Embedding Advantaged Thinking: HR and the young person's journey

Advantaged Thinking is at the core of the Foyer ethos, and it’s something all of our members strive for in everything they do. We’re working with two groups from our membership to creatively instil these values in two central parts of Foyer life: recruiting Advantaged Thinking staff, and making the young person’s journey asset-based at every step of the way.

Advantaged Thinking HR

During the 2019 Power Up residential, one of the key themes in young people’s feedback was the scale of the impact an engaged, energised, Advantaged Thinking member of staff can have on a young person’s life. We also know that this can be a challenge when recruiting – how best to attract, recruit and retain Advantaged Thinking staff? To answer those questions, we’re working with our Investor member Foyers to embed asset-based practices in HR processes, from job descriptions and interviews through to inductions and training.

The working group is made up of representatives from Your Housing Group, YMCA Derbyshire, YMCA Downslink Group and SAHA , as well as The Foyer Federation team. Together, we’re creating a guide for Advantaged Thinking HR practices, as well as easily amendable templates to make it easy to pick up and go.

We’re currently trialling a new job description, job advert and set of application questions for Foyer Coach applicants, all based on core Advantaged Thinking skills.

Advantaged Thinking Young Person's Journey

We heard from lots of Foyers that sometimes, the paperwork and processes staff have to take young people through can focus on risks and needs at the expense of strengths and talents. Giving young people an Advantaged Thinking introduction to the Foyer sets the tone for their time there, and continuing that throughout their stay sets them up to engage and grow their skills.

Our working group is made up of FOR Youth Foyers including Livewest, Verve Place, Enfield, Impact Housing, City YMCA, CHADD and Blackburn with Darwen. In the spirit of Advantaged Thinking (working with, not doing to), we’ll be joined at our next meeting by young people from each Foyer to share their impressions of their journey through the Foyer, and to make sure we’re heading in the right direction.

We look forward to sharing these new resources and tools once they’re ready to go!