Activating Youth Leadership
This site describes an evidence-based Youth Leadership Development Program.
This program starts with a visioning session co-designed with youth to activate self determination, The tool enables participants to uncover their strengths and test their emerging capacities through planning. Some youth enjoy participating in additional virtual group sessions to add to their planning skills.
The leadership program spans across 12 hours and includes additional follow up to evaluate the results of initial planning and goal achievements.
The strength-based starting point to activating choice and control by
improving positive learning and life outcomes
The program engages young people and adults in their life planning to increase positive learning and life outcomes.
It coaches people to:
Identify their unique strengths and how they come into play in their lives
Co-design their planning to formulate a personal vision that inspires them
Develop their vision into goals
Embed their strengths into the process of working on their goals - harness different strengths for different goals.
Unpack goals into smaller achievable steps to build their confidence in goal setting and goal achieving
Grow their voice to enable them to make positive choices in planning their future
Nurture their inner leader through contributing meaningfully to their communities.
Meet Raquel
Raquel participated in the fall 2023 program.
Raquel's Signature Strengths Backpack
These are Raquel's self-identified Signature Strengths
What will participants learn?
Participants will:
Develop knowledge and experience about the visioning and planning process and its connection to wellbeing. This goal-setting activity is person-centred. Its output is an inspirational vision board filled with goals organised according to the Keys 2 Citizenship (Duffy, 2012). Participants prioritise one long-term goal for each category and learn to implement strategies to achieve them.
Unpack their goals from long to short-term, experiment with achieving them by taking small achievable steps by utilising the bespoke ‘Goal 2 Action’ tool thereby, building capacity for participants to take control of their own progress. This process is described in depth in a number of publications (Mahmic and Janson, 2018; Moore, Fong and Rushton, 2018).
Participants record goals and goal achievements over a follow up session using ’Mission Control’, a purpose-built real time data collection tool.
The programme can also include coaching a support worker or family member to work with the person to continue planning and achieving goals after the programme is completed.
The Planning process
Participants design their own success tools. They can borrow some of the tools that other participants have co-designed or create their own - they decide what is most relevant and helpful for their lives.
The below are some examples of participant co-designed tools.
Creating an inspiring vision
Pictability™ was co-designed as a unique and creative way for participants to set a vision for a positive and attainable future. It was informed by research from Positive Psychology, Family Centred Practice and Gamification principles.
Pictability visuals were co-designed with participants to build capacity and inspire wellbeing and flourishing (Adler & Seligman, 2016). Elements of the tool were informed by evidence about how participants achieve goals (Mahmic & Janson, 2018). The tool includes multiple cards and boards designed to support participants expanding on ideas to create deeper and more meaningful (i.e., developmental, social, learning) goals. Research has shown that high engagement of participants in creating goals form solid foundations for participants to achieve these goals. The tool uses visuals and has been very favourably rated by parents of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In New Zealand, a pilot study co-designed with Maori participants and Allied Health deemed this vision tool culturally appropriate.
A. Identifying personal character strengths
Participant Design their Character Strengths Backpack
Based on the research from University of Pennsylvania Prof. Martin Seligman and the VIA Institute who identified the different strengths that make each of us unique, participants get a chance to create their individual strength profile. They peel off (reusable) stickers from their base and put them on their backpack for their journey.
B. Formulating a Compelling Long Term Vision
Brainstorming
Our evidence-based brainstorming process was built over 6 years of research on goal achievement and our co-design study with our Maori partners. Participants can use elements offered to them or formulate their vision based on personal preferences.
Vision Board
Participants place goals on a board that takes into consideration both the level of importance of the goal and a time-frame.
C. Setting and unpacking short term goals
Short Term Action Board
Participants prioritise 2 goals that they want to start working on. They can use this board or design their own to build confidence in goal setting. Reflecting about each chosen goal, they think about which of their strengths they can use to achieve it.
Goal to Action
Participants can use our bespoke Goal to Action tool or design their own to unpack goals into small, achievable steps. The Signature strengths that they identify earlier go into the left column to start achieving their goals from a strength perspective.
D. Achieving goals in all areas of life that matter
My Goal Passport
The way our co-design participants decided to integrate the Keys to Citizenship (Duffy, 2011) is through a quick review process designed as a 'goal passport'.
Learning about what makes a good life
Participants learn about the different elements that make up a good life according to Simon Duffy's model. They get a chance to reflect on stories and think about specific examples that relate to their lives.
Ensure all meaningful areas of life are covered
As participants work on their goals, they record achievements in their Goal Passport. This ensures that they are well connected with the Keys to Citizenship model. They may decide to concentrate on certain of the Keys at first, and all achievements and world views are supported. What participants learn is that they are several crucial areas that need to be considered and that they can choose goals in each at their own pace and keep tabs on areas of life that need addressing.
The process supports participants designing their personal outcome categories and measures.
More on the Keys to Citizenship framework on this page.
E. Follow up after the planning sessions...
Taking action
Action boards are magnetised and most participants choose to display them on their fridge so they can be reminded of their commitments.
Celebrate achievements
Goals achieved are celebrated and new goals are formulated to keep the momentum going.
Next - we embark on the Quest
" The pictures and the stories we shared gave me the confidence to share these in other places, like with my friends and family [Participant]
"I was surprised with the information that came from [person I support], some of it was completely new to me!" [Support person]
"I was taken aback by how many ideas my daughter had about future directions for her life... these had never come up in family conversations before, but my daughter said that this creative process, which includes expanding on ideas from the images she chose, gave her lots more new directions to explore" [Father]
Why use ‘gamification’?
Planning through a playful approach (gamification) to replace a planning conversation is ideal for this age group.
Our research shows that this playful situation is highly rated by participants and professionals alike who report that the goals formulated during such session are more authentic and engaging than goals formulated during a planning conversation. This is because of the engaging nature of the visuals that allow participants to connect with aspirations even when these are not fully consciously formulated. More about why gamification is particularly suited to teens' brain development here.
The Pictability Youth kit includes contents and visuals appropriate co-designed with youth. These participants responded to the robust citizenship framework, which is powerful because it extends the concept of Inclusion. We are all citizens - we have both rights and responsibilities. Participants finish the programme with valuable take home resources, including their own personal Pictability™ kit.