopes and dreams from those mentors, as they think about these relationships that they're having?

Allyson Horne 46:34
Well, first of all, Morgan is just a fantastic representative for what mentoring is all about, in so many different ways. I think all throughout this conversation we've spoken to the, like Coach Osborne refers to is the greatest human need, which is being heard. So when I think about, you know, what we do going forward, when we see more students becoming mentors, so students who have been part of TeamMates, more mentees who are now becoming mentors, we have this great group of resources to help us think about what we could do even better through their eyes and through their perspective. I love the way that strengths is growing with such intention in so many different ways. My son being, being part of that group at UNL as a strengths coach and the way that he is thinking about strengths and new ideas and, and new ways and ways that he as a coach, but also him as a human. What can I do with this that maybe no one else has thought of? Morgan had a lot of options when it came to choosing a platform in which to use her voice. And the fact that she chose not only strengths, but strengths-based mentoring, you know, that's a powerful example of using a new idea and a new approach.

Jim Collison 47:49
Ken asks a good question in the chat room that they're dying to have an answer to. So he says, What success stories -- and there's probably a lot, and, and Allyson, I kind of want to ask you if you guys track stats on this, but as we think about those mentees rising up out of poverty or, or not privilege or some of those. And it's hard, you know, when you when you mentor so, when you mentor somebody for a long time, that, that mentorship has an effect on them early. So you don't, you may not know whether they were going to end up in college or not. So sometimes those numbers are hard to track. But as you think about influence -- so let me use that word -- as you think about influence, how do you guys track that? And what kind of success -- how do you measure success?

Allyson Horne 48:29
We have a lot of different measurements. We do track grades, attendance and behavior. And I think that over the years, it's been something that's been a little bit of a balancing act when we talk about those statistics, because our mentors are not tutors and they're not trained to be tutors. It was actually when we started looking at Gallup Student Poll data that we had this light-bulb moment of connection that if a student has someone in their life who's focused on their strengths, they're more likely to be more engaged and more hopeful. But they're also more likely to have a higher level of academic success.

Allyson Horne 49:02
I think, I can think of personal examples of that. My third grade teacher, Mrs. Weber, knew my verbal exuberance and gifted me the opportunity to give book reports when book reports weren't even due. Because she knew I would get up in front of the room, use my voice to speak about reading. She also helped me to be the school narrator. I mean, just all of these different ways that she spotted my strengths. Specifically, when it comes to demographics of our students, because we are for all kids, our demographics are all over the place. And I think one of the things that we're most proud of is improvement in sense of hope, and for a student to be able to say that they know more about their strengths because of their mentor. Those are always our stories of success. That's how we measure success. It may not be that they went on right after high school graduation to college. It may be a few years later that they talk about being aligned in their purpose, or where they headed towards a different direction because they're mentors saw something in them or helped to lift up a light in them that they didn't know about. We hear lots of success stories that way.

Allyson Horne 50:07
If you go to the TeamMates website, we do have lots of stats. And I want to make sure that they go there versus trying to get them from me, who's not good at math. But I do think, organizationally, our stories of success are all related to hope. And they are not just from the mentee side; we hear from our mentors, "I go back to work more hopeful. I go back to my family more hopeful. I go back to life more hopeful after I've spent time with my mentee." It's all about that engagement piece -- which we know very much in the work that all of us do, engagement really matters. And so we've tried to dial down, if we talk about strengths, does that really impact? And what we've seen is if the student is looking forward to seeing the mentor, which is one of the things you, you talked about early on, Jim, with Morgan, that looking forward to, if they're looking forward to seeing their mentor, we saw a correlation with hope, which makes all kinds of sense. It's that opportunity that we have to know that someone is showing up to notice and recognize what's right about me.

Jim Collison 51:07
We have that Q12 question that we ask adults, "Somebody cares about your development," and that's this piece, right? I mean, it's a, another adult. It's another person, like let's just be really clear about that -- another person outside of their family who cares about their development, and that adds that element of hope. Morgan, anything you would, anything else you would add to that from your own experience, as we think about watching your mentee grow?

Morgan Holen 51:36
I think there are times where a mentee doesn't have adults maybe in their life who are thinking about how to develop them. They have a lot of things going on; they're busy. And there's something special about having that set-aside time -- an hour of time where your full purpose is to develop that individual and is to invest in them and to care about their growth. And that I feel like completely changes a mentee's perspective. I know, hopefully, my mentee has thought about different things she can achieve and different ways she can achieve them because they've had, because she's had a mentor. And I know in my life, I've had a number of mentors who I can still remember the words, very specific words, they've said to me that maybe rolled right off their tongue. It wasn't something that they methodically thought through. But it's something that sticks with me today that I take through whenever I'm trying to achieve something more. So I think it outlasts, even though I maybe don't tell that mentor often or should tell that mentor more often what impact she left on me, there's something I still carry through 20 years later.

Jim Collison 52:44
I'm hearing that -- you guys can't hear it, but I'm hearing that song "Closing Time" playing in the background here, as we think about kind of wrapping this up. Morgan, let me throw this to you. You've got a busy fall coming up between now and the end of the year and the Miss America competition. Can you still maintain these relationships? I mean, are you carving out time, you figuring out how to get it done? How's it, how's that working out?

Morgan Holen 53:10
You get to have a lot of car time. So although not every single one-on-one conversation is face to face, there are a lot of phone calls and a lot of hours on the road. It takes about 8 hours to get across our state. So depending on where you're headed, you will have a lot of car time, and I've found there can be a lot of value in catching up with people and having those conversations set aside when you are doing those car times. So the schedule looks a little bit different. But it's the Adaptability. It's figuring out different ways that you can still have those conversations, because they not only hopefully help the person on the other end, but they certainly fuel me and remind me of why I'm doing what I'm doing every day.

Jim Collison 53:48
It's a good way to to come about it, and of figuring out those spaces. Like OK, I can't do it this way. I need to figure out a way. And it's a short, it's a short time period. If you do become Miss America, you will have to figure out how to do that again with that, with those responsibilities. Right. So you have to -- but you have Responsibility; you'll do fine. Allyson, you and I don't. As I think, as I think about if you were to answer that question, too, as we, as we think out, looking for the future -- well, let me, let me rephrase it. What are you most excited about over the next year or two with TeamMates? And what are you looking forward to -- what's kind of the future directions for the organization?

Allyson Horne 54:27
I think I'm most looking forward to -- and I think we as an organization are most looking forward to learning from this and saying, OK, what worked and what didn't? And asking students that question: What worked and what didn't? My mentee has no idea what I do; we've been matched since fourth grade. She still has no idea what I do. Sometimes she doesn't know my last name. It's really, it's kind of powerful. As a mentor, if you think that you're going to show up and be asked lots of questions about your sage, wise experience and wisdom, probably not. And one time I came in, and I brought her some materials that were our mentee training materials -- because not only do we train our mentors, we train our mentees. And I said, "Hey, Haley, would you take a look at these? We'd love to hear your perspective." And she said, "These are terrible." She was, "I don't know who's doing these or putting these together, but let them know that what kid is going to sit through a PowerPoint?" And that's me. That's my job.

Allyson Horne 55:23
So I'm sitting there, hearing this beautiful critique. And I said, "You know what, Haley? I will take that back to TeamMates, and I will let them know." And we did; we made improvements. It made more sense to do a 7-minute video over a PowerPoint. And so I think I'm most excited about asking our mentors and our mentees, What did we learn? How can we apply that learning? How can we be better because of that learning? And then how can we be grateful for this space that was really challenging, but we still showed up for one another. So sharing those stories, I think as an organization, that's what we're most excited about.

Jim Collison 55:58
Morgan, I'm sure you've inspired, in this conversation, others to say, "Yeah, I want to do this." I want to, and I want to -- how would they follow you? Like, you're talking about this, I'm sure not just here, but in kind of all the things that you're doing. How would folks follow you or, or stay in a, you know, in a place where they could watch what you're doing? What's the best way to do that?

Morgan Holen 56:19
Absolutely. If you are on social media, you can be Facebook Miss Nebraska, or you can be on Instagram @missamericane, but yes, this is something I'm very fortunate to get to talk about what I love every single day to different audiences. And so you will find that this is a continual conversation, if you follow along. But I'd also encourage you, if you do feel inclined to be a mentor, to go to teammates.org. That is my entire mission this whole year. And we know that there are far more students seeking a mentor than there are mentors available. So hopefully, this conversation has led you to realize how valuable that can be, and how that is probably one of the most valuable ways you can spend your time.

Jim Collison 57:01
Well, Morgan, I'll say in my world of nerdery, I've never talked to a Miss Nebraska before. So thank you for talking to me. And thanks for coming on and being a part of this. Allyson, if folks want to get involved in TeamMates, or if they have questions about it, or like, what's the best way to engage in a meaningful conversation, whether they want to get involved? Or how do I get this to my state? Or how can I maybe build something like this? What's the right way to do that?

Allyson Horne 57:29
teammates.org is your starting point, whether you want to be a mentor or you're interested in starting a TeamMates program in your community. I think the task that I would rather put out to this entire group is to think about two things: How could you ask a mentoring-based sort of question to whomever sits across the breakfast table or the conference room table from you? My favorite have been, "What's the best part of your day or the silliest part of your day?" It just ignites that dialogue that helps us to build upon strengths.

Allyson Horne 57:57
But also to thank your mentors -- the people in your life, we all have them, someone who saw you for what was right about you, maybe even at a time where you weren't showing up in the best of ways. I have such a long list of mentors in my life to thank both at, at age 46 and, you know, also as a kindergartener. But really those opportunities that we all have to say, "Thank you for recognizing and hearing me. Thank you for seeing me for my worth and my good and my potential." So I would encourage both of those things to happen. If you can't mentor through TeamMates, to just mentor period, whether that's as an auntie or an uncle, or as a friend in a community. There's just lots of different ways to create those ripple effects.

Jim Collison 58:44
JerLene Mosley, who's a good friend, chimes in at the end and says, "The viral nature of hope matters. Thank you for the ripples. Shane would be proud" -- Shane Lopez, of course, who wrote books on hope. And I think as really, I mean, as we, as we think about what we're trying to do here, or what we're working is giving hope, right? And I think both of -- would you agree, the mentor to mentee relationship is not always one to another. But it goes both ways. And I think sometimes if you, if you're feeling down, like I always tell people if you're feeling down because no one is recognizing you for anything, do some recognition. Like you just start doing it. And I think if you're in a situation as an adult, or you're struggling a little bit, I think, maybe thinking about mentoring someone can be that relationship. Allyson, you said this earlier, you're just going to get schooled, right? You're just going to get schooled. And, and maybe that's not that's not such a bad thing to do. So I appreciate that. You guys hang tight for me. Thank you both for coming on and being a part of it. Lots of great, lots of great comments from the chat room as well. With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available around strengths, now in Gallup Access. So head to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths. A lot of these resources that are available. Allyson mentioned StrengthsExplorer, which is also a product that's available for students 10 to 14 -- strengthsexplorer.com will get you there as well. We have some resources on the website, all kinds of ways to use it. Yours truly and Maika Leibbrandt created a whole bunch of videos around it. In fact, JerLene, who I just brought up on screen, was our, was a, was a guest on that as well. And so a great resource that's available for you. If you're interested in becoming a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, we do that as well. So you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. We'll get you connected into the right place. Again, I say that super fast, but coaching@gallup.com. If you want to follow us on the webcast, I did mention we're going to be interviewing some folks from UNL on Tuesday. I think that's the 12th. If you go to gallup.eventbrite.com, you can get signed up for that. And I'm excited for that interview because some student athletes are coming in; Tim Hodges, Dr. Tim Hodges, who, who kind of oversees the institute there, will be on to interview them. It's just going to be maybe the most different kind of interview you've ever heard around strengths. So we're excited about that coming up here in just a couple days. We want to thank you for joining us today. If you found this helpful, just share it. It'd be awesome to get this -- speaking of viral nature, it'd be, it'd be great for you to get this out.

Allyson Horne's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Input, Communication, Strategic, Woo and Empathy.

Morgan Holen's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Responsibility, Significance, Harmony and Belief.