WHY YOU SHOULD USE

JCI international academies to develop yourself and your personality!

JCI is a worldwide network full of great opportunities. There are academies all over the world that offer you the opportunity to further personal development or to very specific skills development.

By Sven Franzen

People who have "survived" an academy together in JCI are connected in a very special way. People who have taken part in an academy develop a completely different approach for teamwork and leadership skills like empathy, skills that are in demand especially in difficult times. JCI has international, national and local academies. We would like to introduce the European Academy and the German Academy as an example of a successful National Academy. This article is intended to inspire JCI Members to join (inter)national academies and JCI National Organizations to set up a similar academy in every country and offer the same opportunity to all members.

The German Academy

A successful National Academy

AcademyDuring the German Academy, in a very short time the participants grow together and outgrow their own limits, being pushed out of their comfort zone. Participants do this by implementing a project at the highest level without any beforehand preparation. This is a very special challenge, as the team members have to learn to rely on each other without really knowing each other, i.e. they have to rely on the abilities of the individual and also test their own limits. The participants explore completely new sides of themselves and must always learn to deal spontaneously with changing circumstances and overcome any challenge.

A special academy The 4-day training is not only a huge development opportunity for all participants, but also for the trainer team.

”Even though we spent months preparing the course, there is a unique dynamic on site, which we respond to in an agile way to get the best out of all participants,” says Head Trainer Marlen Wehner, JCI Germany and continues:

“It was a great pleasure for me to lead and develop a very effective and diverse team of trainers with different age groups and experience levels from all over Germany. It was a great feeling to see how the participants got to know themselves better and grow and rewarded us for our intensive work. It was a unique experience for all participants.”

The European Academy

25 years of tradition

The European Academy is a program that takes place annually for the last 25 years. What a tradition! The first academy started in 1996. As a project of JCI Göteborg the academy developed into a transnational project with delegates and trainers all over Europe. The goal is to prepare the incoming JCI local presidents for their term and make them outstanding leaders in their local organization. Every year more than 100 delegates all over Europe are being trained. This academy is the experience of four days full of training sessions and workshops. Away from home, the participants can focus on themselves and developing their skills.

Why you should participate The academy is known for its high levelled training sessions and workshops facilitated by some of the best trainers in Europe, that will equip you for your year as JCI Local President, with all the skills you need. One of the important aims, is to help you gain more self-awareness and clarifying the following questions:

What kind of leader are you?
What kind of team member are you?
What kind of person are you, in different situations?

“Moreover, some of the reasons for attending JCI European Academy are: To experience the “I” in JCI! That means, you will expand your international network in no time, and gain new friends from other countries, that you can always turn to, when in need inputs on your ideas or you want to challenge them before implementing new things in your Local Organization,” says Morten George, Director of The European Academy 2021.

Jana Šabatková, Graduate 2019, JCI Czech Republic

Secretary General 2021, JCI Czech Republic JCI European Academy? My best investment ever. Greatest value for money and time. Thanks to EA, I became a stable, self-aware and appreciated leader. Further, it feels like I have a truck full of tools and a global, powerful network for any kind of challenge. EA gave me the unexpected; On the human, the professional and the leadership level. The amount of gained knowledge and experience, resources and energy I took home empowers me every day (still after more then 15 months). I have been in many personal and business situations where I got back to EA and profited out of it immediately. What more? I have some amazing, crazy and fun memories and a bunch of soul-mates from all over Europe. I do not need to be in contact with my EA team for weeks, months and still I will be there for them and they will be there for me.