As we hear so often, the problems previous generations create are the problems our youth will inherit, or are already having to navigate and solve. This is why one of the most important things we can do as educators, parents, family members, and/or mentors is to empower/continue empowering the youth in our lives to share their voices and become involved in creating the changes our world needs. The question then becomes how do we do this?

1. Engage the youth voice at all levels of your organization: First, young people are extremely observant. No matter where you work, engage or continue to engage youth voices in organizations, committees and teams on important conversations about inclusivity, diversity, social justice, trends in social media, leadership and entrepreneurship to name just a few. This can start simply by saying: “I’d love to get your opinion on …...”

Suggestion: Is this something you already do? If not, where could you start? Also, do you have structures in place to empower inter-generational learning and dialogue? Helping young people learn to collaborate and approach challenges collaboratively from multiple perspectives is key.

2. Empower youth in the development of their leadership skills: Some of the most important skillsets today’s youth need support in developing include their self-awareness, being able to name their values, discover and apply their strengths and in turn to articulate each of these. These are all foundational and vital.

Suggestion: Do you empower a strengths-based culture in your workplace or leadership development program that has participants focus on their talents as opposed to being deficit-fixing focused? Also, do you regularly invest in conversations with youth about how they’re using their gifts in school, sports, the Arts, and other areas of their lives?

3. Work with youth to develop their life/career skills: In my work and field we often see a large gap between the skills youth learn/are taught and employers seek when it comes to resilience, how to work effectively in teams, navigate conflict and dialogue respectfully with those who have very different ideas and opinions in comparison to our own.

Suggestion: How can each of us help/continue to help the youth in our lives develop these skillsets, and if we don’t feel well versed in these, how can we continue to develop our own competencies in these areas? A great place to start is with the Conference Board of Canada’s Employability Skillsets and Employability Toolkit.