Youth work culture architect
Awarded to youth work managers. You've earned the Youth work culture architect badge! This badge signifies your pivotal role and commitment to designing, nurturing, and leading a broad-minded and transformational working culture within your youth organisation.
Skills and expertise gained
This badge aligns with the Digital Capacity Framework for Youth Work Organisations and supports the development of:
- Broad-minded and transformational working culture - Learning the diversity of digital youth work practices and adapting to the different needs of young people.
- Broad-minded and transformational working culture - Empowering the indifferent and resistant to see digital youth work as an opportunity and to engage actively in its development.
- Broad-minded and transformational working culture - Orientation to and experience from networking with other organisations in digital youth work (locally, nationally, internationally).
- Broad-minded and transformational working culture - Reimagining and redesigning youth work in light of digitalisation.
- Broad-minded and transformational working culture - Making more space for young people’s critical engagement in digital youth work.
As a Youth work culture architect, you understand that an inclusive and evolving culture is the bedrock of effective youth work, especially as it embraces the digital realm. You've honed your ability to assess organisational dynamics, strategize for belonging and digital well-being, and empower your teams to thrive. This badge recognizes your strategic vision, your dedication to staff development, and your leadership in embedding new digital norms that ensure every young person and youth worker truly belongs and flourishes.
You have to finish all tasks to get the badge
Tasks
Task no.1
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Goal: To strategically understand what constitutes a "broad-minded and transformational working culture" and its critical implications for your youth organisation, particularly in the digital age.
Steps you need to take:
1. Participate in the "Welcome & hook" icebreaker:
- Share one word to describe the culture of an admired organisation, reflecting on what makes it strategically effective, innovative, or impactful.
2. Engage in the "Understanding the core concepts" discussion:
- Actively contribute to defining "broad-minded" (e.g., embracing diversity of thought, adaptability to changing needs) and "transformational" (e.g., driving continuous improvement, fostering growth, leading systemic change) from an organisational leadership perspective.
- Discuss how these cultural attributes are essential for your organisation's strategic goals and resilience, especially as youth work integrates more digital dimensions.
- Reflect on the two key European reports in the activity and how they underscore the importance of a strong working culture for digital capacity and youth empowerment.
Task no.2
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Goal: To critically assess your organisation's current working culture from a systemic perspective, identifying key strengths and strategic areas for growth in inclusivity, belonging, and digital integration.
Steps you need to take:
1. Complete the "Culture assessment matrix" individually:
- Evaluate your organisation's overall working culture from the assessment tool on digital capacities of youth work organisations (on a scale of 1-5 or descriptive categories) across six key dimensions (see from page 14): Learning the diversity, Empowering the indifferent and resistant to see digital youth work as an opportunity, Orientation to and experience from networking, Reimagining and redesigning youth work, Young people developing digital youth work, and Making more space for young people’s critical engagement.
- Provide detailed notes and strategic examples to support your ratings, considering organisational policies, resource allocation, and leadership practices.
2. Participate in small group (Manager-specific) sharing:
- Share your strategic reflections and insights from the matrix with your assigned manager-specific small group.
- Collaborate to identify overarching organisational strengths and critical challenges that require leadership attention and systemic solutions.
3. Contribute to the plenary share-out:
- Present 1-2 key strategic strengths and 1-2 critical organisational challenges identified by your group, providing a high-level overview for the broader discussion.
Task no.3
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Goal: To identify and strategise concrete, role-specific actions that you, as a manager, can take to cultivate a broad-minded and transformational working culture, with a strong emphasis on digital enablement and well-being.
Steps you need to take:
1. Focus on "Youth work managers" Actions:
- Carefully read and discuss the specific actions outlined for "Youth work managers" in the "Take action: activities for different roles" section of the initial text:
Articulate a clear digital vision.
Invest in staff digital capability.
Empower digital adoption.
Embed new digital norms.
Identify and champion digitally adept staff.
Prioritise staff digital well-being.
- Reflect on how these actions directly address the challenges identified in Task 2.
2. Develop strategic action plans in your Manager group:
- Work with your manager-specific group to brainstorm and select 1-3 priority actions that you, as leaders, can commit to implementing within the next 3-6 months. These should be actions that drive systemic cultural change and enhance digital integration.
- For each priority action, detail:
- The specific strategic outcome you aim for (e.g., "Develop a clear organisational digital vision document," "Implement a new digital skills training budget," "Integrate digital well-being into HR policies").
- The concrete steps you will initiate or oversee.
- Key stakeholders who need to be involved.
- Required resources (e.g., budget, time, partnerships).
- How you will measure success and impact.
3. Present your group's strategic action plan:
- Briefly present your group's top 1-2 priority actions to the entire group, focusing on their strategic impact and feasibility.
- Be ready to discuss the rationale and receive constructive feedback.
Task no.4
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Goal: To make a personal commitment to take a concrete, leadership-driven step towards fostering a broad-minded and transformational working culture in your youth organisation.
Steps you need to take:
1. Reflect on your leadership impact:
- Consider how your actions as a manager create a ripple effect throughout the entire organisation, influencing both staff and young people.
- Share one word or short phrase that encapsulates the most significant cultural shift you aspire to lead.
2. Make a personal leadership commitment:
- On a sticky note, write down ONE concrete action you personally commit to initiating or championing in the next two weeks to drive a broad-minded and transformational working culture. This should be an action that only you, in your leadership role, can effectively pursue.
- Examples: "Schedule a strategic meeting to draft our organisational digital vision," "Allocate specific budget for digital upskilling of youth workers," "Launch a cross-departmental task force on digital well-being best practices."
3. Contribute to the "Commitment wall":
- Place your sticky note on the designated "Commitment Wall," visually signifying your personal leadership pledge to cultivate a thriving organisational culture.
Awero not-for-profit organisation manages this platform and develops it together with leading educational organisations. The European Union's programme Erasmus+ granted co-funding for building the first version of this platform. Contact support@awero.org.
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