What is Online Growth and Development Academy (“OGDA”)?
It is an academy focusing on growth and development of individuals. The academy takes place once a year run by JCI Europe on European scale. The Academy consists of four modules with different focus points to help individual’s personal growth and development. In this year’s OGDA the modules were named as Identity, Roadblocks, Growth and Development. These modules addressed topics such as identifying your strengths, how to overcome the roadblocks, how to harness the power of positivity in leadership and how you can develop and achieve your goals.
We had a pleasure to interview Jussi Toivonen, one of the trainers and project team member of 2021 OGDA and to hear his experiences on the academy and what he has learned of the experience.
What have you learned while making the academy?
“I have learned a lot. I was inspired by our project leader Heidi Pedersen’s great leadership skills. Everyone worked as united enthusiastic team to make this happen. I learned about different people, their styles and how to lead a big international project team on the individual and team level. I also learned a lot about JCI activities and different views coming from the audience and team members.
What kind of experience the academy has been as a whole?
“It’s been great and I would definitely take part in it again. You can never learn enough. You get more opportunities to develop, meet new people, get new views on the educational content, more training and leadership skills in the international environment.”
What you consider being the most important skills of leaders of tomorrow?
“Leadership through positivity and having an open mind. Making teams that solve problems. Together we can do more than just having a great product. However, people require meaning. Keep your goal, target and direction in mind, even if the ride gets turbulent.“
Is OGDA coming again next year and how to join in?
“Yes. It is coming again as it is a proven concept. You just need to find the right person, contact them and you will have an interview. For me, the project lead heard me speaking in the JCI Finland national conference 20212 while sitting in the audience. My tip is to be active internationally, e.g. run for INT in your local board. Active networking will open doors and you might discover new exciting frontiers.
For further information on OGDA, please visit: https://europe.jci.cc/ogda/
Jussi Toivonen
Work: Partner Success Manager. International sales, direct sales, retailer support
Employer: Surveypal, offers customer experience measurement and leadership for customer support of organisations.
JCI Chapter: JCI Tammerkoski
Motto: John F. Kennedy “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
