One staff meeting just changed my outlook on my entire day.

It was Monday. It was raining. I was sipping my tea and working on my lesson plans about timelines and maps. It was not a bad morning. It was not a fantastic morning. It was just a rainy Monday morning.

Then I went to our weekly staff meeting.

Our president, Mike Davis and our BizTown director, Pete Crozier just returned from a week long Junior Achievement USA conference. The bulk of meeting was a debrief of what they had brought back from that experience.

The conversation was surrounding marketing and effectively communicating the organization to someone from the outside. Leave it to me to turn it into a professional development experience.

For those who have not met me: I am an outgoing person. I love to chat and I love to learn about other people’s lives. Recently though, one of my own personal growth goals has been to learn how to communicate more effectively. By that I mean, ensuring that my point is communicated as clearly and as concisely as possible. While I can talk your ear off – I would love to maximize the effect that my words have.

During this meeting, we talked about how important it is to communicate what and who Junior Achievement is in a way that is understandable and memorable. We discussed the difference between telling someone why we care about what Junior Achievement versus saying what Junior Achievement does. Both statements may be true, but explaining to someone why we care about something is going to come off much more genuine.

What’s awesome is that I can apply this technique in any area of my life and work to become a more effective and authentic communicator.

Let me practice:

Why do I care about Junior Achievement? Because this organization inspires youth to “own their future” and gives them the tools to become career ready, no matter what career path they choose.

What is so awesome, this realization was Junior Achievement in action. I acquired a tool that I will be able to take into my future career, whatever it is.

Thank you, Junior Achievement, for working your magic on me – even if I am a little bit older than your ordinary student.