How many times has someone told you that you sucked at doing something? That you felt you were just going through the motions because you had to? How many times have you felt discouraged because you couldn’t accomplish what you set your mind to?

The YDN team believes in the GALLUP StrengthsFinder tool because we feel strongly about looking at people through an asset-based lens. An asset-based approach is a way of thinking and behaving. Instead of looking at what people can’t offer or are deficient in, we see greater reward when we focus on the unique skills and knowledge someone has to offer and fill a roll within the greater team. 

Ex: You hire someone to install a chandelier in your home, but you end up finding out that person doesn’t know how to complete that specific project. You start to dialogue with him about what he’s great at and inevitably build a RELATIONSHIP (Wow, Deja Vu) with him. You figure out he’s a master lighting artisan and can use accent lighting so every crevice of the room can be lit perfectly with a quick snap of your fingers. Are you really going to feel bummed out you didn’t get that chandelier you were hoping for?

So to get back to my realization; people, including teachers, have always told me that writing isn’t my strongest attribute and I should work on it. I’ve come to the realization that writing, more specifically, academic writing isn’t my strongest attribute and I don’t need to work on it. I am perfectly okay with my conversational, casual way of writing because it suits this settings I write in. You wouldn’t ask Bruce Lee to forget his martial art style of Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist) and focus on MMA style because that’s an area he needs to improve. No, we regard Bruce Lee as probably the greatest martial artist there ever was BECAUSE he focused on his strengths.

This is not an invitation to drop out of school or to forgo your weaknesses. This is an invitation to re-evaluate your life, more specifically your strengths and weaknesses. Even more specific, are you using your strengths (what you are good at) in the right setting? Have you found an environment where you are appreciated for what you do best? After all, we are more efficient and happier when we love the job we do.

It’s happened to all of us. The meeting we’ve been dreading all week. The meeting where we have to pretend like we’re listening, try to stay awake and pretend like we’re not drawing cute cats. Here are some quick tips to create a more fun, more engaging environment where your meetings can take place.

Name tags: Whether they are printed beforehand with the participant’s names or they are self-adhesive name badges, name tags just work. Pre-printed name tags let your clients know you were thinking of them before the meeting. It makes them feel special. We have overheard people say they loved us for having their names spelled correctly on their name tags.

Another purpose name tags serve is they help build relationships. For those not as comfortable approaching people to strike up a conversation (or those with WOO; see that strengths talk?), name tags allow for an easy starting point for some. Let’s not forget the many times we forget the names of somebody, but are too afraid to just ask for their name and instead dance around the subject.

We recommend first name, last name and organization or position at that organization.

Food: Food is crucial to your meetings. Be it candy to snacks or a catered lunch, do something. It doesn’t have to be a 5 course meal for everybody. Having food at a meeting shows that you are thinking about your clients before the meeting, in turn, letting them know you care for them.

At YDN, we are incredibly big on relationship building (heard that phrase somewhere before). Don’t forget to allow 10-15 minutes after your meeting starts to give people time to eat and talk. That time allows people to catch up, tell stories or even meet each other. Don’t fret if that time runs longer than expected. The work becomes easier when the team feels connected to each other. A great man once told me that, “We focus so much on what we need to get done, we forget that we [are human beings that] still need to get to know each other.”

Remember, if your budget is small, candy works or even a vegetable platter like this:

Icebreaker/Check-in Question: A check-in question or energizer allows people to quickly get to know each other. They build… relationships with each other. An energizer does what its name says; it energizes the room. We recommend picking a high energy one that suits the size of your group and meeting space.

A couple of our favorite check-in questions are:

• If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
  • -Be prepared for this one. We have tried this a couple times and people will start to create rules and stipulations for what invisibility is. Responses to this check in question will take twice as long as anticipated. Trust us.
• What’s the sound of your favorite color? (participants make the sound, everyone else gets to guess the color!)
• If you could stay any age forever, what would it be?
• Or even as simple as, how is your day going?

Agreements: You should set aside 30-45 minutes in your first meeting to create agreements for the group. Agreements are ground rules or norms created by the group on how they will treat each other. Agreements make assumptions explicit and clear, but aren’t often said aloud. Remember, agreements are NOT rules like everyone must bring pencil and paper. Instead they are about creating emotional and physical safety for your meetings.

Our recommended method to creating agreements is to start with flip chart paper. If your group is small enough, a large brainstorm works. People should just start popcorn style by throwing out agreements they feel strongly about. Remind the group not to be afraid to ask clarifying questions if something doesn’t make sense to them. Once the group as reached consensus, the last step is for people to either autograph or initial the flip chart paper. It creates ownership of the agreements.

Now bring those agreements with you to every meeting. We recommend to read the agreements out loud at the start of every meeting. This will continue to be a living document, so remember to give new and continuing group members voice and choice to add or make amendments. 

Now you’re ready to create engaging meetings. Get out there and rid the world of mundane meetings! Comment below with some of your favorite tips to run fun and engaging meetings.

Today, we are highlighting and reminiscing about River City High School. River City High School is the only high school in the Washington Unified School District. No, we didn’t travel to the state of Washington (we will soon). Washington Unified School District is right across the river in West Sacramento. Early settlers created the town of Washington where West Sacramento is now, hence the name of Washington Unified School District.

River City HS started their school climate enhancement journey 3 years ago. Thanks to the generous funding support of the Trustees of the Arata Brothers Trust, we brought our Youth Development Institute (YDI) to the high school. Our YDI focuses on how adults can create a safe environment where young people can effectively make a change in their community for the better. Ultimately our goals from completing a YDI are that participants can:

*create quality environments for youth

*make sure that youth receive the essential experience now that will contribute to their development into successful and healthy adults.

From the Youth Development Institute we proposed that to sustain the climate shift a team at River City HS needed to be trained on how to lead their very own YDIs. We call this process “Train the Trainer”. 6 teachers from River City HS volunteered to lead this effort and become certified YDI Train-the-Trainers for the River City High School Campus. Train the Trainer trains (say that 5 times fast) people on how to deliver relevant and engaging meetings for students and staff while paying respects to the original content. Of course trainers are allowed to put their own flair on the delivery, but the final goals are usually the same.

For the past 2 years, the YDIs at River City High School were facilitated by River City HS teachers with YDN trainers in the background to provide support. We want to send our deepest gratitude to these YDI Certified  trainers that are consistently creating an environment where change comes from the participating experts in the room. In this instance, the experts are the staff, teachers and the students that spend 6-8 hours a day on campus.

We are excited to see where this year’s YDI takes the staff and students at River City High School as they continue their journey with YDN to enhance the campus environment for future generations to come.

Time and time again, life takes over our schedule and we forget to take time to reflect on what we have accomplished. Let’s take a step back and reflect on the Twin Rivers Unified School District’s (TRUSD) 2013-2014 school year.

Over the last couple years, Twin Rivers has decided to put an emphasis on youth voice and choice from the students in their district. That’s when the YDN team partnered with Twin Rivers to facilitate The Student Leadership Program. The Student Leadership Program is a year long commitment from high schools and middle schools and the leaders from their sites to identify an issue at their school and create an action plan to change their school sites for the better. If you’re looking for the jargony goals, students will:

• Learn to identify realistic change in their sphere of influence and strategize for success
• Troubleshoot each other’s efforts through a positive and supportive learning community
• Learn to effectively advocate for the issues and needs of their fellow students.

The neat part of The Student Leadership Program is that young people decide what issue to focus on. There is no top-down authority from the teachers or administrators that tell exactly what these young people should be working on. Sometimes as adults, we like to think we know it all. In fact, sometimes the experts in the room are the young people. 

Schools all over the Twin Rivers district pick an issue to tackle. The issues ranged from bullying to drugs on campus to teacher-student relationships. It took a whole year for students to identify the issue and present any solutions they are planning to implement. 

As a final celebratory event, we took these leaders to a summer camp and called it Twin Rivers Unified School District Student Leadership Camp w/ Youth Development Network. Long name, I know. This camp was a 4-day/3-night trip to the Santa Cruz mountains at Happy Valley Conference Center. It was the beginning of their journey into the world of Strengths and a continuation of building their leadership abilities.

Day 1 of camp is what we like to call the “ME” component, where campers start to understand their strengths and how they relate to their lives. This day is designed to get the campers to start to reflect what their Strengths are and who they use them in their everyday lives. We move onto day 2 and day 3 of camp where campers start to think about “WE.” This day is where campers start to think about their strengths in relation to other’s strengths. Day 2 and day 3 are usually the high emotional days where we take the campers on a journey of self reflection and letting go of any negative words people have instilled into our minds.  This day also has high ropes course where campers can start to visualize their strengths in action. Day 4 starts to look at the “COMMUNITY” part of camp and how campers can use their strengths to make a difference in their community. 

As we move forward, it is important to recognize that the Twin Rivers Unified School District is dedicated to get the voice their students and creating better leaders for the future. We want to applaud this district for the continuation of next year’s Student Leadership Program.




See you next week for another blog post!