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Our task, as we understood it, was to get teen leaders involved in Citizen University’s Youth Collaboratory excited about working alongside adults to create change — what we call cogeneration.

As it turns out, teens in the program were already excited about cogeneration. To create change, they have to work alongside older people – teachers in their school, civic leaders in their town or county, plus coaches, neighbors, bosses and business owners. It’s a prerequisite for getting anything done. 

The real issue was that the young leaders we met needed help dealing with the obstacles they face when trying to partner with adults. Obstacles like unintentional tokenism, too few opportunities to collaborate across generations, the lack of time allotted to build relationships and trust, even unequal expectations when, for example, youth were trained to collaborate with adults but adults weren’t trained to collaborate with youth.

The Youth Collaboratory helps young leaders recognize their power, then use it for good. The youth leaders also meet and network with accomplished adult leaders to learn from one another, offer concrete pledges of support, and spark new ways of rekindling faith in our democracy and one another. 

Check out this video showing the power this cross-generational collaboration can inspire.

It’s clear that we’re all leaving a lot of potential power on the table when teens aren’t involved in our work. But it’s not always clear how to build cogenerational teams that work effectively across age and other divides. Here are five tips to get you started.

1. Prepare both older and younger participants for collaboration.

At Citizen University, youth were given specific instructions on how to make meetings with adults successful — what to wear, how to introduce themselves, what kinds of questions to ask. But there was no equivalent training for adults. As a result, older people were positioned as teachers and younger people as learners, making interactions often awkward and authentic relationships difficult.

In cross-generational spaces, adults are already in a position of power. By offering training sessions for both groups that focus on communication and collaboration, you can equip adults and teens to build relationships as equals.

2. Don’t skip the relationship building.

We often ask teenagers and adults to answer a simple question: What does it feel like to be your age in the world? What’s good about it? What’s hard about it? 

This icebreaker helps quickly bridge age divides and build relationships. Both youngers and olders get real and talk about their personal experiences. At Citizen University, adults brought up deep vulnerabilities — Were they still relevant? Could they keep up? Many teens remarked that they had never heard an adult talk about these things. 

The conversations helped the adults realize the unique challenges of being a teenager today – including why saying things like, “When I was your age” or “You’re so inspiring,” doesn’t always land well.  

Before diving into tasks or projects, create spaces where younger and older participants can connect on a personal level. Building trust and understanding between generations lays the foundation for effective collaboration. 

3. Commit to shared power.

In our work with youth across many organizations, we hear a lot about youth advisory councils. While the young leaders who serve on these councils often appreciate the opportunity and the title of “advisory board member,” many feel their service is performative, their role lacking any decision-making or voting power. 

Despite good intentions, these kinds of advisory roles can create wider divides and reinforce the power imbalance between adults and youth.

How can you rethink the power structure in your organization to ensure that all board members have equal power? How can you make real cross-age collaboration a priority? The young leaders we’ve worked with want voting power, payment for their time, and more than one or two young leaders at the table.

4. Get on the same page.

You may find that younger participants push for rapid change, driven by urgency and impatience with the status quo, while adults might lean toward a more measured pace, valuing stability and thoroughness. 

But this imbalance may be driven as much by time limitations as it is by the restlessness of youth. We heard from Youth Collaboratory participants that the limited scope of internships or short-term projects often gives them different incentives than older adults with full-time jobs and much longer-term outlooks.

Strive to set clear, shared milestones that balance immediate actions with long-term goals. Encourage each generation to express their own and appreciate the other’s perspective. Can you help younger members see the value in sustainable change, and guide older members to embrace the urgency of the moment? Is there a middle ground that ensures momentum without sacrificing thoughtfulness?

5. Create opportunities for shared learning.

Cogenerational collaboration isn’t just about working together — it’s about learning from one another. When youngers and olders take turns being the “teacher” or “learner” or better yet, experience learning together, people move beyond stereotypes.

For example, one cogenerational pair did a Canva training for its younger and older volunteers. It turns out everyone wanted and needed to learn how to use Canva. Rather than stereotyping youngers as experts at all things tech, youngers and olders learned side by side, working together in teams. Turns out, this learning opportunity offered a chance to level the playing field and work as equals.

Try age-integrated work teams, workshops, discussion groups, and opportunities for reflection. They can help both young and older participants feel like peers and gain new insights and skills from one another.

Video produced with the support of New Pluralists.