[Taken from Jen’s Hope in Action LinkedIn Newsletter]

This week, at Solutions for the Planet, we launched our refreshed organisational values.

This isn’t a rebrand. It’s a reflection. A reflection of who we already are, what we’re learning, and who we’re becoming, together.

And, most importantly, it’s a celebration of co-creation.

Values don’t live on walls – they live in decisions

Too often, values are written about people rather than with them. They sound inspiring, but feel distant. Static words rather than lived practice.

From the beginning of this process, we were clear on one thing: if our strapline is Hope in Action, then our values had to show what hope looks like when it’s practised – in decisions, partnerships, and power-sharing.

So we shaped these values collaboratively:

• with our Board of Directors,
• with our staff team, and
• crucially, with our Youth Insights Panel, whose thinking and challenge helped sharpen both the substance and the language of what we stand for.

Co-creation means being willing to be changed

Our Youth Insights Panel didn’t just “review” a draft. They started with a blank page and asked searching questions:

• What do values look like in real life?
• How do we avoid vague words that sound good but mean everything… and nothing?
• How do values guide behaviour when things are hard, not just when things are going well?

They proposed five youth-led value areas rooted in their lived experience of S4TP: transformation, authenticity, sustainability, inclusivity and transparency.

What followed was one of the most respectful and rigorous conversations I’ve been part of: testing language, challenging assumptions, and mapping youth insight directly into a values framework that is clear, accessible, and actionable for young people, partners, and teams alike.

Some wording evolved, not to dilute youth voice, but to make it sharper in action. What didn’t change was the heart of what young people told us mattered.

The values we’re committing to

Every value is accompanied by a clear “In Action” description, directly responding to young people’s challenge: show us what values look like day to day.

Why this matters

Values shape culture when no one is watching. They influence who gets heard, what gets funded, and how power is shared.

By co-creating our values across governance, staff and youth leadership, we are saying that in theory AND practice, young people don’t just inform our work. They shape the principles we live by.

What happens next

Launching our new values won’t just mean a new piece of artwork for the shed wall, although I do intend to make one… It means a new chapter.

These values will continue to be tested, lived, challenged and refined in partnership with young people. Our commitment is to keep making their influence visible, accountable, and real through everything we do at Solutions.

Because hope isn’t passive. Hope is something we do, and we do it best together.