Active listening

• Listening not to respond, but to understand and comprehend
• Using eye contact and positive body language
• Focusing on the person speaking

Why is this important? Active listening helps build relationships and creates an environment in which board members feel heard, understood, and comfortable sharing ideas.

Clear Communication

• Sharing information about the project or program you are involved in
• Communicating early and often with members regarding project/program changes, concerns, questions, and ideas
• Get to know your board members and build a genuine relationship with them
• Be genuinely open to YA feedback

Why is this important? The more you listen to and include young adult voices, the better your services and supports will be for them.

Inclusion

• Provide YAB members opportunities for active participation such as:
  • Assisting with community outreach
  • Editing materials and documents
  • Creating flyers, brochures, and tip sheets
  • Creating meeting agendas
  • Assisting with running meetings
  • Taking notes

Why is this important? Giving YAB members opportunities to contribute to the organization shows they are respected and valued as opposed to tokenized.

Follow through

• Bring results of YAB work back to meetings
• Be transparent with YAB members when something cannot be done
• If you say you are going to do something, then you need to do it or explain why it could not be done

Why is this important? It is key for stakeholders to see organizational follow-through for them to trust the organization and want to contribute to it.

Community Building

• Provide members with opportunities to get together outside of set meeting times
• Use icebreakers to help members get to know each other better
• Give them space to be creative and personalize their group (e.g., creating matching T-shirts)
• Celebrate milestones and give members recognition. Ex. Acknowledging how long members have been part of the group, birthdays, etc.
• Make it fun!

Why is this important? Young adults will be most likely to continue showing up & participating if they know they’ll have a good time & feel like a part of a community.

 Incentive and Recognition

• Giving members a specific title to include on their resumes
• Sharing opportunities for board members to join larger business meetings or represent the board/organization at a conference or webinar
• If members are excited about the counsel and feel supported, they will be more likely to recommend it to other people who may want to join

Why is this important? Being a YAB member is time-consuming, and you need to give back to your stakeholders to retain them beyond initial passion and interest.

Download our Strategies for Engaging Young Adults Tip Sheet