2013
Project Based Structure Booklet #1
1.
Understanding the context
Today, according to the State of National Area (SONA) report of September, we have 2859 active members living a team experience in AIESEC in Brazil. 24% of them are allocated in GCDP, 15% of them are allocated in GIP, 14% of them are working in TM and 52% of them are working in other areas. Comparing these numbers with the results we had in September, according to myaiesec.net, we realize that we need more than 2 members per month to give 1 RA of GCDP, and more than 6 members per month to give 1 MA of GCDP. In GIP, the numbers are even worst: more than 3 members to give 1 RA in GIP and more than 8 members to give 1 MA in GIP. These numbers are quite scaring, and If we take a closer look at our membership, it is possible to realize that we are not as efficient as we could be. AIESEC in Brazil is one of the largest entities in our network, in terms of members, but our results are not responding properly. Looking closer in the reason for us to have such low efficiency, it is possible to notice that our massive performance comes in just a few months of the year and most of time we get lost with random activities or preparation. And the main reason that makes us have such a huge and concentrated performance is: our teams timelines are out oh phase with the program timelines. What does it mean? It means that ideally a cycle that finishes in February requires a Team Leader working until February, however, in reality the Team Leader changes in December, breaking the whole process. The same thing happens with all the cycles that finishes or starts in all our “off peak” months. Visual examples of this timelines will be sent next week until 01/10. We don’t need a Team Leader elected in a month were he won’t be used to perform and it’s not the best strategy to change the Team Leader in the middle of the process. Considering this context, we found a practical solution for our efficiency problem: work in a project structure.
2.
Understanding Project Based Structure
The project-based structure of AIESEC in Brazil must follow 3 basic statements:
Teams aligned with the programs timeline – Which means that they s
Teams are focused on specific deliverables
Teams will be characterized as a project
A project is a temporary effort taken to create an exclusive product, service or result, according to Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) of 2008. Projects have a purpose: •Projects have clearly-defined aims that are set to produce clearly-defined results. Their purpose is to solve a "problem”, and this involves analyzing needs beforehand. Suggesting one or more solutions, a project aims at lasting social change. Projects are realistic: •Their aims must be achievable. This mean taking account both of requirements and of the financial and human resources available. Projects are limited in time and space: •Projects must have both a clear start date and end date, also they must be implemented in a specific place (or multiple places) and within a clear context. Projects are unique: •Projects are born from new ideas. They provide a specific response to a need (problem) in a specific context and most of the time, they are innovative. Projects can be assessed: •Projects are planned and broken down into measurable aims, which must be open to evaluation. Projects are made up of stages: •Projects have distinct identifiable stages
The project structure we are proposing is very simple. Today, we live the Functional one, based on departments, and we aim to change to the Projectized one, based on projects¹. Basically, our teams will be focused on specific deliverables and their timelines will be aligned with the program they are working on, not with the EB term. We aim to create teams that are highly specialized to deliver high volume in a short period of time in all our operations.
In practice, it means that most of our operational timelines will be broken into projects. Benefits of working in a project based structure:
Improve exchange performance:
Having specific deliverables and a limited period of time, the members will become more goal-oriented, what will improve results in different months of the year. They will also be able to focus on specific deliverables for “off peak” periods and the amount of people working to deliver exchange will increase substantially.
Flexible and accessible experiences:
Work with projects will allow more people to live the AIESEC experience, which will be provided with greater flexibility during the year. This will make us more relevant and recognized by our ability to develop leadership through experiences.
Quality and satisfaction:
The projects allow people to have their expectations better aligned with the work they will do. With expectations aligned, the quality and satisfaction of our experiences will increase.
Retention rate:
Having clear goals and a clear timeframe, we can guarantee member motivation and expectation for results, increasing our retention rate.
The projects can be divided into 4 types:
Operational Projects:
Projects focused to deliver ELD. They will be mainly short terms and multiplied according to each LC focus.
•Ex: Gira Mundo Project or Local Corporate Sales Teams
Functional Projects:
Projects focused on support ELD or deliver intermediate goals. They will be mainly short terms and multiplied according to each LC focus.
•Ex: Recruitment Cells or OC Y2B
Multifunctional projects focused on organizational development. They will be mainly long term and aligned with AIESEC 2015 ideal Strategic Projects: states. •Ex: Brand Positioning Project or Alumni relationship project
Multifunctional projects focused on organizational development happening through different EB terms. They are mandatorily long Long-Term Strategic Projects: term and are aligned with AIESEC 2015 ideal states. •Ex: Government Relationship Project or Expansion Project
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION: Alongside with projects, there will be some processes as well. Processes are deliverables that don’t have a clear start/end point and that must be done continuously. Example: Customer Servicing to enhance an entity NPS. Those processes will be delivered by members outside the projects.
3.
Adapting to the Project based structure
It’s not difficult to adapt to the proposed project-based structure. You can do it, actually in a few simple steps:
Step 1 - Identify your needs:
Booklet 2: EB Structure will provide information on how an EB structure will be built and what will be the responsibility of each one of the VPs, which will change quite a bit. By mapping each program timeline, the goals and the drivers for your term, you can easily identify what is needed, in terms of deliverables, in each month of the year.
Step 2 - Plan your projects: According to what is needed, in terms of ideal state and goals, you can plan projects specifically focused in each one of them.
Do not forget to guarantee that your projects follow the project rules, presented in the last chapter.
Step 3 - Plan your talents: Define what are the specific backgrounds, skills and trainings demanded by each project. With this information available, you can choose your recruitment model and define where will be your focus of recruitment in each period of the year.
Doing that, you will have a very clear timeline of recruitment and will be able to plan conferences, development activities and all the other activities in your LC.
Step 4 - Make it happen: It is important to guarantee an effective supply and demand management during the whole year, but also to guarantee that EVERY SINGLE TEAM is continually aligned with the project characteristics.
Examples: Considering Jovens Talentos program:
What changes in each area? GCDP and TXP areas • The GCDP and TXP areas will work mainly with short term projects and some processes.
GIP Areas • The GIP areas will work mainly with projects, but with a longer duration. Short terms projects will be more sporadic. Some processes will be presented.
COMM and FIN areas • COMM and FIN will work mainly with processes, but with sporadic projects in the year.
PR and DEV areas • PR and DEV will be composed mainly with long term and strategic projects and processes. They will work with sporadic short term projects in the year.
4.
What changes in the MC support
The MC will be fully adapted to support the project-based structure. The whole support will be divided into 3 strong pillars: Education, Management and Operations.
Education:
•in order to create a sustainable fast-moving organization, the MC will work hard to guarantee better knowledge management, making the learning curve of our membership shorter. The learning activities will be standardized and intuitive, to allow people to be faster prepared.
Management:
•To improve efficiency of our managers, the MC will provide some models focused on projects and implement tools for large scale project management, like Podio. The consultancy model will evolve to improve the way LCPs manage their teams.
Operations:
•In order to create stronger networks and improve the support to the project managers, the MC will select NSTs focused on projects. The TXP network will be focused on Project Management and a Project Portfolio for each area will be released soon.
All the information about education management and operations will be sent in the following booklets, until the end of November
5.
Risk assessments and solution That is a risk assessment made by the national Steering team of AIESEC in Brazil 2012. Problems that might happen
Impact
Probability
Lack of HR
High
Average
Leadership not prepared for projects
High
High
Members not prepared for projects
Low
High
Few time for mistakes
High
High
Unclear JD’s
High
Average
Short Time for Transition (Knowledge Management)
Average
High
Stakeholder Relationship
Average
High
LC Professional Behaviours
Low
Low
Difficulty to manage a High-Volume of TXPs
High
High
Change the Mindset
High
High
Traumatize the network if everything goes wrong on Q1
High
Average
Experience Upsales is Required
Average
Average
Team Management
Average
Low
Members Retention
High
High
Lose Organizational Culture (Talent Onboarding)
High
Average
Lost of interest in AIESEC’s Purpose
High
Average
TLP Capacity Building (how to do trainings?)
Average
Low
Solutions: Leadership not prepared for projects: Standardize Education;
Make the activities simple to understand;
Team Mininums Tracking and Capacity Building.
Few Time for Mistakes: A better task management system (Podio);
Knowledge Management;
Include Fuck-Ups in the Projects timeline.
Difficulty to manage a High-Volume of TXPs: TXP Area as a Project Management Office (PMO);
Make the teams more Horizontal;
Greater Autonomy (Communication, Budget, HR).
Change the Mindset: External Analyisis (alumnus and externals talking about Project Management);
Role Modeling (AI and @BAZI);
CSNs Connection (transition) and CSN-ST.
Members Retention: Incentive System and positive reinforcement for who finalizes their XP;
6.
Make process less bureaucratic and optimize them (upsales);
References
PMBOK 2008
Make things clear.