Young people today expect to be heard and their voices valued, not just consulted and then ignored. Yet youth participation often gets reduced to a tick-box exercise across children's services and the wider voluntary sector. To embed meaningful participation, leaders must go beyond traditional methods and embrace dynamic, fast-paced approaches that resonate with how young people engage today.
More than just service users, young people should be recognised as future talent, employees, service advisers, and brand advocates. By creating opportunities that value their input, organisations can develop a workforce pipeline, co-design better services, and build stronger reputations with the communities they serve. More than that, they can build systems, structures and policies that get it right the first time, every time.
1. Learn from young people
Many organisations say they listen to young people, but how often do senior leaders put themselves in a position to be taught by them? Reverse mentoring flips traditional power structures, pairing young people with senior staff to share insights into the lived experience of today's youth. Whether discussing social media trends, education barriers, or career anxieties, these sessions create learning opportunities for leadership while demonstrating to young people that their experiences and perspectives matter.
At Participation People, we introduced a reverse mentoring programme for a national health charity where young mentors shaped new digital engagement strategies. The result? More authentic, relatable content and an organisation-wide shift in how young voices were valued. Leaders also discovered fresh perspectives on workplace expectations from the next generation of employees, helping them future-proof recruitment and retention strategies.
2. Co-create solutions in hours not years
Traditional youth voice councils and advisory boards can be slow moving and disconnected from real-time decision-making. Instead, youth “hackathons” unite young people and professionals in fast-paced innovation sprints, where teams tackle pressing issues and pitch solutions in just a day. This format mirrors how young people collaborate online – short, sharp, and impactful.
We ran a series of hackathons for a national mobile operator, which led to a new approach to tackling youth connectivity with young people designing digital safety protocols in less than 12 hours. The process was just as valuable as the outcome – leaders saw first-hand the creativity and strategic thinking young people bring when given the right space. Hackathons also act as informal talent identification hubs, allowing leaders to spot young people with skills and potential for future roles.
3. Get real-time youth feedback
Long surveys with slow feedback loops don't work for today's fast-moving generation. Instead, senior leaders should embrace “pulse polling” – quick, targeted, gamified activities delivered via digital channels. These rapid feedback mechanisms allow organisations to instantly tap into youth perspectives, shaping real-time decisions.
Imagine testing a new policy by asking a diverse group of 100 young people to respond to a one-question poll before it is finalised. It's instant, scalable, and ensures youth voice is embedded before decisions are locked in. When organisations act on this insight, young people see their input leading to real change, reinforcing their role as valued service advisers and future leaders within the system.
4. Let young people steer the ship
A simple but powerful way to build youth agency from those less likely to get involved in traditional consultation and engagement projects are “takeover events” – where young people step into leadership roles for a day. From running staff meetings to co-facilitating staff training, these experiences give young people real responsibility while giving senior teams fresh insights into how services are perceived from a young person's perspective.
We worked with a city council where young people took over their corporate communications team for a day. They re-wrote social media posts, reshaped engagement strategies and left staff with a completely new understanding of what resonates with young audiences today.
5. Move beyond data to show impact
Senior leaders make strategic decisions based on data but numbers alone rarely drive action. Storytelling advocacy projects put real young people at the heart of policy change – whether through video diaries, digital campaigns, or “a day in the life of” short-form video content.
When leaders hear first-hand accounts of how decisions impact young lives, they are more likely to act with urgency and purpose. Try swapping a 20-slide PowerPoint presentation on youth mental health statistics for a three-minute video diary of a young person sharing their experiences. The emotional connection will drive home the message far more effectively.
Storytelling also turns young participants into brand advocates. When they feel heard and see tangible change, they become champions for the organisation, sharing their positive experiences and encouraging their peers to engage. We encourage using this approach with care-experienced young people in particular.
