The Ultimate 2015 LCPs Wisdom Book
E 1 7 th u r o C o 20 C z e 2 3 rd O 1 1 ct ch R epu ober Pra b gue lic
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for LCPs by LCPs
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
Table of Content Dear reader (word from the PAI)
Page 3
Thoughts from the Facis
Page 4
Chapter 1. The Era of 2015
Page 6
Chapter 2. Engagement with AIESEC
Page 10
Chapter 3. Global Internship Program ICX
Page 13
Chapter 4. Global Internship Program OGX
Page 18
Chapter 5. Global Community Development Program ICX
Page 24
Chapter 6. Global Community Development Program OGX Page 30 Chapter 7. Team Member Program
Page 35
Chapter 8. Team Leader Program
Page 38
Chapter 9. Life long Connection
Page 40
Chapter 10. Being a CEO
Page 45
Chapter 11. Being a LEADER
Page 53
Chapter 12. What’s in it for me?
Page 59
Chapter 13. Connecting the dots
Page 63
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Dear reader, It's with big pleasure and excitement I'm writing to you. We are living in a quite interesting time today. There are continuing concerns about climate change, c o n fl i c t s r e s o l u t i o n , r a i s i n g population, overwhelming information economic recovery and many more.
So let's get a bit more crazy as AIESEC and think how can we become Global youth voice, First choice partner and how can we generate more positive impact on society.
I hope this masterpiece will guide many generations of AIESECers towards our ambition.
In this book you will find thoughts of young leaders from more then 40 countries reflecting on:
Tetiana Mykhailiyuk
The time when our community needs d i f f e re n t k i n d o f l e a d e r s h i p, leadership that can unite and engage, lead through uncertainty, be flexible, leadership where in the core are values and ethics.
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I believe AIESEC can and it should be the most powerful organization in the world for providing platform to develop those leaders. And this what AIESEC 2015 is about.
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We are the first generation to start a new journey the way we start will lead others for next 4 years of implementation.
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The 2015 Era Engagement with AIESEC Global Internship Program ICX Global Internship Program OGX Global Community Development Program ICX Global Community Development Program OGX Team Member Program Team Leader Program Life Long Connection Being the CEO Being the LEADER What’s in it for me? Connecting the dots
Thank you AIESECly,
President 11-12 of AIESEC International
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Thoughts from the Facis ON THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE change in the society in near future. They are the best result of our organization. I believe that AIESEC is ready to get there."
Chiara Pizzol - MCP AIESEC Italy
MY FEELING ON SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CONCEPT In the past years I had the feeling that AIESEC was a static organization and I was surprised to see so many young students, so many ideas but so few “movements” connected with the market outside. Now, with the concept of AIESEC as a Social Enterprise, I really feel we can develop the organization while maintaining its own core value: the perfect mix between Essence and Progress, AIESEC Way and BHAG. This can ensure our relevance and clear value proposition in the market tackling the triple bottom-line of an organization: People(TM) - Planet (Impact- key program growth) Profit. What is better then an organization self sustainable through its core activities which is achieving an huge impact engaging people? I simply feel proud to be part of such an important step for AIESEC in the world.
Maggie Jing Ma - MCP AIESEC China
The concept of social enterprise is not about enterprising AIESEC. But it sets AIESEC free from a lot of restrictions we set for ourselves, bringing ice-breaking opportunities to achieve a much bigger impact in the world. I am excited for the new possibilities opened up because of this positioning. I believe it will bring mindset change. AIESEC needs generations as entrepreneurs who see problems as opportunities and bring innovative solution, creates the needs instead of only follow the needs, creates story that everyone wants to spread. I believe it will bring close connection between social impact and organization sustainability. Our desired impact among global youth r e q u i r e s s u f fi c i e n t fi n a n c i a l resources to support. Instead of aiming for profits, we create and capitalize financial resources to lead change.
Kira Anttila - MCP AIESEC Finland
Considering the goals and vision our organization has, it’s important that we start to see ourselves as an important player in our cities and regions, instead of another student club. The concept of a social enter prise helps us clearer understand why we exist and the kind of impact we are making. It’s about seeing ourselves as an organization that is answering the needs of the market, creating value for our customers and doing this in a sustainable matter. This can transform the entire organization and make us more relevant, because we Feel and Act more relevant.
I believe with all the new practices, it will empower a g roup of deter mined and brave young leaders, who are going to lead the
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
Anya Dvornikova, Russia, CEE Coordinator
The same as caterpillar gets into cocoon to transform itself into a butterfly, AIESEC constantly searches for concepts which can enable its transformation, evolution towards what we want to become. This time we created our AIESEC cocoon out of the Social Enterprise concept and, as I think, it’s amazing how much it gets aligned with evolution of the world’s business society. Becoming relevant and sustainable by doing what we truly enjoy, love and able of doing – this is all it is about.
Enas Siam - MCP AIESEC Egypt
The idea of social enterprise is one that represents a true turning point for AIESEC as a whole. Not only is it a change in our operations, this concept represents an evolution in the way that we think about our organization and our local committees. Taking into account all the possibilities that have now become feasible and presented themselves to us; if capitalized on, this notion could really be the
catalyst that AIESEC has always needed. By focusing on our core products, further enhancing and adapting them to the needs of our markets, we can consequently generate endless ripples of impact as we continue to strive towards our vision. As CEOs you have the power to make that decision, to make that shift; the choice to not just change the world but to evolve the world and make a lasting impact on ourselves, our communities and our entities.
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to share our thoughts about „Social Entreprise“ as concept for EuroCo. After some time we reached one of these wow-moments when you realize that something great which can have impact you can’t even fully grasp yet, will happen. The impact of around 1100 Local Chapters run like social enterprises is one of these things. And I know that in several years, when we can see what this new perspective unleashed, and I’m sharing my experience with current members I will proudly tell them: „Imagine, back then, when we started discussing the concept of AIESEC as social enterprise and the impact this could have... I was there. I was part of it.
Rogerio Quaresma - MCP AIESEC Brazil
The concept of AIESEC as a social enterprise sounds complicated at first, but the end of the day is actually very simple. It is basically about managing the organization like a company, in the way operations are run, but keeping s o c i a l i m p a c t a n d fi n a n c i a l sustainability as equally important bottom-lines.
Birgit Haberi- MCP AIESEC Switzerland
In the beginning of the conference premeeting we were sitting together
Michael Omescu - MCP AIESEC Romania
The ideea is as simple and ans powerfull as that. We want to have an impact and at the same time we wnat to do it for the next 100 generations. How can we if we do not manage to shape our activities and directions to be both impactfull and financialy sutenable. This is th ideea and the concept for AIESEC’s future. An organization that atsnds out for the kind of contribution that it has on society and the kind of operations that ir uns each and every day. AIESEC as a Social Enterpise to be the right next step forward.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 1. The Era of 2015 It has started. And you are the one, who is doing it as an LCP! The direction of our organization has changed and we must also. The focus during EuroCo 2011 was the concept of being a CEO of a Social Enterprise. This means focusing on the three key bottom lines to take our organization from goof to great; people, planet and profit. This is the concept of a social enterprise. The main reason of SE existence is to create a balance b e t we e n p o s i t i ve i m p a c t a n d generating profits through its activities. LCP of AIESEC in Strasbourg in France (Clemont Espuche) actually always considered his LC as a social enterprise. As a founding member of AIESEC Strasbourg, he considered himself some kind of entrepreneur, starting from scratch the LC in Strasbourg and creating something new that did not exist before. At the age of 23, he could manage a team, manage an entire entity, making meaningful decisions and steering the team for him and his members.
Think about what’s story of your company? Think why you should do something, what makes your story approachable? „Keep it real and authentic and open, what is your experience? What I’ve realized is that it’s best to speak from the heart and really let others know, what I have learned from AIESEC and being an LCP is so important. I have changed a lot of things about myself, but also I know now, that in order to grow and develop, we need to have a lot of innovative solutions.“ Mari Sarapuu, LC Tallinn, AIESEC Estonia. We are often saying that we should think outside of the box, but why? „believe there is no box“. - Khadija Rejdy (Kady) LC AIESEC VUB Belgium. Sometimes it is very hard to realize that the things we did before are not relevant and need change, but in order to achieve our AIESEC 2015 goals we need to shift our mindset and you as an LCP have that obligation to take it forward in your LC. Why not? question Being a LCP is like being a CEO of a social enterprise. If you don’t have any ideas to start with, there is an excellent tool I want to introduce to you: the “WHY NOT” question. Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, one of the most famous coffee shops in the world, created the great concept by simply connecting 2
elements together with a “WHY NOT”. “Why don`t we take the quality coffee bean tradition of Starbucks and merge it with the charm and romance of the European coffeehouse?” Ask your self “WHY NOT” and ask your EBs as well. And you will get amazed by how powerful the question it is and how magical that it is to impact the world in a better way. “The hardest part, I think, is to start, to find and manage the first steps.” Azerbaijan, LC Baku, Zarangiz Huseynova
What is success for social enterprises? For conventional businesses and entrepreneurs, success means cash or growth. Many entrepreneurs may talk about revolutionizing the personal computer, realizing their dreams or being the best at customer service but ultimately, more than anything else, they have to meet their "bottom line." Money is their measure of success. Social enterprises have to meet a financial bottom line too. But success means much more than that to a social enterprise. In a quiet moment when you think about what success
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! means for your social enterprise, what do you see, feel or think about? You're very likely to think of the people you will serve, the e nv i ro n m e n t b e i n g i m p rove d , changes in communities or the world being better in some way - with you and your organization enjoying it all along the way.
“The first time I saw golden circle was at international conference EuroXpro. A short video can show you how blind you were before: I realized the simply things are in front of us.” Just open the eyes and see them! Katarina javorcikova; LC Nitra; AIESEC Slovakia.
„One of the key things I will always remember of this conference is that the best way for you to be effective is simply know your market. If it can sound boring at first, it is essential, it’s the basis. I believe I should have worked on that at the very beginning of my term instead of implementing random communication campaigns (segmentation of students) and not being aware of the richness of the region where I was (most international region in France).
Take a minute and have a look at this video http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OVnN4S52F3k.
Clemont Espuche, LC Strasbourgh, AIESEC France
Now go ahead and do the exercise for yourself !
Business enterprise
Reason for creating is creating profit for the shareholders May also have people and impact as a focus, but traditionally they don`t
T
The HOW: AIESEC Experience
The refreshed AIESEC Experience is more flexible because it gives you the opportunity to choose your way to be the next leader.
Delaying the segmentation won’t bring you results, being unorganized either. Choose someone who knows about market segmentation and start going to companie meetings right away!“-
Differences in company, NGO and social enterprise.
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Principle of the Golden Circle
It has three main components: Why? How? And What?
Explore your market!
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The WHY: AIESEC Way & BHAG The WHAT: The three wheels
NGO Reason for existing is having an impact (people and planet) They generate revenue from grants and other sponsorships They do not generate p r o fi t t h r o u g h t h e i r activities
Social Enterprise
In the year 2015, AIESEC is unreasonable as ever and it achieved more than it strived for. (Make sure that it will happen :D) Being innovative, funky and unreasonable has developed LCP’s towards social entrepreneurs. LCP’s were (are and will always be) the drivers of change towards the achievement of the ambition 2015. Dear member of AIESEC; where you will be in 2015? How will AIESEC be? What did YOU do for it?
Main reason of existence i s to c reate b a l a n c e between positive impact and generating profit through its activity.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Moving forward from 2010 to 2015 Our BHAG: Engage and develop every young person in the world. A Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is designed to radically shake things up and develop the network. General information: In 2010 we wanted our impact to be much more and to be greater. During IC in 2010 it was recognized that there was a demand for a radical change in the network. Member committees from around the world came together and agreed that a switch in mindset needed to happen. We started to learn more about our place and understand our role in the world. A force to be recognized by making an impact across the world. To engage and develop every young person in the world in 5 years would seem an impossible task, but to change the world you must become unreasonable. Every week 1000 of leadership experiences are started, an exchange is realized in every 10 minutes, and a person is starting a new team member experience in every 4 minutes. „Imagine how AIESECers feel like and the proudness they carry, also on behalf of all the generations before them.” Kira Antila, MCP of AIESEC in Finland 11-12
“After what was quite literally days and days of discussion under the hot Indian sun the biggest, hairiest and most audacious goal surfaced from midst Engage and develop every young person in the world. The stage was set and the statement was announced to the global plenary. A sharp intake of breath followed, minds exploded, the earth temporarily stood still, causing 6 dogs to bark and a man to fall off his chair. The whole of the AIESEC plenary celebrated in an uproar of relief, confusion, excitement and goosebumps all tied into one.“ Unknown quote As a result the statements were taken and spread round the globe, so that everyone in the AIESEC network heard and were made aware of the vision AIESEC has for the organization. Our BHAG is more than just achieving goals, its the purpose and core value of our organization and why we do what we do. AIESEC 2015 is tool for us to achieve that BHAG. „First question moved the to thought that by running local entity I can feel yourself as entrepreneur who starts own business and it's really exciting to be kind of CEO at my young age. And the second one make me feel that everything that I will do in my term is contribution to exciting 2015 vision. I realized that 2015 will definitively can come
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only from local level and my role is the most valuable in global network. My term came after one with huge growth in my country in results. But to be honest growth was painful and not that sustainable as I wanted. It was expected 2015 transformation and new growth. I was confused by everything of it and I didn't know what to do with that limited resources we had. And two things helped me: my financial background and VP TM term last year.“ – Olga, LC Moscow, AIESEC Russia Always compare AIESEC with other Social Enterprises Most of our decisions and opinions are based on our experience. But unfortunately 80% of these experiences are actually our assumptions. „Once I had to decide to fire a member, I arranged an EB meeting and we started to share what we think about this member. It turns out that the member was actually proactive and friendly. I made my assumption based on his out- looking and behavior the first time we met. I am not objective enough.“ Myles, LCP from Mainland of China
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! When we think about our organization’s future, we are not objective enough as well. We always assume that “We are not capable of this”, “This is not going to work”, “It’s impossible to control the human resource this well”. Don’t blind yourself with your assumptions. Take a step backward. Try to look for something new and fresh. It will definitely help if you start to compare AIESEC with other social enter prises on the world like ZAPPOS (http://www.zappos.com/) and KIVA (http://www.kiva.org/).
entrepreneurial and responsible leaders who are making even more impact after AIESEC. AIESEC 2015 is awesome and it’s important to know that together we can tell a powerful story. Where will I be in 2015? “As AIESEC will be really well known in 2015, I will get easily a good job and giving trainings to Aiesecers as proud alumni of this impact making organization.” Irina Giorno, LCP of AIESEC Fribourg 2011/2012, Switzerland. “I’ll be in a hot country doing my exchange!”
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“The year 2015 will be absolutely special, wherever I might be. I know I have contributed a lot in achieving the 2015 goals and making a difference. Today, at this moment at EuroCo 2011 I know that I will be in AIESEC for many years more, because I love the things we are doing. Hopefully I can continue my career in AIESEC. At 2015 most probably I will be on an internship or who knows, might be even still active in AIESEC.” Mari Sarapuu, LCP Tallinn, AIESEC Estonia 2011/2012 Where will you be, when 2015 is achieved?
Khadija Rejdy (Kady) LCP of AIESEC VUB 2011/2012, Belgium. “I hope in 2015 my LC will be dealing well with 1000 leaders, 3000 members and more than 3000 exchange experience realized a year as any entity in big city around the world. And I will be on internship somewhere in Egypt or in AI team”. Olga, LCP 11-12 AIESEC Moscow, Russia.
So next time think about those “miracles” happened in other social enterprise instead of stopping yourself and you will find we still have a long way to go. As we are starting this book we don’t know the organization you are living in, but the one we envisioned would be like this“in 2015 AIESEC is making more societal impact than it has ever before, and four times as much as the end of 2010. AIESEC has build several generations of
“I will be far away from my country and probably already away from AIESEC. But I would love to have an invitation for the international congress where I will see the result of what we were striving for in 2011. Now here. I think that the LC I am now driving will be providing a lot of quality experiences so that all the people who get in touch with AIESEC in St Petersburg Russians and not Russians are really fascinated by the organization. I will try to support the organization however much possible and will be proud to tell the people that I am AIESEC alumni.” Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF, AIESEC Russia 2011/2012.
Contribution by: Mari Sarapuu, LC Tallinn, Estonia Katarzyna Koziel, LC Lublin, Poland Isljami Ines, LC Subotica, Serbia Gabriella Pimpao, LC BCE, Hungary Irina Giorno, LC Fribourg, Switzerland Ognen Sarakinov, LC Wuerzburg, Germany Katarina Javorcikova, LC Nitra, Slovakia Nils Reimers, LC Darmstadt, Germany Alec Smith, LC Leeds, UK Elena Shevciuc, LC Balti, Moldova Mihaela Iurascu, LC Chisinau, Moldova Myles Ieong, LC Nanjing, Mainland of China Olga Ivanova, LC Moscow, Russia Antonio Jesus Maldonado Perez, LC Granada, Spain Khadija Rejdy (Kady), LC VUB, Belgium Tomas Lindqvist, LC Uppsala, Sweden Huseynova Zarangiz LC Baku, Azerbaijan
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 2. Engagement with AIESEC Introduction to Engagement with AIESEC “Engagement with AIESEC is the first and simplest way to have an impact on people by showing them their opportunities, by just telling them, that AIESEC exists.“ Misha AI AIESEC is a member driven organization, members are our base. We need engaged and passionate people to reach our goals and to take the organization and ourselves further. To reach those goals, we need to make sure that members understand our organization and values, that they know which opportunities are available to them, and that we understand what they want out of AIESEC. “Engagement with AIESEC“ is the time to clarify our mission; give the Why, How and What of our organization. It is the time to inform individuals of our values so that those who can identify themselves with us can become the next leaders of our organization. This phase is about extending our organization culture b eyo n d t h e m e m b e r s o f o u r organization. The success of an LC is depends on the culture shared among its members. The EwA Phase is the most important phase in creating this culture since it involves recruiting and i n t ro d u c i n g n e w m e m b e r s t o AIESEC. The things that attract them to AIESEC, transmitted through the EwA Phase, will set up
their motivation in the organization for the rest of their AIESEC careers.
Margolis could greatly help you in knowing how to tell it. Why ?
Developing the EwA Phase: At the moment there are no clear Engagement with AIESEC activities, but our organization is united in our goal to “Engage and develop every young person in the world”. The purpose is to offer opportunities for individuals to engage with our organization without having to become a member. We should not be afraid to try out the new things because it is here that we will differentiate ourselves in the market through our innovation: “To have what you have never had, you must do what you have never done” Explaining the Why, How and What of AIESEC Before you can start telling others about AIESEC you have to reflect on your own situation and experiences. Which things can we, as LCP’s, say and communicate to actually get the whole AIESEC ‘thing’ across. We attached a question to each of the three circles of the why, how and what, to help you get started. You first need to answer the following questions for yourself to create your personal story that you will be telling others. So. this sub-chapter will help you find out your own story. The book ‘Believe Me’ by Michael
What do I deeply value and believe in in AIESEC? Personal perspectives. “Serving people something of value is really what makes AIESEC something great. Through our core business of providing exchanges we are able to make other people grow as people”. Max from Amsterdam. “Acquiring professional and social skills”. Max from Amsterdam. “Discover things about yourself. AIESEC is a platform to develop yourself because of the experiences your are exposed to.” “I deeply believe that being a leader has to be learnt and practiced and that AIESEC is the best way to do it.” By Sara from Paris. “Get to know people from other cultures” By Melissa from Nijmegen. “I believe that AIESEC is a great platform for development through action. It teaches the value of doing and helps create the next generation of people that want and CAN make a positive change in society”. By Tom from Uppsale. “AIESEC helps me to be the person I want to be, the person I am. The person I discover to be”. Beautiful words by Khadija from Belgium. “To provide a tool to connect like minded people with interest in l e a r n i n g t h ro u g h o u t l i f e a n d
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! experience beyond usual expectations”. By Isis from Barcelona. How? How does my behavior as LCP show that? Experiencing instead of being told what it is/should be. By Isis from Barcelona. Taking initiatives and trying even though one doesn't have a deep knowledge of the field one works on. Sarah from Paris. I facilitate progress. I don’t have any business education and my life experiences are still quite limited. This makes it difficult for me to always ‘lead’ in the strongest sense of the word. However, I like to get people together to discuss the future of our processes and way of work. By doing this we together create a plan of action. I do not like to tell others what to do, I like to facilitate drafting the next phases. This way of working has been appreciated a lot by my EB members. Lets call it facilitative leadership. Lets hit it! What drives my decisions are the challenge. When I have to something, I look for what is most difficult. I’m doing things that I know I am not good it. This drives my personal growth and development. This is the reason why I run for LCP and not MC. For me, the self development is my members is top priority. Olga from Athens What? Which concrete experiences can we use to tell our story? Personal experiences.
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Stories, analyses of companies in media like “XT company revenues grew, XY company successfully expanded to different country”. Indirectly promote AIESEC at work. By Misha from AI.
in touch with AIESEC in different ways and raises awareness of our organization, irrespective of whether he or she will join. We have observed two general methods an individual can Engage with AIESEC:
Eating, partying with people from abroad. Melissa from Nijmegen.
❖ Passive Engagement ❖ Active Engagement
When I joined AIESEC I was cor porate-oriented (developing myself, networking) After 5 years the social side of AIESEC has rubbed on me, and I will be taking it with me when I leave the organization.
Passive Engagement:
Today I can say “Im the CEO of a social enterprise”. Being Spanish, meeting 2 Canadians and 1 Greek in a workshop in Kenya, and 2 months later find ourselves in the same situation in Prague. Had a life changing experience at MENA conference in Egypt, right a f t e r t h e A r a b S p r i n g. T h e connecting factor of being at AIESEC has made it possible to connect and interact and to make friends all over the world. The conference itself was 1 great shot of commitment, energy, enthusiasm and spirit. What is most important that you need to learn how to deal with things rather than to have an answer ready for all questions? Reference - book suggestions: Believe Me - Michael Margolis. Understanding Engagement with AIESEC The EwA phase is the most crucial stages for an LC to interact with potential members and to create the incentive to join AIESEC. It gives young people the opportunity to get
It happens when young people learn about AIESEC during recruitment periods, such as: ❖ Learning from friends ❖ Using promotional materials ❖ Attending informational sessions This phase is mainly to create awareness of AIESEC rather than having a positive impact on young people or challenge their views. This type of engagement can be seen as Marketing or Awareness. Passive engagement is merely to provide information for individuals to be aware of AIESEC. Active Engagement It is when students have been given the opportunity to participate in AIESEC activities to make a direct or indirect impact on themselves and/or others. These events should provide opportunities for members to get an understanding of AIESEC through an active experience. Some examples of active engagement would be: ❖ Developing Leaders Day: 1-day event, run with AIESEC and a corporate sponsor that delivers sessions such as leadership, sales and team management to university students and includes an introduction to AIESEC. LC Bristol (LCP – Tom Murphy, Bristol@aiesec.co.uk)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ Open Train the Trainers Event: A TtT open to externals to develop presentation and facilitation skills in youth. People are asked to apply for AIESEC at the end of the e v e n t . L C Ye r e v a n ( L C P, Arman Khachatryan, arman.khachatryan@aiesec.net)
individuals interested in AIESEC. Thus the more individuals signed up o n l i n e, t h e m o r e a L C w i l l understand about its local market. Furthermore once a member has access to the Engagement with AIESEC stage they will gain access to the following benefits:
But it can be much more than that. No matter what the activity involves it should try to develop a member or challenge their view of the world. Active engagement should include h av i n g m e m b e r s s i g n u p o n myaiesec.net to ensure they can partake in future activities with AIESEC as well.
❖ Information about AIESEC’s Realities ❖ Available ELD Opportunities ❖ Upcoming local events and conferences
Engagement with AIESEC on myaiesec.net - A clear advantage of the new myaiesec.net is the fact that if offers a platform for us to extensively engage individuals on our internal platform even if they are not a member. Any individual can apply to become a member on the Engagement with AIESEC phase from the website but must be approved by the Executive Board before they have access to the website.
Summary - a better understanding of AIESEC’s reality by engaging in conversations, reading AIESEC material and having access to news from the local, national, and international level.
When a user is approved on the website, the LC will have information a b o u t t h e i r p e r s o n a l p r o fi l e showcasing their: ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
Personal Information Contact Details Academic Info Professional Info Backgrounds Skills Languages Interests
The LC can use this information to better understand its local market and understand the type of
These benefits are as follows: ❖ Information about AIESEC’s Realities
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In many LCs EwA is the most important phase to create this culture. Often we start our term with a low number of members from the last year and therefore the first major task is to recruit new members. This can be done in many different ways. What we see the most important in this process, is to select the right people – even if this means that you recruit less. If you empathize this on your recruitment and strictly accept only those people who are honestly interested in AIESEC, you will already solve most of your future issues.
❖ Available ELD Opportunities:
Well, that’s easier said than done. Some members might look very passive in the beginning, but in time when they can see the true value of AIESEC they start to truly commit to it. So how can I select the right people? You don’t really know. You will just experience it. Luckily there is something that might help you:
Summary: Users are able to see the available positions in the Team Member Program, Team Leader P ro g r a m , G l o b a l C o m mu n i t y Development Program, and Global Internship Program.
In all your advertisement, make sure that you are promoting those values you (and hopefully your EB) believe in. If you present your values clearly, you will attract people who can connect with them.
❖ Events:
Be honest. Tell them that we are not able to run a half year party project and travel to every AIESEC country during the year. Tell them those things, which you valuate in AIESEC and why you feel they are important. Show them your excitement!
Summary: Users can view available events at the LC if a LC adds viewing rights for EWA members. This can be local conference available to nonAIESEC members, training sessions, networking events, etc. Conclusion As a LCP your LC is indeed YOUR LC. You’re the one who will be working (and worrying) the most in it, so make sure that you create a culture in which you feel good to work.
Contribution by: Arya Sajedi – AIESEC McGill - Canada Britta Brauer – AIESEC Strathclyde – UK Nara Aroyan – AIESEC RAU – Armenia
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 3. Global Internship Program ICX This chapter is about why having GIP ICX is extremely valuable both for your LC and for the entire network. It also refers to the new concept of AIESEC being a social enterprise with special regard to the triple bottom line. In order to show you the value for your LC, we want to refer to the triple bottom line.
Profit The GIP ICX program is extremely financially sustainable. Because of the high value of this program you can claim a lot of money from the company. If you do your job right this company will take interns again and again which will bring you a lot of money.
People
The value for the network
people (member) development. In order to handle the process of ICX GIP members are developing the crucial skills (soft and hard) and competencies. Amount them are: telemarketing, sales, auto presentation, planning, goals and results orientation, communication (personal, group and multicultural), etc.
People talk. If the company is satisfied and the intern is satisfied they will automatically promote AIESEC amongst their colleagues. This means that more people will apply for the GIP program and more companies will demand interns from A I E S E C , wh i ch w i l l h e l p u s becoming the first choice partner for global internships both for the student and for the company sector.
Planet A young individual is given the chance to live an extremely relevant experience both for its personal and professional development. Moreover it creates value for your LC and the company the intern is working for. Ex. from Poland – for the first time ever the local educational institutions could host intern from China. The result was that the awareness of the China and its culture increased. This was the realization of the BHAG of the organization, when the youngest people could be engaged into AIESEC.
This embraces a product opportunity to be sold, which can contribute to the youth’s professional development, whilst at the same time generate a profit for your LC. Start by inviting corporate to deliver sessions on leadership and entrepreneurship, which not only attracts students, but also creates more market value for companies. Hence, it becomes a winwin situation for enterprises who wish to access youth, and the youth who want to interact with large corporates. ❖ Multi-dimensional partnerships: Selling internship program along with more benefits (publicity, database of students etc) at a costeffective price. This is a good way to enter a hostile GIP market! GCP: India- Youth to Business Forum across all LCs, LC Varna in Bulgaria Finance:
Synergy with the other Functional areas: Doing it alone is boring; always make sure you have at least one other person to make the job easier ;). We l c o m e t o s y n e r g y a n d understanding how exchange support can play a dramatic role in the GIP ICX program. External Relations: ❖ Events: To bring cor porate together in a networking/youth interaction forum.
AIESEC is not a money-making organization but we do act smart and w a n t t o b e s u p e r fi n a n c i a l l y sustainable! For us, finances and investments need to reflect in results and returns. GIP ICX is a big money-maker for the LC so JUST DO IT! Finances from GIP ICX can be re-invested in ❖ IR opportunities to boost exchange growth, in other areas of the LC including member rewards, GCDP ICX (oh they are so unsustainable!).
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ If you know you have a pool of TNs available, get the LC to invest in a CEED opportunity or international conference to grow the pool of EPs. Return on Investment would be direct boost in number s, g reat lear ning opportunity for the member/ you! Talent Management You need people to work for you to work for the GIP ICX department. You cannot do it alone. ❖ If you want to boost GIP ICX growth, recruit people specifically with a criteria of sales and corporate interaction. Identify the strengths of these members and allocate them precisely into sales, market segmentation, follow-ups, delivery depending on your LC needs. So if you manage this team well by keeping them in the right place, you are good to go! ❖ Invest in RnR for your members because GIP ICX can be hard and motivation can wane. Always track every single appointment done by your members and make sure it is followed faithfully. Always show major value in the job to your members and they will make sure you have the results. Communications and Information Management Effective communication process needs to be in place for the flow across the internal and external environment. ❖ Feedback forms and surveys, appointment tracking tools will help you retain your clients. But for new clients, come up with a new and crazy event/business idea is the job of your VP CIM!
❖ Brand positioning can bring in gold, so always create something to increase your brand value. Make sure your VP CIM and VP ER are always in synergy because that can make or break your GIP ICX. How to motivate members and the VP? Have you ever called a company and wanted to sell them TNs, to make them spend money? Or have you ever successfully uploaded a TN but could not match it because there was no suitable EP in the database on myaiesec.net? Or have you ever organized an event and no EP showed up? No?! Then lucky you, but in reality it happens. Especially in your ICX department you need to take care of the motivation of your members or the VP. There are a loooot of ups and downs. That is why we would like to introduce you to the art of motivating your GIP ICX department with our 5 Golden rules. You will never find time for anything. You must make it. (Charles Burton) As LCP you are always busy, but remember that motivating you member is one of your most important tasks. Golden rule #1: Get to know well your ICX members and know what motivates them. Adapt the way of bonding to the nationality of your members. Use the method of TtD (Team building through Drinking) for Germans, spend a Marihuana-lasting day in Amsterdam for Dutchmen or get a chocolate-flash for Swiss.
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Golden rule #2: Give a clear Job description. Make sure that everybody knows what is expected in their position within AIESEC and that it is not only about Party and AIESEX. When you not exactly know what you have to do you will become a lazy ass. Golden rule #3: Set Deadlines and goals. Do you recognize the feeling of achieving a goal? Yes?! Your members do as well. So make sure they have a goal to fulfill and achieve the feeling of success. For example set targets at the beginning of the term that they should have fulfilled in the end. Golden rule #4: Reward and Recognize Make them the king of the week, celebrate when they raise a company and let the whole LC know about their successes. Their working their ass of and doing a hard job, therefore they need recognition. Furthermore you should think about giving your members an incentive to perform. For example: reward your sellers with a small present for every or every second TN they raise. See it as an investment into growth of your LC. Golden rule #5: Show interest in their work. How cool would it be if the President is showing interest by joining a meeting. We have status, you know. Let them know the bigger goal of their work and make it matter.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! HR Structure - Right people for the right job! In this country we have GIP ICX c o n s i s t i n g o f Re c e p t i o n a n d Matching teams. The thing is that ER team is responsible for research, meetings (together with ICX) GIP ICX is responsible to accept the TN form if it is matchable and that the contract can be signed.
different realities. So just analyze, make a decision and stop thinking that to do GIPICX and money you have to wait some dollars from the heaven and start to structure your committee, give clear JD and train your members. And remember - the more you give the more you get.
1. Education runs from coordinators and VPs.
The success of GIP ICX – Product Packaging
India. LC Delhi University
And now from one simple question, one idea that can change GIP ICX: Why do we do so much more in ICX GCDP than GIP? Yes, it’s cheaper! Yes, the matching process is easier because the company is not involved! Yes, for GCDP ICX we can invent TNs, spend money in the accommodation et voilà, a new life that has changed! But maybe another re a s o n c a n ex p l a i n t h e h u g e difference of numbers and why CEE countries focus a lot more on GCDP and WENA countries are in the process of shifting it. Imagine next recruitment you are planning to raise 10 GCDP EPs and 10 GIP EPs. And of course you want to match them very fast. You go to EuroCo and you ask to a random country of the network “I have 10 GCDP EPs to match in, let’s say, December”, is it possible to send them to you?” And the answer, if you’re lucky (and you will be specially if you are talking to an AP or CEE country), is going to be: “yes, we will be running a PROJECT and you can send me your EPs next December”. And what about the same question for your GIP EPs? “ah we don’t really know, it’s really dependent on the companies, we can’t have a specific timeline”.
Here you can find 3 VPs GIP ICX, so don't be surprised if you will get lots of letters from them. Each VP has 1 team leader who has 15 members in a team. 2. VPs responsible for re-raising 1 for emerging markets After induction members attending training with simulations by team leader EB and LCP. And also they have trainings from external partners that also helping in packaging of product. There is a strong synergy between ER, Comm, TM and strong tracking VP track team leader and team leader track members. Also they receive feedback from external market once at month and in the end of the work also. The idea is - more HR capacity for more growth. Hungary. LC BCE We have VP GIP ICX, VP GCDP ICX. Under the VP - 4 managers who lead projects. Each of them has different target groups. Each member has different JD (communication with current partners, re-raising partners, searching for local government). As you can see different cities have different structures because of the
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And you answer is: “ok…” (with a very sad face of course). What if that country could have a specific timeline for GIP ICX as they have for GCDP, wouldn’t you feel safer about raising those 10 EPs? So what do you think is the way of having a specific timeline for GIP ICX? Yes, a PROJECT!! Projects normally have specific deadlines, s p e c i fi c g o a l s , a n d s p e c i fi c responsible. Now, using only our brain and logical capacities (with no complicated model for project creation behind) let’s practice! Having in mind our goal that is to have a specific date of realization for our GIP TNs, the first thing to do is to set that date? Ok, June. What is the average time you need to match and realize a TN? 2 months? Great! (Actually with a project it is going to be less because you can set a partnership with some country that will supply you, but let’s keep the 2 months just in case). Thus by April you shall have you TNs raised. This means that we should do a thing that we never do: GIVE A DEADLINE TO THE COMPANY to come up with their decision! We know that we have companies always saying “next month” and we know that our members’ follow-up to companies is not the best. Ok, so you have 3 months to contact, starting in February. Imagine our LC is near the sea and our city receives a lot of rich people to spend the summer in fancy hotels. So when February comes, you shall have a name for the project, a logo and a product sheet designed. Now you just send this OCP that you selected for this project to sell it with his/her team. Sell it to all the hotels in town and give them a deadline to
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! answer: yes or no? And this is a way to PACKAGE YOUR PRODUCT. Why is GIP ICX Relevant to your LC? As discussed in Chapter 1, AIESEC as a social enterprise is composed of the triple bottom line. In these terms, our operations affect three main groups: people, profit and planet. So, How does GIP ICX have an impact on this social enterprise? Case Study To show you more about the impact of GIP ICX in a social enterprise, I will tell you the story of an LC that has not raised one. Yes, this is my own LC and the big problem is that I haven’t realised a single TN in the last three years. Why? The product was packaged in the wrong way and did not offer the right market value. This has had a big impact on the LC within the three pillars of the social enterprise. ❖ First I will show you the people side. Last year, I was a member of TM but constantly in contact with my ICX colleagues. They told me that the fact that the LC had not raised a TN really demotivated them and put them under a lot of pressure. Also, they were trained by VPs and managers that had never raised a TN themselves and never attended a sales meeting so they did not get any good training to improve their sales skills. In the end, the absence of GIP ICX caused the people to feel demotivated and to sta gnate in their lear ning and development. It also made it impossible for me to give the opportunity to students from other countries to come on a traineeship in the UK and gain cultural awareness.
❖ Secondly, the absence of GIP ICX had a huge impact on my LC’s profit. We did not get any sustainable income and because of that today my account figures are -112pounds and I cannot reinvest any money in the committee. ❖ Lastly, this absence of GIP ICX disabled me to have an impact on the planet. I have not being able to contribute to AIESEC’s 2015 vision of developing every young person in the world. Even though this is just a small step it creates a barriers to the growth of people that will then have a positive impact on the planet. As a conclusion, today, I have realized that this is not acceptable and that if we want to be a social enterprise and I want and will change the reality of my LC. Charlotte De Ridder, LCP AIESEC Aston UK Connection to a social enterprise As discussed in chapter I, AIESEC as a social enterprise follows the concept of a Triple Bottom- line. In these terms, our operations affect three main groups: people, profit and planet, balance of which results in financial sustainability. Talking about profit - GIP ICX brings the money to the budget of the LC after realizing the internship. The size of the revenue depends on a cost of the services of GIP ICX for the company. Talking about people – GIP ICX internships can directly affect lots of groups of people in a positive way. Firstly, these kinds of internships deepen the experience of the EPs. Participants get a possibility to explore other country, learn from the LC of that country and get practical
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knowledge from the company including possible future career perspectives. Secondly, the members of the LC can learn a lot about other country’s AIESEC experience in case if the EP is an AIESECer himself, or just to explore the native country of the EP through his eyes. Thirdly, involvement of the EP into all LC activities can bring his knowledge to all AIESEC stakeholders. And finally, GIP ICX members get all the practical skills from raising, matching and receiving the EPs. Talking about planet – GIP ICX contributes to the development of many people as mentioned above who therefore affect everything and everyone surrounding themselves sharing their experience through whole life. Just like the “butterfly effect“ *. Learn how to NAIL IT in the matching process! The supply and demand is the most crucial point in the matching process. If we are not taking it into consideration, when creating our plan and making the sales it is possible to raise unmatchable TN. That is costing you a lot of work to try to match it, it will take a lot of time, effort and energy and in the end it’s just wasting of your recourses. One example is that from Lithuania were raised 5 TNs which needed native Swedish interns. It took more than 5 moths of matching and not selling. And in the end the TNs were deleted from the system, because they there unmatchable. In long ter m it influenced financial unsustainability and frustration: ❖ No selling at the time;
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ Negative branding to the customer; ❖ Cancelation of the contract and returning the fee, which was loss for the LC; ❖ Demotivation and frustration of the people involved in the team and some of them left AIESEC; ❖ No fulfillment of the goals; The main reason was that there wasn’t proper supply and demand understanding of the Swedish market. That’s why it is important to make sure you have the supply of the needed EPs before you sell the TN so you will be sure you can match it fast. So you are working in much smarter and efficient way. Also the customer relations management is very important during the whole ICX process. There should be clear communication between you and the company to make sure that your actions are satisfying the needs of the company and also show them how is everything going so they are aware that the process is going towards and the investments pays back. Understanding global supply and demands “We have so many companies in our region but cannot raise TNs there because of the lack of fitting EPs” Every LCP knows that sentence. The only instant overview about AIESECs TN and EP supply is our huge platform myaiesec.net. Every LCP and VP is using it to monitor as basis for a raising campaign. But the system is only displaying realized cases on the local level. Think about the enormous amount of TN or EP opportunities that gets lost because
the LCs are afraid of not finding the respective EP or TN. “Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay. “ – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher That quotation fits perfectly to the current development of AIESEC and its global network. With our ambition to grow massively we need to find new ways of getting TNs e.g. in niche markets that are not yet served by our programs yet. But of course you need to be sure that you can find the fitting counter-part to your EP or TN. If we stick to the common sense of security those opportunities will not be capitalized. For every TN there is a fitting student in the reach of one of our 700 LCs. But as those are not represented in the system you will need to do some research. Approach LCs that can provide the EPs for your TNs and set up LC-cooperation. Be aware that in that process there will always be a lot of skepticism and security involved. You need to build a common base of trust for your partner-LC. Transform the insecurity into security and when a cooperation is established search for new ways to intensify those, so that no tradition is settling. “Still stand is a step backwards” –Rudolf von Bennigsen-Foerder To prevent the step backwards, namely decay, get out of the secure comfort zone and try to elaborate on the blind spots that our current operations are not covering. Use the global network! Only then we can achieve AIESEC 2015.
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Smart Simple Ideas ❖ The company has a branch in another country so AIESEC can bring a trainee from that country to be trained at the head Office. And then continue to work for the same company back home. ❖ You can customize the prices, making for instance a discount to the TN fee when the company raises the curtain amount of TNs. ❖ Network forum in a funky way – Global Village in business park’s canteen. ❖ Export/import – trainee knows the language, the market and culture and he has His own network in His country ❖ Ask for the referrals and testimonials from your TN takers You are awesome! Go write your own story! J XOXO, Contribution by: Johannes Florian Austria Evelina Krasteva Bulgaria Dimitar Petkov Finland Patrick Günther Germany Miriam Sulerz Germany Stefánia Ackermann Hungary Anna Rego India ( Camelia Azer Italy Domas Ignatavicius Lithuania Mykhailo Syrotiuk Poland Gerson Costa Portugal Filip Zaharie Romania Yelena Baklanova Russia Lisa Züger Switzerland Inge Tanke The Netherlands Olga Ditmarova Ukraine Charlotte De Ridder United Kingdom Dina, UK Sedat Yurdakan, Turkey Shravan Thampi, India Michaela Iurascu, Moldova Paulo, Brazil Pawel, Poland
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 4. Global Internship Program OGX “Guys, think massive in how GIP OGX can impact your local society! In Greece, just imagine what we could do with our country if we sent 1000 students on internships abroad and they bring back a passionate entrepreneurial spirit to their local communities!” Olga, LC Athens, Greece ❖ What is GIP? What is the difference to GCDP? ❖ How to sell it to people, especially to TT students?
GIP conditions: A GIP exchange is an internship hosted by a nonAIESEC organization in another country or territory. The primary purpose of the intern's job description must be the intern's professional development. A GIP internship is between 6 weeks and 18 months. GIP Policies: The policies for the GIP program are the Exchange Program Policies legislated in the Global Compendium and available on myaiesec.net.
❖ How to set expectations? ❖ How to select EPs?
Whom to target?
❖ How to pimp your EPs to get matched?
Why it matters: It’s important to focus your efforts to get participants who can successfully match to GIP internships!
❖ New pools, what to do with them? Value Proposition Why it matter s: T he value proposition of a program should be the central message you communicate when you recruit students to the program. Fo r s t u d e n t s, t h e G I P v a l u e proposition is: Cross-cultural and professional experience. Prog ram conditions and policies Why it matters: The program conditions and policies tell you what defines a GIP experience. You should not promise a GIP experience that is different than this!
Whom to target: Students and recent graduates (see XPP to clarify age and how long it can be since they graduated) who desire the value proposition you offer (a cross-cultural professional experience), and who will be competitive in the global pool. Fit needed profiles in the g lobal exchange pool (see more below). What are “needed profiles”? Relevant infor mation includes: Course of study, years of academic and work experience, skills, AIESEC background. You can identify needs by analysing what types of TNs are normally av a i l a b l e ( t h r o u g h DA A L o r
myAIESEC.net) or through a partnership. Technical profiles with leadership experience are in high demand. For information from AIESEC Colombia on recruiting technical profiles, please look on myaiesec.net So why should I do GIP OGX as a LCP? This programme provides global internship for students and recent graduates. It is a professional programme, a long-term experience (up to 18 months) and a concrete development provided to the EP. It w i l l p o s i t i o n A I E S E C at t h e university as a professional student organisation, a potential, unique social enterprise and a source of development for graduates from your university/city. Raising Packaging and Market Segmentation The first step of raising someone to go on GIP OGX is that you have to think about what kind of people you actually need to define the product you are selling. For this you have to consider several point like: what are the studies you can study in my area and what are the additional talents those people have (e.g. common languages they speak). After knowing these things and also the demand (which you can find out for example through DAAL files, form trackers and myaiesec.net)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! in the network you can start creating your product. “If you are a shoe shop you don´t promise your customer oranges” Chiara, MCP Italy When your product is defined you can start with the promotion for it. For this you have different possibilities of channels (online, print), though you should always consider some points no matter where you promote: set the right expectations with your posters, don´t overpromise and always remember to tell people where they can find more information about your product. You should also always consider that we are living in a highly technological world and that your homepage should be up to date with the processes and also stories of people who went through the experience. If you do not consider this point it can lead to failure of want we promised and wasted market potential. Additionally you should employ market segmentation. This means that you tackle certain markets with certain programmes or projects. You can segment based on the academic background, skills or other things that you consider as important. Market segmentation is the key to success. Through segmentation you don´t oversell GIP and you have a higher possibility to find the people who you can later on match. You should also consider somebody´s personality here as it can be that this person fits the program in a skill way but not in a personal way. From now on you can raise the person on the platform and go on with the matching process.
Selection Right after promotion we need to select candidates for GIP OGX program. The structure of selection contains three main stages: Candidates fill the application form on the website of their country. Candidates are invited to the business games where assessors need to evaluate their competencies (according to Global Competency Model). Candidates are invited to the interview held in English. The assessors examine not only the level of English (that should be advanced), but also the academic background, professional knowledge and skills, working and AIESEC experience. Remember that the candidate for GIP OGX should be student or recent graduate. To make the process successful select only people that can be matched at the moment. You can know more about that in the chapter “Supply and Demand Management”. While selecting applicants set right expectations – GIP OGX is not travelling, volunteering or something e l s e ; a lw ay s re m e m b e r va l u e proposition of the program – crosscultural professional experience. And deliver the main purpose of the job d e s c r i p t i o n t h at i s i n t e r n’s professional development. Outgoing Preparation Seminar can help you to do this. The agenda of OPS includes: setting right expectations, describing matching process and next steps, sessions on tolerance and cultural shock etc.
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Re a l i z a t i o n , P r e p a r a t i o n , Tracking and Re-integration. T h e m o s t d a n g e ro u s p a r t o f realization is when the intern gets a Culture Shock. Lovely EPs who get it tend to feel like coming home on the first day even though they travelled long hours to reach their destination. That is why the realization part is mainly divided in 3 parts. Firstly comes preparation of the EPs. Preparation for a GIP consists of setting right expectations concerning the countries the EPs are going to. Covering subjects like culture shock, integration, work styles and corporate cultures is crucial for a right Exchange preparation for a GIP. To make their months spent abroad much happier, we should track what kind of conditions our EP is living in abroad, how they feel. We should also that the EP checks the country well and writes a diary/journal that we can use for future GIP OGX promotion. Some countries like India or the UK organize 3-day conferences called OPS (or EPIC -> Exchange Participant Introductory Conferences) or countries like Hungary organizes "Exchange Preparation Day". Organizing such events allow EPs to meet the network and get to know who they are going abroad with. With culture preparation like Global Villages for example, preparation seminars can help set right expectations, prepare for eventual culture shock and help the EP be ready for different (alcoholic) experiences.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Finally, the last crucial part about realization is re-integration. Reverse Culture Shock (a.k.a. "Re-entry Shock", or "own culture shock") may take place - returning to one's home culture after growing accustomed to a new one can produce the same effects as described above. This results from the psychosomatic and psychological consequences of the readjustment process to the primary culture. The affected person often finds this more surprising and difficult to deal with than the original culture shock. (Ref: h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o rg / w i k i / Culture_shock) Re-integration can also be done through diverse events (RIS - Re Integration Seminar). These will help deal with reverse culture shock, reflect on past exchange experiences and teach EPs how to share and communicate their experiences and learning. Giving these platforms is one of the most important roles of an LCP (e.g. LC meetings, LC camps they can have motivating - or demotivating? - story telling sessions). They can also teach practical skills to the LC, thanks to their experience (i.e.: Boat race skills).
Supply and management
Demand
What? exactly is supply and demand management? Very simply and b r i e fl y, S u p p l y a n d d e m a n d management is analysis of the market. What can the market offer you (e.g. available TNs in the system) and what you can offer to the market (e.g. your EPs). Supply and demand management is very crucial part of GIP OGX program. Without proper analysis of your market and of the network (what can the other countries offer you) you can´t even start the proper promotion. Why? Because you have no idea what you can sell to the people, you are offering a random product or service. You are taking a big risk of not delivering your promise, because you are recruiting people only according to their competencies and you do not think about their ability to be matched. What if the needs and expectations of your recruited EPs are not matched with the market in the network? If that happens, it destroys your branding and how are you perceived as an organization at your university. It can negatively
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influence your sustainable growth. Moreover you are wasting your time, energy, potential of real market and human resources. For example, LC is a social enterprise (what is social enterprise? Read the chapter about it in this book!), which has demand for IT EPs. However you recruited EP with medical background because you did not analyze the market properly. The result is that no one is satisfied and it did not bring any value to the society at the end. Resources, which you used to recruit those EPs with medical background, could have been used in a smarter and useful way. Ha! Did you get it? How to do it in practice (GIP OGX only)? You need to start with market analysis (both analysis of your market in the city where your LC is and in the AIESEC network – what can other LCs offer you). Search only for the i n fo r m at i o n yo u re a l l y n e e d , otherwise you are again wasting your time! Suggested information you need are: backgrounds of the EPs and TNs, skills, requirements, competencies, flexibility of your EPs, languages etc. Useful tools are DAAL files (use myaiesec.net t o fi n d i t ) , Available for ms tracker (use myaiesec.net to fi n d it), myaiesec.net, local w e b s i t e s (information
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! about your university, profiles of your students, etc.), meetings with representatives of the faculties, etc. Suggested output can look like this: Program
Demand
GIP OGX
Profile? How many? When?
Suppliers
Investments
Countries and LCs
CEEDs, funding etc.
6 LCs from Poland, Germany and Norway, who can provide you TNs you need (suppliers). Ideally contact them, check the availability of the TNs and try to establish cooperation. So, let´s recruit those 10 IT students and send them abroad. Finally, ❖ Know what you need ❖ Research about who can offer it ❖ Learn how they work (suppliers)
Program: GIP OGX (in our case) Demand: specific TNs (according to the background of your EPs) you need. Suppliers: entities which can provide you those specific TNs Investments: possible ways of supporting the supply for your demand Concrete simple example (1.10.2011, you have potential to recruit 10 IT students (web design), they need to be realized in 6 months): Program GIP OGX Demand
Suppliers
Profile? IT TNs for web design How many? 10 When? 31.3.2012
Poland, LC X, LC B Germany, LC Y, LC Z, LC A Norway, LC C
Investments CEEDer to Germany (build relations, support matching)
So, you know what you have, what you can offer to the market (you also know what is your demand). Based on that you analyzed the AIESEC network and you found that there are
❖ Get lots of contacts ❖ Choose who to work with suppliers (LCs, MCs,...) ❖ Define clear action steps ❖ Follow-up, really GCPs from the Network In my LC, we send EPs abroad and then we never hear from them again. Anonymous Have you heard that sentence before? I bet you might even have said it yourself. What kind of experience do we deliver if we can’t talk with the EP about it? Well, time to get rid of your frustrations because in this section you get what you always wanted: the power and knowledge of the huge AIESEC network – we present to you good case practices from the network! Target your recruitment with supply and demand management! “Using demand and supply makes it much easier to run targeted recruitment campaigns! In Brazil, we spend time on finding out what the demand of TNs in the network is. We look for unmet or excess supply of TNs: for example unrealized internships in India
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and in niche markets, e.g. small German companies that need German speakers. When we have found out what companies need, we go out and find the right EPs!” Rogerio, MCP, Brazil “In Turkey and China, we also do very targeted recruitment of companies and EPs. On the Turkish side, we go out and raise the TNs. We then send the requirements to China. AIESEC in China then makes a targeted selling with posters saying “Explore Turkey!” and the specific demands of the TNs.” Sedat, MCP, Turkey “I heard that in Canada they actually check the matchability of an EP even before it is raised. In practice, they get the EP applicants to send their CVs. AIESEC in Canada then sends the CVs to the VP ICX who has an interesting TN available and ask for the company’s feedback on the attractiveness of the EP candidates. If the EP candidates are not attractive to the company, they are not raised by AIESEC Canada. In that sense it is also possible to send the CVs to an LC that can go out and raise a traineeship based on those CV profiles!” Maria, LC Aalto, Finland Preparing your EPs “I must admit that it is very hard to keep in touch with EPs since they spend most of their time outside AIESEC and away from the LC. The Finnish solution is to invite EPs for lunch. In this way, they feel part of the LC and they can gain a sense of belonging to AIESEC.” Kira, MCP, Finland “You should have interesting info sessions about AIESEC so the EPs understand our organization and want to become a part of it before and after their internships. Nobody can sell an internship better than someone
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! who has actually had the experience so it’s important for us to get the interns into our LC after their internships.”
One thing is good case practices, but what are the bad case practices you need to avoid?
Charlotte, LC Trondheim, Norway “We apply for Erasmus scholarships for our interns so they can afford going to their new country.” Tomislav Mamic, LC Split, Croatia Reintegration of EPs “We send an opportunity booklet to our EPs one month before they return. The booklet is a simple document, containing the description of all future opportunities in the LC (for the next 6 months), and sometimes the JDs also. Sometimes we send customized recommendations that fit the EP’s experience. When they arrive home, EPs already know what they can do to enrich their personal and professional development.” Sarpe, LC Oradea, Romania “I remember one guy in our EP preparation seminar who didn’t say anything. He had an amazing GIP internship in India. When he returned, we invited him to all the events happening locally. He wanted to share his experiences but his friends did not care about hearing them. After spending a couple of months gathering with our crew, he decided to apply for the position VP TM.”
Bad case practices “Very clear communication between host and home LCs and the EP about legal immigration issues is extremely important. In Romania, a lack of communication meant that neither home LC nor the EP knew about the legal requirements for being a resident in the host country. Consequently, the EP did not report herself in the right manner, which meant that she had to spend two days in jail – during Christmas!” Sarpe, LC Oradea, Romania “One day I went into our database to see what EPs we had and what they were capable of. So I downloaded and read all their CVs – and I was shocked. In our LC, we have never been too strict on the CVs uploaded by the EPs. We have taken it as their responsibility. However, that approach doesn’t work when you realize that an EP has uploaded a CV that takes up half a page and is in Danish. Which EP will be matched with a company in India if their CV is in Danish?”
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substitute for exchange semesters at another university ❖ Find companies in your country with global operations. Sell an AIESEC intern to their office in another country. When that internship is over, the intern can return and work for the company in its home country (your country) ❖ Implement a training program for your EPs so they learn how to write CVs and motivational/cover letters ❖ Send a CEED to another country to raise a TN in that country ❖ Train EPs during the internship search time to help them gain the skills they are lacking in order to be attractive for the TNs ❖ Don’t recruit from universities that have no credibility/lack of quality ❖ P r o m o t e t h e T N s i n yo u r university and in the LC ❖ Make an EP blog ❖ Know what LC you are sending your EP to
Casper, LC CBS, Denmark
❖ Re c r u i t i n o t h e r s t u d e n t organizations (e.g. Erasmus, fraternities, sports clubs)
Improving EP Matchability
The best part: Ideas for new initiatives!
❖ Raising EPs for specific markets: Social media expertise.
“One of our GCPs is related with re-raising of the EPs. In order to get their practical experience, we find lower requirements internships to our EPs. With a little more concrete experience on their CVs, it is easier for us to match them with internships that require more qualification and experience”
Before we end this chapter, we want to share with you the ideas of the LCPs at EuroCo 2011! We have not taken any copyright on them so you can use them as much and as often you want to J
❖ January and February became Realization peak, consider this.
Sarpe, LC Oradea, Romania
Sarpe, LC Oradea, Romania.
❖ Cooperate with your university to support students who go abroad
❖ There is a peak in November in CEE, how can we utilize on that? ❖ In order to sustain quality in cooperation for receptions, we can send EPs with them like a chief delegate.
❖ Get your university to accept AIESEC internships as a valuable The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ Can we run campaigns with discounts like bring your friend and have %20 percent discount? Or can we have a discount when the EP matches herself ? ❖ Can we raise EP fees from companies with fundraising? ❖ Can our internship be accredited from the universities? ❖ Can we start competitions between LCs to motivate members? ❖ We can leverage the servicing with online communications. ❖ Running all the processes online: GCP from Poland. ❖ Applications: Online spreadsheets ❖ Selection: Skype and DISC tools ❖ English test: Online from professionals on Skype. ❖ OPS: wiziq and Skype. ❖ Writing specific information like language barriers or etc into the EP form on myaiesec.net.
❖ Having promotion on job portals. Focusing to right places where already there are lots of students and graduates. ❖ Having recognition system for members for GIP matches for supporting motivation. ❖ Running some recruitment in the campus for specific company (fast match). ❖ If we see some demand and market in a country or LC we can invest and raise there with sending members or virtual coaching systems. ❖ How can we utilize virtual membership management to grow in TMP in order to grow in GIP OGX. ❖ Yo u c a n h av e a q u a r t e r l y newspaper or magazine online/ hard copy in the campus to strengthen AIESEC brand. ❖ Can we invest in Facebook to build a better community and promote
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our recruitment or specific TNs trough the platform?
Contribution by:
Peter Kürti (LCP of AIESEC Brno, Czech Republic) Katarína Dujková (LCP of AIESEC Comenius University, Slovakia) Ksenia Baberina, LCP of AIESEC Krasnodar, Russia Leo Szivo, LCP of AIESEC City, UK Ilona Viktoria (Luca) Varga, LCP of AIESEC Miskolc, Hungary Andreea Simona Claponea, LCP of AIESEC Trento, Italia Sarpe Constantin-Adrian (LCP of AIESEC Oradea, Romania) Susanne Jaeger, LCP of AIESEC Linz, Austria Casper Bek, LCP of AIESEC CBS, Denmark Tuomas, Finland Martynas Gruodis, LCP of LC Vilnius, Lithuania Varun Avasthi, AIESEC Pune, India Bartjie, The Netherlands
AIESEC Romania Autumn ’11 Recruitment Campaign - “Initiatives change everything, everywhere”
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 5. Global Community Development Program ICX Introduction Once upon a time, Eddie and 14 people were sitting around the campfire in the wood, were they shared knowledge about GCDP ICX. They thought GCDP ICX is a need for society because this raise the culture understanding in the world ! Why to implement GCDP ICX? “I was part of the ASK program, in Ghana, Accra. That’s the moment I realized that what matters is the experience you had and the problems you had to surpass. (...) When I finished my project and arrived in China I realized that if I could succeed there (Africa), everything is possible for me. That’s how your heart becomes stronger. You should ask every LCP to interview the EPs that came back from their internships. In the end, what matters, is the experience you can provide them!” – by Florent, Mainlaind of China, AI member 2011/2012
Structure of the Chapter This fairy tale will give you tips on how to implement successful projects, showcase what the different regions are doing to raise, match and realize their projects and also, as “normal” AIESECers, this discussion wouldn’t be complete without a tale about critical success factors (CSF), challenges, do’s and don’ts, between many others.
Top 10 steps to start a GCDP project Once upon a time, brave Eddie decided to start a GCDP project. That was a great decision as he was about to give many great opportunities to many many young people. However, he didn’t know exactly what to do, to start the project properly and finish it with success. Not wasting much time for thinking, he approached Zorya from LC Lviv, U k r a i n e a n d Pawe ł f ro m LC University of Warsaw, Poland to find out all the secrets needed to run a successful volunteer based project. Sure! We’re gonna help you as much as we can – they said. Below, you can find the list of the steps they proposed to make the project happen. #1 Society research – what is a need in my society? What are the interesting subjects for people there, what are the main problems that your society faces. “Because we as a part of the society have the responsibility for positive contribution, satisfying the society needs is one of our main drivers.” (Gligor Novakov, LC Skopje, Macedonia) #2 Market research – when we already have some ideas for the main issue of the project, the next step is to know, which idea can be selffinancing. “You can’t turn into projects all the ideas you have at the same time so first, pick the one that companies and other supporters, enablers, stakeholders are going to be interested in the most. Then you have the best
chances to gain the money needed to realize the project!” (Paweł Górski, LC University of Warsaw, Poland) #3 Define who are the future participants of the project (i.e. students? Pupils? City dwellers?) and what the demand is. #4 Find the leader for the project and ask him to make a draft of the plan #5 Form a team which is going to work on the project (“how many people we need to run the project?”) and then divide responsibilities for all functional directions. “While forming a team, always remember to take care of their motivation. You can’t just ask them to do their job and think that everything’s gonna be fine. Spend some time to be sure that they like the idea of the project, ask them how they feel about it etc. Be sure that they feel strong alignment to the idea and to each other” (Paweł Górski, LC University of Warsaw, Poland) #6 Create the plan of the project – duration, action steps, main priorities, create a comprehensive financial plan – so you know how much money you need to earn #7 Define the selling points which can convince companies to be involved in it Then you prepare the list of potential partners (and go to the meetings! ) #8 Agenda of the project – what is the role of trainees? How are they going to work(prepare their JDs)? Who is going to train them and how?
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! #9 Prepare promotional materials like booklet about the project and the city where it takes place so you attract as many EPs as p o s s i bl e. D o n’t fo rg e t t o B E HONEST about the conditions! Quality is always subjective – the only thing that matters are right expectations. #10 Define a profile of the trainee you want to have in your project. Then, use your network from EuroCo and other conferences to promote the TNs. Eddie decided to organize the project this way. He has enough information how it should be. He will also remember about Zorya’s final advice – “Believe in yourself and run towards your fears”.
But the main idea is not about the numbers. Believe me or not, we started this project not with a purpose to make easy huge numbers. I personally started this because one day these kids in the camps and schools will grow up and become students, then they become AIESECers, then they will lead our organization and the world. It was an idea to shape entire generations of young people and I wish everyone who makes such projects in field of children education now would understand the huge long-term influence of GCDP ICX. It's like circles on the water after you drop a stone and they go far beyond your term and your LC. Anya Dvornikova, CEE Coordinator 11-12, LC NSU, Russia CEE Example – Czech Republic
GCDP by Regions If you ask what is known about CEE GCDP ICX, probably you will hear similar answers: "They make big numbers", "most of TNs are in children camps, schools and NGOs", "huge summer peak made by 6-8 weeks internships". Yes, it's true. And let me share how it got started for AIESEC Russia and many other countries who followed. It was in 2005, when only corporate X existed in our country, and the idea of DT TNs was something not even tangible for us. I believe everything happens on purpose, nothing is random, dots always get connected one day. One of those "dots" was the fact that me and my friend Ilya Yurlov were working together in a children camp when we were 16 and later on when we joined AIESEC in LC NSU we started first ever GCDP project with children camps. Now in 2011 AIESEC Russia and other CEE countries make hundreds of X in one summer.
Once upon a time we met a princess on a horse in CEE region. The most exciting thing wasn´t the fact that princess was beautiful as the sunrise but the fact that she has materials for her project Edison, one of the CEE GCDP ICX projects in her hands. We were curious, so we wanted to ask her three questions. Firstly, we asked her what is Edison and how does it work in CEE ? She told us, that this is the best way how to understand the cultures from all around the world. Students from all around the world are coming to Czech Republic to teach the students from secondary schools about their
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cultures. T hey are delivering workshops, preparing Global villages and giving classes about history, geography and culture. Secondly, we asked her how did she raise it ? She told us that she was so surprised that it was so easy. She went to schools to talk with the principals about the project and they were enthusiastic. That´s it! So easy. Thirdly, we asked her what did you do next ? She launched the forms of the project, she had three times more applicants than she needed. So she did skype conversations with all the applicants and she had chosen the best people for the project. When they arrived they get a conference to prepare them for the project. They had several parties (welcome, B-day, costume, bye-bye, etc.). Food and accommodation were provided.
WENA Example - Italy
"Make Change Nea-Polis"
The why of the project. Naples is a world known city in Italy, which has to face everyday corruption in almost all the daily bases operations. Its culture is ruined by the lack of innovation of the market and the common disbelief in change.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Considering that AIESEC wants to have a concrete impact in the society, AIESEC Napoli Parthenope decided to develop a project to change the status quo: this is why "Make Change Nea-Polis" has been created. It’s a project focused on Social Responsibility and the name of the project itself wants to transmit the choice to bring a change developing a new city (Nea-Polis). This project aims to give a starting point for students from all over the world to give their contribution and perspective to companies and people in order them to adapt new solutions for working and living respecting our planet. The structure of the project. In particular, the team where I was Project Manager has set the goal of dealing with 4 different issues, such as Pollution, Waste, Mobility and Energy. Starting from a "SWOT Analysis" of the situation of Naples, the international team developed some researches, with the cooperation of some local partners and the Chamber of Commerce of Napoli, and gather dif ferent inter national “Case Studies” which allowed the city to evaluate different opportunities to improve the Social Responsibility comparing different ways of treating the topic in other Countries. The project in just 3 months involved students from 14 different countries: B r a z i l , M e x i c o, F i n l a n d , Ecuador, Egypt, UK, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Sweden, Slovenia and Norway and now we’re waiting
for other one because it’ll be repeat for all the year 2011-12. I feel like. With this project I had the possibility to meet a lot of people who now I’m directly and constantly in contact with, but most of all I feel that I learned more about this issue and moreover, I really want to walk the talk and change the city I live in. For further information follow these links contact: gianluca.radice@aiesec.net| Gianluca Radice - LCP AIESEC Napoli Parthenope
AP Example - China Once upon a time little Eddie wanted to get out of his cosy neighborhood and see the world. His friends told him many stories about Asian countries and what an amazing culture will await him there. So he packed his little backpack and started his journey. When he arrived in China he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country, but a bit lost due to his lack of orientation skills. Luckily he ran into an AIESECer named Panda, who took his hand and brought him to the LC THU office. After they talked a bit, Eddie saw a picture of smiling people on the wall. And that’s where it all started… Eddie: Panda, who are these people? Panda: They were interns from all over the world, taking part in our GCDP Project about Solar Energy. Eddie: Why did you decide to run a GCDP Project? Panda: There has never been a project like this before neither on a
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local nor on a national level and we wanted to change that. Because at some point of time you realize that there is a way that you can connect everything together and thereby have an impact on society! Eddie: What do you mean Panda? Panda: In my university we have a lot of students studying engineering, but they are not really passionate about working in the field of future technology or solar engineering. They would rather like to work with business projects. However, we have a lot of solar energy companies such as Vestas and LDK, who are looking for engineering students. Talking within the AIESEC network we realized that we supply their demand by bringing them foreign engineering students. Thereby we connect our local market with the international network. We bring engineering students from abroad to China who will go to the solar energy companies to learn about the issue and afterwards give workshops in different schools and universities. The local students will manage the project and work on organizing events and forums around the topic. (with a team of 5-10 people, 1 Project Manager & 1 Selling Person) Eddie: WOW, that sounds amazing! And how is this project called? Panda: We call it ‘Green Power Now’ and it is already the 4th year we are running it. Eddie: And how did you get started with the project? Panda: There are two ways to do it. You can go the easy way by contacting companies and ask them to pay for your project. Or you do the
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! more challenging option. You start with understanding the ‘issue’ around you and create working groups who meet up regularly to brainstorm about new ideas and combine them. It’s like a constant development of the project. In my opinion it is best to combine the two, so first figure out the issue, which needs to be tackled in your community and then find the companies, which could use it as their CSR strategy. Eddie: But why would companies be interested in financing it? Panda: There are three main reasons: - You can sell it to them as their CSR project and they will be willing to pay for it. A lot of companies don’t know how to do CSR and don’t have their own projects implemented yet, however, they have a lot of money they can invest for it. By showing them where and how to invest it, you create solutions for them. – Secondly they will get access to young people, the ones we engage in our workshops, so they get good employer branding among their future employee target group. Thereby the project cannot only be used as a CSR, but also as their marketing strategy. – Lastly they get access to top-talents, who can run their marketing & CSR projects, so they save a lot of money on recruitment. Eddie: That sounds really convincing. Do you think it will work in other countries as well? Panda: Of course, it can. You just h ave t o m a k e s u r e t h a t yo u understand the need of your market and find a CSR solution that fits the company as well as your community.
Eddie: So, now that you raised these TNs in the companies, how and where do you find the right people? Panda: We firstly looked into DAAL files to find out which countries can supply us these EPs with this specific engineering background. Then we set country co-operations with Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. We sent recruitment CEEDers to these specific countries to promote our project amongst the local students there. Since we have already fixed the internships we needed to make sure that we have a supply and therefore we invested into getting the right people at the right time. Our CEEDers had road-trips around these countries and did pocket-recruitments in several LCs. Eddie: Did the CEEDer already do the matching on-site? Panda: No, after the CEEDers were back, the LC started the matching process with the received applications form these countries. However, I think it would be a good idea that the CEEDer is already doing the matching on the spot. I will consider this for the future. (Smile) Eddie: So, you matched the interns and they arrived, what happened then? Panda: We have a national trainee induction conference, where we gather all the project participants from all the 10 LCs taking part in this project. Thus, we enable a standardized education on the project, so each interns gets all the knowledge and the preparation, which is needed. Eddie: And where do they stay during their internship?
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Panda: We realized that the most valuable experience is organizing a home-stay for the 6 weeks the intern is taking part in the project. We recruit hosting volunteers at the 100 universities and schools, where we have our workshops at. Thereby we impact more people, save money and guarantee a better cultural experience to the intern. Eddie: That’s pretty smart, Panda. Did you come up with it? Panda: Of course! (evil grin) Eddie: So proud of you! And what would you say, was your best moment during the project? Panda: For me, it was to see the development of my VP. She had a quite tough time with a lot of personal issues going on, but she still managed to do it and the project was successful. She became a really strong woman who continues impacting people with several other projects. Eddie: Would you do it again? Panda: YES! I would want more people to have this experience! Eddie: Thank you for your time Panda. I think I will leave now and travel back to my country. China is beautiful, but I am missing Eddina! Thank you again and see you soon! Panda: You are welcome! (Instead of shaking hands, he did the Panda-Sit!)
Panda - Florent Meiyi – LCP of AIESEC THU 08/09, Mainland of China
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Eddie – Réka Artner – LCP Vienna UV 11/12, Austria & Linda Werle – LCP RWTH Aachen 11/12, Germany
Funding ICX GCDP When I think about funding ICX GCDP I always start with the needs of an EP and where can I find that in my market. – Radu Matei, LC Arad, Romania ! Really important is for you to have a very good Financial Responsible because you’ll need to properly manage your resources. Where can I get the $$$? Big funds (grants): ❖ Regional, national and international lines of nonrefundable funds – you only need a big project involving more LCs or organizations (for example: European Volunteering Service) Smaller funds: ❖ NGOs in your market which work with internationals – they can provide food and accomodation ❖ Schools – same as NGOs ❖ City Halls – often support ❖ Govermental Institutes ❖ Companies – for partnerships of whhich are simply interested in sponsoring your project ❖ Have people engaged in continuously coming up with ideas how to generate more funds for and from GCDP ICX How do I get them? ❖ Make a proper market research on what funds ara available to you – always think of where else can I
get the resources instead of investing yourself ❖ Don’t be afraid to think big and collaborate with other countries most of us don’t manage to absorb sufficient resources the market can offer because we rather make smaller local projects or raising which is safer. ❖ Networking with the above mentioned entities and being transparent to them ❖ Get trained or helped by people and/or organizations which are specialized in writing grants and/ or attracting different funds PS: If you want more examples, you can find them here: www.google.com -> search: grants for (insert region/ continent). Have your responsible find them because it’s his/her learning experience. PS2: Get off your lazy asses and search myaiesec.net and network with other countries to find amazing examples (try international conferences). ! It’s important for you as an LCP to know this, but even more importantly is to make sure you have a responsible (VP) who will have a focus on the above mentioned information. When there is a need and the idea is good, funding can’t be an issue – just find right target and approach potential stakeholders. – Erik Raudsepp, LC Tartu, Estonia
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Deal with Challenges Do’s and Don’ts In GCDP ICX, we can find a lot of challenges that are: ❖ Funding; ❖ Provide food and accommodation; ❖ Find a collaboration with NGO; ❖ Sell the project to the companies; ❖ Project as social impact; ❖ Structure of the ICX Team; ❖ Visa procedures for the NonEuropean Countries; ❖ Provide a personal experience to the interns. Do’s T he project has to be totally sustainable; Try to find a collaboration for food and accommodation, before the TN Raising on the system to assure the quality of the projects; Set up corporations with NGO to realize with them practical operations; Before selling analyze the core business of the companies and sell the project only to the companies that are related to the topic of the project; You have to think out of the box regarding the final/start event of the project to give the right impact in the society not only to the students; Before to start with the project assure that there is a strong ICX team in the LC and ensure that reception works well, make sure that one person is responsible for the GCDP project; Plan enough time for example one month, between match and realize to work in a visa procedure for countries that are not in the European Union, provide every document that is necessary for the interns to get a visa;
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Provide full job description for the interns, an LC brochure including information about the city, support the intern to understand the cultural differences, live with the intern the multicultural experience: Provide the quality because it is person not a number; Don’ts Not realize a big number of X before it is sure that all the expenses are covered; Don’t provide food, accommodation and transportation on your own; Don’t ask NGOs for money, they usually don’t have money; Do not avoid things like quality, professionalism; Do not realize a project with just a conference, and never something without a starting and ending event, because in this conference you can involve a lot of partners and you can receive a lot of money; Do not work without an exact structure and timeline for ICX procedure to make sure, all the documents can be provided; Do not, not take care of the intern, they should not stay alone in the country;
Dealing with quality issues Due to the boom in exchange in certain countries, LCs need to focus on the quality of their GCDP. There was once a GCDP in India, and this shy EP arrived late at night at Delhi International airport. Here begins his exchange experience. But he was not alone. With the buddy system in place, he had already skyped with Varun and was now simply excited to see his mate. Four weeks earlier they exchanged emails,
he learnt about the project, his job and how to deal with spicy food. Then with support for the visa ensured, that was sorted easily. So soon, he had flights booked, a bag packed and was in Delhi. So when there, he was first stuck in an auto, due to too many cows on the road. But he eventually made it to the trainee flat. Arriving and sharing a flat with 8 internationals, next to three other trainee flats – he wondered, do they all get looked after as well as me?
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Development. Here, trainees develop tribal community by providing free education in rural areas. “Tribal Development demands a lot from EPs. Interaction with rural India is definitely not a holiday!” Nagendra Mishra, LCP Baroda, India Such a project is challenging, crazy and very tribal.
This is what happens in LCs with large numbers of GCDP. However, in his internship there were a few problems; but Varun was always there to support him, share butter chicken and teach him some jives! This quality management is structured in India, from middle m a n a g e m e n t i n LC s t o N S T positions. But what ever happened in India the problems faced, the presentations for the projects and sharing some whiskey - returning home, he realised was an impactful experience he had. Simply life changing. Crazy Projects: So an international project is simply not enough. Meet a couple of crazy ones. Firstly, support SMEs by delivering their short-term projects with the help of GCDP interns, in the heart of Hungary, Budapest. The project enables the reduction of HR and cost investments. Such corporate projects are showing the possibilities within GCDP. But for the real crazy one, we have to travel to India and their national project on Tribal
Contribution by: Radu Matei, LC Arad, Romania Rita Abrantes, LC NOVA, Portugal Réka Artner, LC Vienna UV, Austria Linda Werle, LC RWTH Aachen, Germany Noemi Pacioni, LC Ancona, Italy Gianluca Radice, LC Napoli Parthenope, Italy Tom Murphy, LC Bristol, UK Gligor Novakov,LC Skopje, Macedonia Pawel Gorski, LC University of Warsaw, Poland Maria Holopainen, LC Aalto, Finland Sabine Schmid, LC Tuebingen, Germany Jan Habasko, LC Ostrava, Czech Republic Melissa Kars, LC Nijmegen, The Netherlands Zoryana Balko, LC Lviv, Ukraine
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 6. Global Community Development Program OGX Introduction Live from EuroCo As our HomeGroup sits and writes the words that you see in front of you now, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of international conference attendance. While this may sound quite elementary, being in EuroCo 2011 in Prague will create life-altering change. Conference attendance shapes the global village into a small community and brings the AIESEC network to your fingertips. But in the most relevant context to GCDP OGX we truly believe that EuroCo creates the right environment to bring together leaders, relate to each other’s issues, gather international perspectives, realize “there is no box” and make simple solutions! Simplicity in action: 20% of this chapter will be devoted to the recruitment and packaging process because we believe that 80% of GCDP OGX’s success in later stages of matching is rooted in this prior planning. The Big Picture: GCDP as a Social Awareness Movement “My GCDP Internship has been the most formative experiences I’ve ever had. It’s the reason I’m here [EuroCo 2011] now. The impact I was able o have has changed how I see the world around me. The strangest thing about being a 6 foot tall, red-haired English man was that I clearly stuck out in Tanzania but the Tanzanians became my best friends. It felt like home.”
“When I went on a GCDP in Ivory Coast, I was hosted by someone who became one of my best friends. When I was opening the LC in my city, he immediately came as my CEED to aid me in opening the LC. My point is that only in AIESEC is there a culture of reciprocation and international cooperation. Our friendship made long-lasting personal impact and built the framework for my LC to have a legacy” Clement LCP Strasbourg AIESEC France “Internship is the first thing that I did after entering AIESEC. It was an LC in Istanbul, Turkey and it really changed my life. I made so many friends and connections from all over the world and I’m positive that many people don’t have a chance to make so many friends for all of their life” Ajila LCP Sarajevo AIESEC Bosnia & Herzegovnia “India is such a different world! It has been the best experience in my life. Even though the first impressions can be quite abrasive, I had an amazing time.” Lauren LCP Reims AIESEC France “AIESEC GCDP Internships blow your mind! On the second day of my internship in Malaysia I was told I could not talk about sex or condoms when I was teaching kids about HIV/AIDS What do you do then? You learn to be creative and you gain a completely new perspective on something you thought you knew nothing about.” Casper, LCP CBS AIESEC Denmark
Intro: Social Awareness Movement Now it’s high time to redefine what means for AIESECers social impact a n d h o w G l o b a l C o m mu n i t y Development Prog ram ensure positive impact on society and enlarge the awareness about some global issues. How can we have a significant influence in the world in the next 5 years? we envision 121500 personal GCDP experience till 2015. If every single person who goes through this program will influence 10 people we will be changing 1 215 000 lives. How about 12 m i l l i o n s yo u n g p e o p l e ? D e a r AIESECer, just imagine 12 millions young people who are going to discover themselves during GCDP. The way they consider global issues will never be the same after coming back home. What if we totally redefine project that we run in our Organization? Just imagine 500 young people who are going together to Africa to set up a city from zero. After that nothing will be the same. What if, we contribute to cooperation between countries which used to be in enemies relationships through GCDP? What if through this program we could decrease the rate of illiteracy among children and infantile death? We would closer to the idea of peace and fulfillment of humankind’s potential.
Alec LCP Leeds AIESEC UK The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Who could stop us? Maybe just ourselves.
apartment- with people from 1,2,3… 12 different countries!
I need a story about an exchange, not only “what if ”. How one person can have an Impact on a project and another country impacts the intern.
Perhaps you haven’t experienced it – yet- or perhaps you already have, but this is what our dear LCP, you are offering to your GCDP EPs!
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Selling and Packaging And you know the WHY you do it! How about the HOW? And we are here to give you a GCP in this matter! Brazil! Some basic CSFs that were followed in this case are:
What would make me feel more connected with the text and think about it is a little change in: what if AIESECers,..instead of using ‘they’ using ‘you, me’..make it personal…
ATTENTION! This is a GCP from Brazil! What you should do is adapt it to your entity’s reality!
Step
Tool
Value Proposition “To practically experience intercultural differences and at the same time the commonness of the human beings”
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Actions Through LC Meetings, Returnees presentation
Culture of exchange
Value Proposition
Understanding market demands
Market Segmentation
Develop the product
Suitable for market demands
Where, to do what, how long, how…
Supply Management
S&D
How many, from where, when, what, how
External
Target audience, goals, communication
Internal
Promotion of exchange opportunities to the members
Internal Management
VP OGX | OGX teams
OGX is managing all! And the teams also have their goals
Matching
Recruited with a clear message, selected for a job already or with clear options and processes
Expectations Meetings
Preparation
Understanding about risks and solutions, developing the right mind set
OPS, After-match
Ingmar, LCP, LC Karlsruhe Why is GCDP among our products? What do people gain by living this EXPERIENCE? Why would you leave your country, your family, friends, your comfort zone in order to go and live for up to 3 months in another country, sometimes not even in the best conditions? Because by going there you feel that you are contributing directly to your society – and guess what! You do! You see yourself dealing alone with unexpected events, sometimes unthinkable, and through this you uncover a different YOU! In a very uncomfortable context, you are going to discover the real you!
Recruitment
Dey Dos And you finally understand what this phrase that you hear so often means; “the world is my oyster”, and not to mention that there is a high possibility that you will share your everyday work-not to mention
Support and problem solving
Communication through X and communicate LC current state
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Competitive Advantage for AIESEC as a Premier Brand #1. Multiple inter national destinations The opportunity to travel to 110 different countries and territories worldwide: all you need are the skills and a visa. Other companies and charities tend to focus on just one country/ development project. Work in a project with other EPs from different countries; the EP gains a multicultural experience with just one exchange. #2. Non-political, non-religious AIESEC does not discriminate b a s e d o n r a c e, ge n d e r o r nationality. (Although we cannot do anything illegal according to your country’s laws…) #3. Cost-efficient No need to raise funds compared to other charities and programs that send students to developing nations For a relatively small fee you have access to countries all over the world #4. Product package AIESEC offers the preparatory and reintegration seminars to EPs Welcome party, study tour Receiving LC provides support to them throughout their exchange experience There is a global support network AIESEC guarantees to you the support from the moment you apply to the moment you return from your internship.
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#5. Cultural exchange and creates positive impact on societies all over the world, with a ripple effect (inspire receiving LC, come home and raise more)
awesome parties and funky stories, there are more benefits.
EP can see immediate direct effect, get inspired
❖ Balance of supply and demand
Compared to the other ELD programs, it is the most exciting and engaging
❖ Increased knowledge sharing between LCs
#6. Administrative work done by LC The EP doesn’t have to fill out his own application, find a TN, apply for a visa, arrange own accommodation etc #7. Different product to cater to different markets We need to get rid of the assumption that “GCDP” is one homogenous product. The value that GCDP offers to its customers can vary so much, from building wells in India to managing a civil rights project with nationwide consequences in an African country, to overseeing a real estate development project in Mongolia. One single program in the ELD has so much to offer and there is no reason that every student in the world should not go on an AIESEC e x c h a n g e. T h e G C D P O G X program is just as diverse as the degrees we study in university. The importance of LC 2 LC cooperation Most of us know why we are having, and should continue having efficient LC 2 LC cooperations. Apart from
Benefits: ❖ Quality assurance
❖ Targeted sales for EP recruitment
❖ Intensified contact with the network In case you are convinced by the benefits but don’t really know where to start and which steps to undertake, take a look at the… Successful LC 2 LC cooperation for Dummies Smarties: ❖ (-5) Assess own market needs (E.g. Use ‘Resource Daal’ Files) ❖ (-4) Evaluate which countries/LCs could satisfy those needs ❖ (-3) Use your (personal and MC) network to contact the parties of interest ❖ (-2) Meet with MC/LC representative, preferably Face to Face (CEED) - Congresses ;) ❖ (-1) When opportunities are there, take it further and clarify SMART and concrete steps ❖ (0) Congratulations, your LC 2 LC cooperation has just started! ❖ (1) BEWARE: you are only h a l f w a y. C o m m u n i c a t e regularly to discuss progression ❖ (2) Market for the programme at your university or country ❖ (3) Raise, (quickly) Match and Realize your selected EPs.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ (4) Stay in touch while the EPs are there ❖ (5) Evaluate the partnership From past experiences we know that communication is the key in setting u p a p a r t n e r s h i p. A l t h o u g h communication is a rather abstract concept there is a rather useful recipe to use when setting up a partnership with another LC which you can find below. Ingredients for constructive cross cultural communication: ❖ Empathy, 200 grams ❖ Effective listening, 1,5 liters ❖ Genuine interest, 2 cups ❖ Shove it into the oven of passion ❖ Set the temperature to 360 degrees of understanding ❖ Sparkle it with love ❖ Serve it warm and enjoy
GCDP OGX Stakeholder Promotion Promotion via cooperation Nowadays more and more academical programms implement an obligatorical internship abroad. In addition the will to have a direct impact on world’s issues and to improve the people’s everyday life is getting more and more present.
their university and their international offices. By following this strategy, we fullfill existing demands more efficiently. As a conclucsion the LC’s manpower can be used to expand and to focus on improving the provided services. These steps will lead us on a basis for sustainable growth. Promotion via Advertising As already mentioned, our GCDP has to be promoted more concretely. We’re not offering just an volunteerjob, we offer an unique experience. But beside this, there are several other aspects, which might lead us to success: AIESEC is a networker, we are partner oft he biggest international companies, and well known in the HR-departments. But what about networking with a janitor?
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The main problem is the target group. GCDP focuses mainly on nonAIESECers, people who weren’t in contact with us yet, but are somehow interested in the possibility of going abroad. Doing promotion via social media, the people have to know us and have to „like“ us. Before starting an effective EP-recruitment, we have to promote ourselves. This is the main problem in recruiting EPs via Facebook. Another point of weakness is sustainability. How present and attractive our Facebook-pages are, depends on the person who is responsible. A very motivated person might post everyday a news or a picture. He will give a quite good overview how attractive it is to take part oft he GCDP and how vital the LC is.
Yes! Don’t underestimate his power! He is the one who can give you access to rooms and locations, he decides wether you’re allowed to hang up posters, leave brochures on the tables and he will give you the opportunity to use the show-case-displays.
A lazy account-admin will have a bad impact on your image. You might be considered as boring, not working or even worse.
He might be your key to a successful EP-Recruitment!
GCDP-promotion will remain a faceto-face work!
Conclusion: Use Facebook as a possibility to inform stakeholders and to stay in contact.
Social Media as a challenge
AIESEC is faced with the unique opportunity to profit from this development.
Many of our LCs are present in social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook. It is well established, to stay in contact with your members, your oldies, alumni or other interested stakeholder.
The 2015 maxim of being „ a first choice partner“ has to be transferred into reality. Our LCs have to initiate a stronger, intense cooperation with
The challenge with which we are faced now is, to use it as a possibility to promote our GCDP. Or at least to ask ourselves wether it is possible.
EP (re)integration Top Seven tips (because it’s HG 7 !!!) Preparation: ❖ The (re)integration process already starts before the internship itself. Indeed, we can contact the LC where the EP is going to ensure his/her integration in the welcoming LC;
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ We also have to collect the feedbacks of the EP (by regular Skype meeting for example), because it’s important to know his/her strength and learning from the exchange ; ❖ Preparation seminars (OPS, induction conference, etc.) ; ❖ EP manager: setting the expectation together with the EP ;
❖ EP expectations setting and culture preparation (participation to TTS as a delegate and then as a faci for OPS for example, or sharing learnings during the conference) ; ❖ Logistic preparation GCP.
❖ JD of the EP : interview, matching process, etc ; ❖ Getting the EP to know the different opportunities in AIESEC. Two stages:
ICX raising - returnees can educate ICX to know more about outside EP market, for example.
❖ (1) informing the EP before he/ she goes on exchange and
Trainees reception - returnees are able to stand in trainees’ shoes to help them overcome the cultural shock.
❖ « EPs on exchange » newsletter: relating stories, the place where EPs are for the moment, etc. Promotion: Case show in ❖ Local committee (info-sessions, info-meeting, LC meeting, Local conferences, etc.) ; ❖ Public (Global Village, «travelers night» - event in cooperation with Erasmus, special event for EP’s testimonies, article in a newspaper) ; ❖ We can also offer the EP a middle management position for a promotion project (for example OCP Global Village) and offer him/her an article in newspaper, EP newsletter, Facebook, LC website.
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Service and learning: involving the EP into
Match and partnership - the EP can be brand in order to build LC to LC partnership and to help EP candidates in the matching process.
❖ (2) informing the EP about the current opportunities in the LC one month before he/she comes back ;
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Reintegration seminar - for example Czech Republic organize a p r o j e c t c a l l e d « Ta l e n t s o f Tomorrow » which consists in companies training for EP and AIESECers about how to define the added-value of their experience in their CV.
Contribution by: Sophia Malandraki, Greece, LC University of Patras Rebecka Rosback, Finland, LC SHS Tereza Grollmussova, Czech Republic, LC Pilsen Shravan Thampi, India, LC Bangalore Tomislav Mamic, Croatia, LC Split Olga Pashchenko, LC Frankfurt, Germany Maarten Wessels, LC Groningen, The Netherlands Audrey Beghon, LC Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Terri Chen, LC Edinburgh, UK Magdalena Ciesielska, LC Katowice UE, Poland Timo Judith, LC Dortmund, Germany Adelina Arsene, LC Bucharest, Romania Aissa Boodhoo-Leegsma, LC McMaster, Canada Tanja Ivanovic, LC Belgrade FON, Serbia Tonja Novik, LC Tomsk, Russia
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 7. Team Member Program experience at a local, national, regional or global level. “TMP is no longer a rest stop on the way to a destination it is the destination.” Enas Siam, MCP AIESEC Egypt The value proposition that we offer to members of this programme is ❖ A practical team experience
Our members are driving the results in the LCs, they are the ones that get the actual operations done. Without them, our LCs would be like bloodless corpses. That´s why its our job to ensure that they get a fulfilling experience. How do we do that? That is what this chapter should give you. Remember your own @ XP. What motivated you to get where you are today? Without a high quality team experience many of us might have never thought about taking a step forward. WTF is TMP? Quick reminder of what is the official definition of the program. We know it’s dry but just in case you weren’t paying attention ;) A Team Member Program (TMP) experience is an opportunity for a young person to develop entrepreneurial and responsible leadership by living a practical team
❖ Practical hard and soft skills development
❖ It has a clear value proposition and needs to answer to a need in the student market. ❖ TMP gives you the space to customize the experience for each member ❖ We should start to explore options on how we can sell the product, and make it a sustainable product in itself.
❖ Access to a global network
TMP in your LC
❖ An entrepreneurial and responsible attitude towards being a better leader
So to give you better understanding of the program, you might be asking yourself why is TMP such an important part of the AIESEC XP and what is its goal?
This is what we need to keep in mind whenever we take action to deliver the program. TMP participants can have different types of practical team experiences, such being a part of a project team, a functional team, the organizing committee of an event, or an executive team of a an entity.
❖ It´s the biggest program we run ❖ It´s the driver of performance
Key Points. In the end what you really need to remember: ❖ TMP is a product for students, and not a stage in the @ XP ❖ Despite being an own product it´s inter-connected with the other programs.
Additionally, it´s potentially a driver for TLP,. For more information see chapter 8.
❖ All the people that fulfill the program definition qualify for this program.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! How to deliver a fulfilled experience? Recruitment It is most efficient if you recruit members based on the programs you run. Make a separate recruitment for TMP targeting students without organizational experience & focus on first and second year students in your university so that they can be engaged for a longer period of time. This will build a suitable team member body within the LC. GCP from LC Oradea, Romania: Promote the separate programs explaining what they will be doing in detail. They that students get a clear understanding of what they are getting themselves into. By this you are engaging them in AIESEC already in promotion. Explain what they will have to do, and not just «Join AIESEC». This led to a increase of application from 60 to over 300 application in our LC Checklist: ❖ Identify the need you have in your LC according to your goals ❖ Create JDs that describe the vacancies you have in your LCs ❖ Target students that have relevant skills and potentials ❖ Make sure that the value proposition of the programme itself is clearly communicated and not AIESEC in general ❖ Make sure to communicate different options in TMP (i.e. JD in a functional team, project team, etc.)
Example from LC Vienna WU Every vacant position in the LC needs to have a JD that clearly defines responsibilities, benefits and measures of success. TMP applicants have access to those JDs at info sessions and at the assessment center where they can state preferences. In the process of selection the TL and VP TM allocate the applicants to JDs according to their preferences and backgrounds. Education ❖ Induction seminar (What is AIESEC? AIESEC Way, AIESEC 2015, Function areas, simulations, Goal setting) ❖ Conferences (Local, Regional, National – sales, legal issues, deep knowledge of functional areas, simulations, building strategic mind, soft skills) ❖ Trainings (deep knowledge to fill their GAPs, for ex.: financial s u s t a i n a b i l i t y, b r a n d , communication) ❖ Speakers can be representatives of Companies, alumni of AIESEC and Executive Board|Training team Note: It’s important to plan the education cycle in advance before recruitment !! Coaching and mentoring In this program it is supposed that we use coaching and mentoring system to build up a strong foundation to develop the people in TMP. Members in TMP should have access to a coach who helps them to achieve individual learnings and track their development.
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Who can be a coach? It is basically up to you to decide that. However, it is important to remember that Coaches give professional advice and direct them towards the right solutions. For coaching and mentoring you can find materials on www.mindtools.com For educational cycle VP Talent management should be responsible. Top 10 things to motivate your members (and increase the retention rate) 1. Reward and Recognition system 2. Effective and planned meetings 3. Leave a place for their initiatives 4. Match tasks with motivation. Get to know the motivation of each team member 5. Transparency and equality. Share your vision and don’t act like they can’t understand... 6. Balance work and fun 7. Make them understand the purpose of each tasks 8. Ownership of the goal 9. Make them see the relevance of their personal development (tool: career talk) 10. Smile :) Motivation comes by showing members that they experience results. Including reward for hard work. Alina Buss AIESEC Germany The most powerful way to motivate is to coach them to realize the answers themselves, for them to realize the things they get out o AIESEC and the impact we are doing. In
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! short it means help members to find their internal, personal, motivation.
What can you do as LCP to assure this?
Kira MCP of Finland.
❖ Have an idea of who delivers T M P i n yo u r LC . W h o i s responsible? Is it just the VP TM? I s th e m i d d l e m a n a g em en t responsible for creating TMP for their members or the functional area VPs? Make sure that there is a consensus in your EB about responsibilities and task division.
Ask the members what are the criteria of being a full-member in AIESEC. It creates commitment and is easy to track. It makes members rethink why they are in AIESEC, and if they are in the right programme. You could have a point system with points for attending LC meetings, FA meetings, answering email within 24 hours etc. GCP Eloy López del río, Madrid, Spain Expectation setting The thing is that everybody has expectations, even if they are not aware of them. So it’s our job to communicate as concretely and clearly what members can expect from TMP and what they need to do in order to achieve that. Lisi, LC Vienna’52/WU, Austria So, how can you make sure that the members have the right expectations?
❖ Know how and at which points the above mentioned suggestions are communicated to the member
Top 10 things that members hate
❖ Information about the flow of the experience (i.e. how does education – goal setting – execution – tracking – evaluation look like?)
2. Inconsistence
❖ The big picture of how their performance drives the entire organization
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❖ Make sure that all your VPs see the relevance of having TMP processes. They need to see the importance of JDs, showing the big picture and induction and evaluation processes in their area (regardless of who is responsible for this). If it’s only your VP TM who sees the importance, he/she will get frustrated very soon J
What kind of information does this person need in order for him/her to have the right expectations?
❖ Make them understand that they are shaping their own experience and that they need to perform, you will not have the experience, which you were looking for
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1. Arrogance
3. Lack of support 4. Not follow your own rules 5. Lack of trust 6. No place for new ideas 7. Not understanding the big picture 8. Un-constructive feedback 9. When you are late ;) 10. Impossible expectations
Contribution by: Alina Buss, LC Bayreuth, Germany Lisi Witzani, LC Vienna’52/WU, Austria Mirella Lancz LCP of LC Külker AIESEC Hungary Veljko Palalic LCP of LC BBA AIESEC Serbia Martin Ilievski, LCP Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria Michal Sedenka LC Karvina Czech Republic Anna Melniekova LC Trnava Slovakia Clément Ebizet LC Marseille France Maximillian Holst LC Bonn Germany Ewelina Antczak LC Poznan Poland Evegniya Khalilova LC Omsk Russia Marie Gachet LC Geneva Switzerland Zdenka Pajtasova LC UNIC Denmark Sophie Bergaust, LC BI, Norway
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 8. Team Leader Program Introduction
Tips for transition:
WHY: Because we want to develop entrepreneurial and responsible leaders in order to support high potential men power and through that to create a positive impact on society. HOW: We provide possibilities for young people to go through different types of team-management experiences. Thereby they take responsibility for their team members and the overall results. WHAT: In the AIESEC network TLP-participants gain practical experiences, where they constantly develop their hard and soft skills. Additionally we offer different activities for their personal and professional development. “Why? My motivation to run for LCP started in Australia. There I took part in a LC-simulation and became LCP for the game randomly. In this competition I got to know my addiction to strategic work and at the end fortunately my group won. This keyevent gave me the necessary self-confidence to run for LCP back in my country. How I managed to deal with all the challenges is that I trusted in myself. As a highlight I also got confirmed by my VPs telling me that on a conference, what really gave me an incredible power.
Pe r s o n a l E x p e r i e n c e by a n anonymous delegate: How to manage TLP? Good Case Practices
❖ Organize national events for newies. ❖ Organize 2 full transition days for the new and the old members from the TLP.
The Netherlands: Creating different positions and job descriptions (LCP, VPOGX, etc.) and promote it to all the students of the University.
❖ Save all your documents, ideas, experiences and information!
Mainland of China: Creating different profiles (competencies, skills, etc.) and promote it to all the students of the University
❖ Use a CRM system. (for example myaiesec.net)
Transition Transition should definitely include: ❖ AIESEC understanding ❖ Roles and responsibilities, JD, LC structure and communication flow ❖ Performance management skills, tips and tricks ❖ Team management, team vision, motivation
❖ Create archives for specific functions.
❖ Let the new members of the TLP start earlier and let them work with the old members of the TLP. ❖ Create a board of advisors existing of only Alumni and arrange a ‘buddy system’ with the EB. (For example: connect the LCP to the president of the board of advisors and let them meet once a month.) Bad Case practice “Some of my EB members didn’t have any AIESEC experience before they started the TLP. Unfortunately one of them couldn’t be
Transition without words…
A key in my term so far is that I really believe in myself now. That’s so important for me because it is a great support concerning all the tasks the TLP WHAT means for a LCP.” The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! at all the transition events in the beginning. The result was that she wasn’t motivated, didn’t felt connected with AIESEC and didn’t do what she had to do. A few weeks ago I fired her. This is a risk! Make sure everyone gets a good transition (function specific, but also to get the AIESECfeeling..).” Aileen Selderhuis – LC Twente – The Netherlands “So, before the transition write down what important aspects you would like to give to your successor. Your list could for example exist of: the AIESEC process, how to build a team, GCPs and BCPs, strategy etc. What would you like you successor to know to start their job properly. Make sure you have a clear schedule on when your schedule on your sessions you would like to give and make a transition document.” Inge Tanke - LC Tilburg - the Netherlands
Benefits Imagine the situation you are graduating the university and you are applying for job. After TLP program you will be much more experienced than your colleagues form your university. Here’s what you can tell your potential applicants about the benefits of TLP: You can put all skills you gained to your CV. On review boards you can share what had you learned during this time which is unique experience for such a young person. So what can you learn thanks to TLP program? Before leading the others you have to lead yourself. First of all
you will learn how to manage yourself. You will learn how to work with ❖ Deadlines ❖ Spread sheets ❖ How to plan ❖ Implement strategy. Compared to other students you have better opportunities to improve your hard and soft skills, such as:
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because the communication between the EB and the team leaders was not good enough.” Ktez Kävti – LC Brno “The fact that you have to in some situations have to treat your TLs like EB members is also confirmed by Casper Bek from CBS Denmark. There the experience is that you have to be very focused on improving the information flow between the two leadership levels” Casper Bek – LC CBS - Denmark
❖ Presentation skills
Bad Case Practice:
❖ Training skills
Vascun Avasthi from LC Pune, India tried to have an EB of 16 people so the LC could be huge. After this experience he had to admit that 12 EB members is the absolute maximum.
❖ Team management Leading the team will help you in understanding yourself and others and for sure it will teach you patience, re s i s t a n c e, re s p e c t t o o t h e r s, responsibility, reliability. You will have a chance to get networking all over the world also in local companies. “For the new TLPs from other organizations with previous team management experience we should ask their feedback on our structure and activities as they don’t know our processes. By doing this you can find new innovative solutions to implement”
“If your EB gets too large you risk that several VPs have to work on the same task. This will make your EB inefficient. Another benefit with a smaller EB is that it is a lot easier to create a good team spirit.” Vascun Avasthi - LC Pune – India
Denisa Seferi - LC Venice - Italy “Organize a small leadership seminar for non-AIESECers with quality content that is not focused on AIESEC. At the end of the seminar take a moment to tell them that, everything they just learned is what AIESEC does every day. Then welcome your new leaders :)” Tuomas Salmi - LC Oulu – Finland “When you choose to create a middle management you have to be sure that you take good care of them. In this case the Team leaders felt that the EB did not care not about them. This feeling where created
Contribution by: René Hoeltzermann Tihomir Čale, LC Mostar, Bosnia and Heryigovina Aleksandra Napierala, LC Torun UMK, Poland Aileen Selderhuis, LC Twente, the Netherlands Valia Paschalidou, LC UoM Thessaloniki, Greece Philipp Wendel, LC Berlin HU, Germany Katharina Feininger, LC Nuernberg, Germany Olli von Boehm, LC Haaga-Helia, Finland
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 9. Life Long Connection In this section we’ll be addressing several aspects of the LLC program. First, the relevance and connection to the triple bottom line. Second, several tools to use to manage the LLC program. Third, several foreseeable challenges which may arise and some tips and tricks to deal with them. Finally, the benefits for an individual to participate in the LLC program.
profit, into the activities of @. Likewise, the LLC programme should be aligned to these values, in order to bring value to our organization that we love soooo much.
Here are some quick definitions to help you get an overview of the LLC program:
❖ Alumni are the bridge between your LC and companies. This means that you can more easily reach into relevant contacts/ sectors, and gain a broader understanding of how to brand and sell your product to the various companies
1. Why? In an area where social enterprise has an increasing role, it has become important to implement the triple bottom line: people, planet,
In reference to the triple bottom line: Profit
❖ Alumni are the GCPs which the world sees – take advantage of this! (free advertising) ❖ Alumni can provide referrals and endorsement, which help your LC in ter ms of approaching companies for TNs/sponsorships People ❖ - Alumni have gained xp inside and outside of @, which mean they can give your LC the xp, guidance and advice to position yourself in the market ❖ Alumni can deliver training, leadership, development for your leaders and member
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ Alumni can give members the motivation to achieve results, when they look back and see how to connect the dots, and share xp in terms of what went wrong, what right ❖ Alumni have the connection you need including past @ers and non@ers to support your LC – networking ❖ Giving them the chance help @ by getting them involved, sharing their own personal stories Planet ❖ We can work with them to develop ourselves and our careers, but also to connect the LCs with enterprises. The enterprises will get the CSR, and we will benefit from having the income to realize our projects (which are sometimes environmental). This leads to growth, and an ever-growing opportunity for us to have a positive impact on the environment. ❖ If you’re involving alumni, then you’re creating sustainability. You thus continue to have a positive impact. It makes the impact grow.
2. How? Tools for managing LLC on the Local Level ❖ Creating Alumni Database To create a alumni database you can use Social Media as Linked In , Xing or Facebook. Every member has to subscribe to it. Creating Excel Spreadsheets aren’t the most efficient way to do it because the work to establish it is constantly done by the
members. Using LinkedIn for instance makes our lifes easier because the Alumni update constantly their professional background. Knowing what an Alumnus did for the last «x» years is important in order to know how to approach her or him.
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to take care of. Don’t forget to put some AIESEC culture in the event how awesome would be to dance Tunak Tunak with your adult Alumni?
❖ Newsletter Every quarter a newsletter can be sent with an overview of the current situation, the activities held and also future projects and activities. It should be short and concise but as precise as possible. Those who don’t want to be on the mailing list are to be taken out from the mailing list but not from the Alumni list. ❖ Mentorship This idea is to establish «personal coaches» who used to be at the same position in order to give some tricks and tips for current EB/team leaders. ❖ Board Of Advisors The Board of Advisors consist of the former members of AIESEC that are now working. As they had the same experience as you are having now in your LC plus the fact that they work now, the members of the BoA are in the best position to advice you. The Board Of Advisor can also consist of the dean of the faculty or professors. They are the ones who can help us with the relationship with the University. ❖ Events These are events especially for Alumni. Example, Alumni cocktails or team building with the Alumni. You should make your Alumnis used to the idea of yearly Alumni events. If it becomes a system it would be easier
❖ Networking Current AIESECers aren’t the only ones with connections, contact the Alumni in order to enlarge your contacts. Who knows, maybe one of them is a future TN taker. Tools for Managing LLC on National Level ❖ Alumni Association A National Alumni Association should be implemented to your countries so that the Alumni could be introduced to other LCs than their own. They have such a big potential that it shouldn’t be wasted just on one LC, they may bring something new to other LCs as well. The Assocation can work on partnerships, TN-takers or organizing networking events in your country. Good Case Practice: ❖ Latvia: The Alumni organization is a part of the international Alumni organization. They created a fund supporting projects, events or conferences. The Alumni give training to themselves. The organization is lead by an AIESEC
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Alumnus as well. In the newsletter which is sent to them there’s a section called «Emergency» where the LCs can ask for help the Alumni organization.
How to make LLC more attractive for Alumni? ❖ Give them informal “crazy” XPs, which they had in AIESEC.
Managing the connection:
❖ The Netherlands:
During our conferences we do hell a lot of not so familiar things: dancing, shouting and giving a huge applause to everyone who is on the stage. People in their daily life don’t get much attention. So, for alumnus is kind of big bang when they get so much energ y from us, young entrepreneurs.
❖ News letter
In the Netherlands, they came up with the idea of using LinkedIn as their Alumni database. The work of updating the contacts is done by the users themselves so that the time of LCs isn’t wasted on looking for the information about their old members. ❖ Switzerland: After several years of neglecting the Alumni, one of the committees have CEEDed the position of Alumni coordinator in order to re-establish contacts with the ex-AIESECers. They organized for the first time since a long time an Alumni event and builded a new, realistic contact list. ❖ Slovakia: The National Alumni Association is a very prestigious association. Alumni want to get in it but before they need to be accepted by a Review Board. This makes the Association something for the best and most committed ones, so that the work is really done. Alumni can create associations and get involved globally - check out www.aiesec_alumni.org
❖ Depends on the aim how we would like to utilize them ❖ Stop asking money: how to get financial support from them? Sorry but during the conference we haven’t really found the answer for this question, so good luck and what is really important use your network and special reality to know what is relevant for them. ❖ Packaging the products, events Be evolved in AIESEC events e.g.: workshops, motivational speeches e. g. : G l o b a l L e a d e r s S u m m i t Organized by Hungary in 2012. There were a huge international and national alumni meeting. Ask for GCPs from them! ❖ Organizing event just for them, where they can tell their story Consultancy: short occasion show up mainly that’s it. we are in the middle of going for 2015. That’s an issue, right? J we need to invite someone from the past who can explain, that changing is needed and make us relaxed and ambitious about it. ❖ Alumni club: engage them personally, show them that they
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are important or sometimes just go out for a drink J
❖ Mailing list
❖ Continuous communication Make them a virtual library where they can share their knowledge ❖ Networking Use to make new enterprise: they can s i mu l at e d i f f e re n t c a s e s w i t h AIESECers, we as AIESECers can solve a lot of issues which companies have in their life. ❖ Get to know relevant markets and CEOs ❖ Utilize the network Alumnus who want to develop themselves\would like to make impact on society ❖ Consider alumni as a market – what they need exactly as they are your customers Information management, relationship management system in advance to make easy the administration of them (putting them on LLC XP when they leave the organization) As members they need to feel the power of the organization to be committed enough to stay with AIESEC after leaving it J We need to explain them what we want from and for them 3. Challenges involved As LCPs, we’re in charge of managing this program of the @ xp.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! This may be especially difficult, because that’s one sphere in which we have no experience – by definition! But we’re leaders, and we can figure this out. There may be several foreseeable challenges, and we’re going to try to address those, and give tips on how to deal with it. Fo r e s e e a b l e c h a l l e n g e s / problems Possibly the most common phrase you will ever hear from your alumni is: “In my day…. W hen I was an AIESECer…..” Every alumni – every LC – every country They’re just trying to help. Sharing experience is what we do, it’s how we learn. It would be stupid to reinvent the wheel. However, keep in mind that the local reality changes in time. Take what you can from your alumni, but don’t forget that maybe they didn’t have social media, maybe they didn’t have immigration issues, they didn’t have myaiesec.net. So make sure you learn from your alumni, but tailor their experiences, so that it fits your reality. Some LCPs feel overwhelmed by their alumni and their willingness to get involved. You may feel like your alumni think they can do better than you, but they just want to be helpful. Take advantage of it, use it to your advantage. (expand) harness their xp to develop your LC. Contacting them – Current LCPs like Bob from LC Ponce in Puerto Rico have identified communication as the biggest challenge. His suggestion is to have an alumni tracking manager (refer to part 2 of this chapter to find out how to deal with this)
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Your alumni that had a negative @ xp. Ask them why, learn from their experience. Try to apply the learning points to your LC.
So if you think, that they dont care, you are wrong. They are connected, find out why and you will know, what how to work with them and others, who you want to connect.
Your alumni don’t feel the connection to @. This means that the LLC program isn’t attractive to them. To deal with this, refer to point 2 of this chapter.
Vít Fratri - AIESEC CZU Praha - Czech Republic
Here’s a story about one alumni related issue – the alumni don’t want to lose their LC. Long life connection are connected already
- people
Some people are telling, that many Alumni are not involved to LC, they dont care about @ so much, they just come to conference to drink, but I found out during last month, how does it look like at our LC. I dont think so. There are two examples from my LC. It was during EuroCo… My VP ICX C sent mail to Alumni, that there is an option to make one big LC in Prague. There are two LCs in Prague – CZU Praha and LC Praha. Alumni received email about it and they replied. During one afternoon I received 47 replies at my E-mail, that they don't want this. They are part of our LC and the new one is something, what they didn't work on, where they are not connected to. They wrote us feedback about it, what are positive and negative things at it. And what was the key learning for me - they are connected, we just need to tell them something relevant, something, where they can be usefull, when they feel relevance of what are we telling. We have around 35 alumni and around month ago there was alumni event. – 19 were part of it. And offered help, offered coaching, mentoring and whatever we want. They really care, whats happening, just tell them in structured way, what you need and you will receive reply.
AIESEC expands and continues to grow, and new LCs are popping up all the time. If you’re part of this g roup – you won’t have any alumni! Tips: ❖ Talk to the closest committee next to you, ask them for help ❖ Take advantage of the BoA, they can fill this position as mentors, advisors, until you have a network of alumni Tips and tricks to becoming the first alumni successfully I will be the first alumnus from my LC. Tijana Jeremic - LC Valjevo - Serbia Eventually you will go towards LLC. You may be the first alumni that your LC has. But never fear, here are some tips and tricks to help you get started, and shape the alumni culture. ❖ Establish a line of communication (add them to the FB group, so that they know what’s going on) ❖ You are responsible for alumni culture – lead by example ❖ Make sure your @ xp is a REALLY good one, so that you want to continue helping them out / sharing good xp ❖ Not criticize the current @ers, but give constructive feedback don’t be that alumni that says “In my day….” “When I was in AIESEC…”
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ Be aware of the emotional consequences – you don’t have your team anymore
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❖ To not forget the inspirational and motivational way of doing things ❖ To be always an AIESECer
4. Benefits – Why should an individual participate in the LLC program? Keep all of these in mind when you’re approaching alumni. If you know what they want, then you know what to offer.
S p e c i a l t h a n k s t o t h o s e wh o participated in writing this chapter!
Why they need us ❖ To tap into the student market ❖ They need to recruit students from your university to get an external perspective on problems solving ❖ To raise TNs ❖ To give the company a global profile ❖ To continue the way they started in AIESEC ❖ To bring about case studies for students to solve ❖ Connect with old friends from the @exp. And with other alumni. ❖ Increase contacts (Branding) ❖ To create follower s (future customers) ❖ To discover business opportunities ❖ Scholarship to exclusive @ alumni Emotional connection ❖ Keep in contact with the XP that impacted them ❖ Feeling of involvement ❖ Help others to develop their selves ❖ Work for social responsibility ❖ To position their selves in the network(self branding)
Contribution by:
Gabriel Jose Cordoves Acosta – AIESEC Ponce – Puerto Rico, Julia Gifford – LC Riga – Latvia, Sarah Creurer- AIESEC in Sciences Po- France, Jacqueline Schokking – LC Utrecht – the Netherlands, Christophe Vercarre – LC Leuven – Belgium, Dina Dong – LC Warwick – United Kingdom, Eloy Lopez del Rio – LC Madrid, Maciek Kowalski – LC Lausanne – Switzerland, Eugen Isac – LC Chinsau – Moldova, Barbora Pribylincova – LC Banska Bystrica – Slovakia, Liisa Tang – LC Parnu – Estonia, Tijana Jeremic - LC Valjevo - Serbia, Belinda Aikins – MC Ghana
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 10. Being a CEO Being a CEO. What does it really mean? How am I different or similar with a CEO of an enterprise? With the rising 2015 Ambition, we are now facing a year of transformation of the organisation into a social enterprise, with us LCPs as its CEOs. Starting with the basic understanding of this phenomenon, its structure, going through innovations and creating market value, this chapter is dedicated to assure full understanding of the future role of LCP. With general overview, as well as detailed tips and tricks, this chapter should provide you with all the knowledge you need in order to undergo the change. Organisational culture AIESEC in my hometown has been organizing recruitment event for first year students of my university for quite a long time. I saw bunch of people showing pictures from last year event. I’ve asked my older friends about that: they told me it was a drinking/hooking up party time with school mates organized by some weird guys but never mind. Unfortunately, afterwards I got a confirmation that it was true and in that second it stopped being interesting for me. Three years later when I’ve decided to give AIESEC a shot, I applied for internship and was invited for interview, which took place in the most popular student bar of my university. The only thing that kept me there was my classmate who was at the time an LCP and she
swore to me that this is because they did not have an office. The first impression I received was horrifying and it stayed with me for years. I later found out that even the work was on a very weak level and the LC was almost closed. My LC has a picture on Facebook with 15 guys, naked butts and sitting on another LCs banner. No pictures from sessions, trainings of workshops. Here you can see that the culture is a crucial aspectit influences the internal processes as well as the external image. “Culture for your LC is like background music to a movie, it sets the right mindset to generate the required reactions and drive the needed behaviors. In that sense, it is a tool and you need to use it consciously.” Enas, MCP Egypt Know your Culture If you can’t describe and identify your culture you should try asking yourself these questions: ❖ What would you tell a friend who wants to join AIESEC - you don’t need to hide anything. ? ❖ What is the one thing you would like to change? ❖ Who is your hero in AIESEC ? Preferably in your LC ❖ What are your favorite characteristics in LC? ❖ What kind of people fail in your LC?
❖ You should look at the questions and answer them again, picturing you having an perfect LC . You will now clearly see what would you like to change in the LC, what actually should be your culture and what are your main sources of problems. Identify The Aspects of Your Culture Once you are aware where you want to go, you should identify main aspect of your new culture - Culture consists of four main parts : ❖ Values and principles ❖ Informal connections ❖ Formal structure ❖ LC rituals These things might sound very abstract, but they are crucial when it comes to identifying with the culture, planning and implementing it. Implementation When you want to start with the implementation you should follow these steps: Present and explain the need of change to the members. They will either accept it and you can continue educating them, or they will refuse it and they will be exited. Incor porate your culture into recruitment starting from: promotion, interview, LCC.
❖ What is your favorite question to ask in newbie interview?
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Address the exact group of people with your preferred characteristics right from the beginning. Don’t forget about it and use in every LC activity Don’t change your culture during projects life cycle-it might confuse the members and it interrupts their activities. Keep in mind this is a longer process. In time of implementation of culture you should think about alumni of LC, inside them there still is the culture from their times, they should accept proposed culture or leave. Contribution by: Tomek Szczygieł, LC Wrocław UT, Poland Lucia Ihnátová, LC Košice, Slovakia
Financial Sustainability
Fınancıal management strategy It ıs vıtal for an organization to have a fınancıal management strategy ın order to functıon and be sustaınable. You have to ıdentıfy your revenue sources and all costs. Fınancıal management strategy consısts of regulatıons and core prıncıples (For example never allowıng to plan a budget wıth loss). Keep ıt sımple! Hıstory has shown that people ın AIESEC tend to create very dıffıcult
and gıant budgets and fınancıal trackıng fıles. The maın goal should be keepıng ıt as sımple as possıble. Thınk through what has to be ın budget and can your members understand what ıs there? Cash Flows and Profıtabılıty It ıs very ımportant to monıtor and plan the cashflows of your LC. Otherwıse ıt wıll be quıte surprısıng when at one moment your bank account ıs ın mınus. Identıfy the ıncomes and costs and also plan when they are goıng to happen. Then you can predıct the bank account state and see ıf there are resources for ınvestments at certaın moment of tıme. NGO Mindset Many of us have suffered from the “NGO mındset”. People tend to thınk that ıf you are a NGO, you don’t need to create revenue or profıt. In fact, revenue ıs vıtal for an organization to be fınancıally sustaınable. It ıs better to see AIESEC as a socıal enterprıse that earns profıt from ıt’s programmes (GIP, GCDP; ın some countrıes also from TMP, TLP). The profıt that ıs earned from our products can be used for ınvestments, reserves and for supportıng members. In AIESEC the maın goal ıs not to maxımıze profıt, as ıt ıs ın companıes – ıt’s ımportant to earn profıt from your products ın order to pursue our vısıon and organizational goals. Reserves When talkıng about fınancıal sustaınabılıty, you wıll sooner or later reach the topıc of reserves. Reserves are ver y helpful ın ter ms of maıntaınıng sustaınabılıty. You can
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ımagıne a sıtuatıon when for example your offıce prınter and phones happen to broke down at same moment and ıt ıs slowıng your work and causıng dıffıcultıes. Then ıt ıs very good to have reserves that can be used to cover the cap. Otherwıse there ıs a possıbılıty that the work of your LC ıs stopped. For example ın LC Tartu, Estonıa 10% of exchange revenues wıll go to Development fund and other 10% wıll go to R&R fund. In case of ER revenues, 20% ıs ınvested ınto each fund ın order to maıntaın fınancıal sustaınabılıty through years. Each fund has rules for the usage of deposıted money. For example Development fund can only be used for ınvestments ın strategıcal parts and ınvestments have to earn profıt, so the money re-creates ıtself. Contribution by: Erık Raudsepp, LC Tartu, Estonıa Ismail YAGICI, LC Eskisehir, Turkey
Marketing Strategy
What is Marketing ? What is Marketing Strategy ? Why is Marketing Strategy is necessary ? What ıs marketıng and why do we actually want to talk about
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! marketıng? Well, ıf you look at ıt from perspectıve, marketıng ıs necessary because of competıtıon, and competıng ın your envıronment makes the dıfference between success and faılure. Marketıng ıs basıcally your way of fındıng what makes your customer your customer, and not someone else’s. For AIESEC, why do we need marketıng strategy and why should we understand our competıtors and market? If you look at the market we face, man, ıt’s pretty rough. We compete for the tıme, energy, and sometımes money of what we call Ygeneratıon, an extremely dıverse, ambıtıous, but often spoıled and ımpatıent one. Our competıtıon consısts not only of the many other organizations that offer them membershıp or exchange programs, but basıcally anythıng that gıves them the opportunıty to spend theır tıme ın a pleasant manner. And as we have such a dıverse potentıal target group, we must fınd out how we may attract, engage and develop them all! When you want to achıeve ın marketıng, you must always focus on your target group. At the end of the day ıt does not matter how you see your program, but the way they perceive ıt. Thıs ıs why ın thıs chapter we wıll try to focus on how to dıfferentıate yourself ın the eyes of your target group, how to fınd your competıtıve edge and become relevant ın your market! When I was ın fırst grade ın my management studıes, I attended marketıng class, as I suppose most of you dıd as well, learned the theory, never applıed ıt ın realıty, and forgot about ıt wıthın a semester. It took me
an other year, to actually get ınto the sıtuatıon, where I could take a look at that from a practıcal perspectıve, and actually apply ıt – so thıs ıs what I wıll try to help you ın now. Therefore what we are goıng to talk about now ıs an effıcıent but easy to apply technıque, called the 4 Ps, or the marketıng mıx. It summarızes the four maın poınts of vıew that you shall consıder when analyzıng your market and yourself ın the eyes of the customers. These four elements are:
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Thıs ıs a very sımple model for you, to fınd out what you are good at to capıtalıze on ıt, and also to fınd out what your competıtors are good at to be able to capıtalıze on ıt. At the end of the day, marketıng ıs not complıcated to do, wıth focus and the rıght tools, you can dıstınguısh yourself and exceed no matter what kınd of competıtıon you are facıng! Good luck, and remember that competıtıon helps you stay relevant! Contribution by: Danıel Hamvas, LCP of Budapest Unıversıty of Technology and Economıc, Hungary Ismail YAGICI, LCP of Eskisehir, Turkey
❖ Your Product ❖ Its Prıce ❖ The way of Promotıon ❖ The Placement of your product
Customer oriented approach to create market value
We wıll not elaborate here on the actual defınıtıons of these as you can fınd them easıly (Google ıs your best frıend), but rather get ınto how you can really apply ıt!
Introduction
We wıll show you a sımple model where you can use ıt. The two prıncıples you must keep ın mınd:
The aim when developing a new product is for it to be sold, and bring both value for the customer and revenue for the producer. Bearing this in mind, it makes sense to develop a product which is interesting to our stakeholders.
❖ You sell the program not the organızatıon, therefore ıt ıs your program competıng, not AIESEC ❖ The fınal, most ımportant cell ıs the one ın the bottom rıght, so that wıll be the maın output of your work, fıll ıt wısely! ELD Program
“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all” Michael Leboeuf
Different methodologies can be used to design and develop a product, one of them is the Business Model Canvas2.
Competitor 1
Competitor 2
AIESEC
Attributes (How would your product be descrıbed) Benefits (The things that you deliver as beneficial) Advantages (The things that you do better than your competitors)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements describing a fi r m ' s v a l u e p r o p o s i t i o n , infrastructure, customers, and finances. It assists firms in aligning their activities by illustrating potential trade-offs.
Offering ❖ Va l u e P r o p o s i t i o n : T h e products and services a business offers. Quoting Osterwalder (2004), a value proposition "is an overall view of .. products and services that together represent value for a specific customer segment. It describes the way a firm differentiates itself from its
competitors and is the reason why customers buy from a certain firm and not from another." Customers ❖ Customer Segments: The target audience for a business' products and services. ❖ Channels: The means by which a company delivers products and
services to customers. This includes the company's marketing and distribution strategy. ❖ Customer Relationship: The links a company establishes between itself and its different customer segments. The process of managing customer relationships is referred to as customer relationship management.
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Example: developing a GCDP ICX for WENA Identify potential customer For example you should ask WENA LCs what their standard student is (age range, study profiles, years of studies, field of interests for students, % of unemployment, % of people taking gap year…)
Identify customer needs Using the information above, cluster the potential customers by their needs. In WENA region, it is very normal for students to take on internships, and quite normal for them to be involved in NGOs. Their top study profiles are Humanities, Business and
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Social Sciences, and their top field of work are business administration, environmental, management, sales and finance. According to this, we can see that they are interested in internships that help them develop their professional skills. Build your product on customer needs We would offer them a project based on half time working in a company that will provide a salary/means of living, and professional experience in their fields of interest, and half time working for an NGO, in the issues they are more fond of. Take into account the product packaging, and the channels to promote it. Feedback & Test case Show the product to the target audience, and collect their opinions and feedback. Make the necessary adjustments. If the idea has lost it’s brightness after feed-backing, don’t hesitate to change it completely or disbanding it. Try to focus only on the opinion of your target group, otherwise you will loose your client orientation and the results may not be desirable. There will be always someone, who says that you can’t do that and that should be your motivation to make it happen Katarzyna - LC Lublin - Poland Deliver and follow-up Raise TNs, match Eps, make sure they are all satisfied with the project. If that is not the case, learn from your mistakes: “Your most unhappy customer is your greater source of learning” Bill Gates Contribution by: Erik Raudsepp, LC Tartu, Estonia
Isis Planelis Batisda, LC Pompeu Fabra, Spain Stefan Stosic, LC Nis, Serbia
Innovation & Product development Our expectations when we walked in to the session were to get ideas about new products we could develop. But we realised it was not about which product we could develop but about how you need to develop your products, your ideas. The first question is : why do we need innovation in AIESEC ? ❖ To answer new market needs and the changing environment to stay relevant
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«At the end of your LCP term how will you measure your success ? Is it by the number of projects you’ve been running or by the number of exchanges you’ve realized? » Charlotte Sørensen– LCP Trondheim, Norway At the end of your term you need to have concretely done something and not just thought about projects you could have run. How do you concretely do that? A good product development cycle! Planning: ❖ Requirements definition: market needs/market research
❖ To expend and develop
❖ Concept development: how does your product work
❖ To attract new customers
Sales and delivery:
❖ To achieve our BHAG
❖ Product and process design (refer to Business Model Canvas)
❖ At the end we need to survive What about product development? The first rule is to shorten your timeline! Don’t wait to implement your ideas! Sometimes innovation seems a bit scary, something huge and difficult . Just adding a small thing to something already existing is already i n n o v a t i n g. Fo r i n s t a n c e implementing a new tracking system is innovation. When you have a new idea, you have to execute it right away . If you don’t you won’t do it because a one year term is short. Ex. : Instead of having one project that lasts 1 year but which is not efficient , you should rather do another project on a shorter timeline with less resources so that you can do another project that will bring you more results.
❖ Introduction and execution Evaluation: ❖ Feedbacks and evaluation What is it for ?! It makes it easier to have a shorter deadline and to clarify the process. It’s a helping tool ! The only thing that is constant in life is change François de la Rochefoucauld Contribution by: Mindaugas Maraulas, LCP Kaunas, Lithuania Charlotte Sørensen, LCP Trondheim, Norway Martin Ilievski, LCP Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria Caroline Van Der Avoort, LCP Ichec, Belgium Lauren Dalla Costa, LCP Reims, France
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Stakeholder management Read it every morning. Keep on adding information here. Delete ineffective things. Brush your teeth and LETS GO! Definition: “A stakeholder is one who can inflict or will be inflicted by the actions of your organisation” – unknown LCP Keep clear documentation of who are the stakeholders that are currently being worked with or having connection with. So it’s easy to follow up for new people about their status. Tomas Lindqvist, LC Uppsala, Sweden. ❖ INVOLVE EVERYONE. If you don’t – START! ❖ Write your main term focuses. You should have 3 at least. ❖ Refresh all stakeholders in you memory. You know them, use your brain! Think of 3 more!
- Invest in every stakeholder. Let them feel they receive enough from you. Let them feel satisfied! - Organise annual report. Great exter nal event. Spend some money- that is OK) - Make and send official “THANK YOU” letters; - Develop and use really clear one R&R system for your members; - Organize alumni events. Let them take advantage of their network. - Think of 10000000 more ways. ❖ Additions: For those LCPs who doesn’t know what Stakeholder is. Definition: “A stakeholder is one who can inflict or will be inflicted by the actions of your organisation”. For those LCPs who doesn’t know how to use myaiesec.net or don’t have any ppt about stakeholders. Stakeholders are not only alumni, but also universities, students, NGO, etc.
❖ What do you need from them ALL to achieve your goal?
Use CRM!
❖ What can you give them?
Risk Management
❖ Alumnus, NGO-s, universities, students, companies – they all may be your stakeholders.
We as LCP have a crucial role on thinking of the LC in a Holistic way, especially when it comes to forecast potential risks to the LC, so we can
Use them:
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work to prevent or reduce them. Risk management is set of tools that the EB must use to analyze our current situations and set some strategies that will prevent the risks that we may face. But why is that important? Why should I do it? Well, having a culture of constant plan and activities analysis with Risk Management can really help you to avoid a lot of troubles (even legal ones) and headaches! It is a way that you can better deliver a high volume with great quality. For some people, risk management should be taken into consideration before planning as it makes you understand your current situation from a general point of view respect to a SWOT analysis. For others, it is taken into consideration during implementation, when you are doing a follow up with the VP, and you sense that he is not paying attention in some points when delivering a program. One example can be when you have an ICX GCDP project, with a high volume of realizations, but your VP is focus more on the Raising process. There are five potential risks there, for example that you must always check with him:
- When you REALLY need money; - When you need advice; - Don’t simply ask for help. We are powerful organisation! But we don’t have enough experience. So remember – ADVICE) ❖ Don’t forget to say “thank you”. ❖ Some “THANK YOU” ways: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! The Matching: Which are the country supplies for that specific p ro j e c t ? D o yo u h ave t o d o cooperation to deliver the Project? Host and Service: Are you running an effective Host Program for the amount of trainees that is coming for the project? Financial Sustainability: Who are the supporters of this project? How is the budget of the project? Which is the value proposition of the project? Visa and Laws of the country: Do the trainees need visa that can affect your timeline? Unmotivated people: Is your VP ICX and his members really performing, or just giving excuses? Is the structure of the project really working? Don’t be afraid to change it! When using a risk management tool we have to analyze our organization from an internal and current point of view (threats) and what is the impact/ vulnerability of the program. The graph below is a type of risk management tool, where you can classify your programs or projects, in a way that you can set focus that will bring the most impact (results) to your LC, and see which threats must be prevented or reduced. There is no clear margin to classify them, as they depends on different realities, but the main focus is to put efforts in the highlighted areas, as they’ll bring you the most results: “After defining the problem (risk) it would really useful to discuss it with different people, could be your EB, or other LCPs, or the MC. The best thing is to talk with others LCP, so you get to know how they are doing what in their LC. And it gives you
consolidation, because you will see that others have the same problem. Important is not to judge any problem and to take every idea into consideration. This discussion can help you to find the answer, how to solve your problem (risk).” Irina Giorno, LCP of Fribourg, Switzerland Sometimes we, as LCPs, have to be really aware when a strategy, the culture, structure, or any other organizational aspect is not working and we have to make a decision to change it. There is a really important element of changes, which can be a big risk. When do I have to change? Is this the right time? Do I have to make this decision now, or can I wait for more outcomes? And while I`m waiting, when will it be too late? Those are questions that can haunt our term and take our sleep some times. Explaining a little more, the decision making process is a balance between the change – which can be understood as the combination of our LC Vision, the expected success feasible from the change and the dissatisfaction with the current situation – and the risks it can bring.
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“Don’t be afraid to make unpopular decisions. A few weeks ago, I fired my VP OGX. She was not doing her work, not coming to meetings and telling negatives things about the EB + AIESEC International to members, making them unmotivated. It was the best decision ever! She was taking up all my energy and making it less fun. “ Aileen Selderhuis, LCP of Twente, The Netherlands
Organisational Strategy for long term Why is organisational structure important? It is important because it has to support your activities and goals you planned to achieve. To make a structure of your LC you can consider: activities, goals, people and sustainability. The first step of the structure creation is to understand which is the driver that will implement your activities. There are three main principal drivers that you can consider. These are: strengths, goals and people.
We actually can see it as kind of an equation:
LC structure should also be made from your reality and it should at the same time have plans for expansions.
C – Change
The structure can be different from LC situations, country, environment, goals, vision, available resources.. Below you have some examples of different realities and countries.
V – Vision F – Expected Success feasible (first steps) D – Dissatisfaction with present X – Cost of Change
In Serbia in LC Nis last year we had only one member In EB team responsible for X and this was VPX and we had 27 X for whole year. This year we changed the structure because we set 88 X as the goal for
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! this year. We separated X on VPICX and VPOGX and in 4 months we reached last years results. Stefan Stosic, LC Nis, Serbia Another example comes from AIESEC Hungary structure which considers as main important help for their programs: sustainability, expansion and exchange. To implement these focuses and be goal aligned with simple and clear positions they consider the following positions as needed: TM, ICX, OGX, P, F and COMM. They don’t consider as focus ER and BD as to implement a basic ELD program you need to focus on Exchange and other supported areas. AIESEC Hungary MCP (Mate Scharnitzky) LC University of Warsaw in spring 2009 had around 10 members after most of old members (around 60 people) left the organization because of the really bad atmosphere among people. The EB consisted newbies and LCP who was an OCP before. The results that year were pretty low (50X) and it took two years to rebuild the committee. Now the LC has 85 involved members, realizing almost 200X in 2011 so it took two years to rebuild it.
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and we are focusing on growth in the number of exchanges. Jana Proskeova, LC Zlin, Czech Republic In Romania we’re switching from a department base structure to a project based structure. What does this mean? The strategic role of the EB is given to the middle management team. They are the main responsible in developing strategies to achieve certain goals. The EB identifies the needs and sets the final goal, pass those coordinates to a team of Specialists that will develop a strategy and implement it with the help of the members. The members. The members are engaged in what they do, following their own career plan which leads to personal and functional development. AIESEC in Craiova is implementing this new structure, even though it is an LC made out of an average number of 40 active members. This is a proof that this can be implemented in mostly all types of LCs as a good case practice. Eduard Till, LC Craiova, Romania
First year was spent to make people connected again, liking each other, make a team spirit again. The next year we gained results, developing the knowledge and so on. For more information pawel.gorski@aiesec.net, LC Warsaw, AIESEC Poland Organizational culture also must be flexible in terms of middle management, if it is needed. For example, in LC Zlin we had only one TL position in the end of last term. Now we have six TLs under three functional areas (ICX GCDP and GIP and OGX areas) because we have increased our plan
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 11. Being a Leader Personal Characters Where to Start: The “Why?” and your Vision: Personal: ❖ The need of leadership in me ❖ Define your values ❖ Choosing the approach and leadership style ❖ Creating a vision of me as a leader ❖ Vision to goals. Team: ❖ The need of leadership for Team/ LC ❖ Team Values ❖ Team/EB style ❖ How to create EB/LC vision ❖ Vision to goals In the past emperors used to say “We” instead of “I”. It means that leader is a dual person: he represents himself and the organization. That’s why this part of the chapter is divided into two points. Personal and Organizational. First of all, why do we need leadership? Actually AIESEC Russia in 2010 thought this was useless so there were no candidates for MCP 2011/2012. But hopefully we realize the need and find candidate for the job. So why did you apply? What will you bring to There is no right answers for leadership styles – listen to yourself and build up your own.
your role and take from it. What do you want to improve in yourself ? Take 5-10 minutes and answer these questions! ❖ Why do we need leaders in our organisation, what do we expect from them, how about being without a leader? ❖ Is a leader the God or emperor of manager of organisation? Ask your people about it and get the answers. It can be that you and your people see the leader’s role and position differently. As soon as you defined what for you need leadership, it’s time to find out something that will help you in keeping the leadership performance: your values. While you are living and working according your values, nothing can stop you or break you down forever. Just for a while =) When I’m thinking, which decision to make, i use my values.[..] Your team consists of different bright individual, with their own values if you what to avoid conflicts between them – it’s impossible. But you can reduce it, revealing your common values. We made it with my tea. It took freaking 6 hours of discussing; clearing, creating and we finished it with satisfaction of understanding each other. A t t h i s p o i n t , w e h o p e yo u understand basically your team, yourself in case of what for do you need leadership and which values are
guiding you. It should give you an impression how people want you to work with them; to be more strict and authoritative of more supporting and democratic. Listen to yourself what’s more relevant/desired by yourself. In this point there are no right answers – what kind of leader you should be, how you should behave. Don’t copy other leaders – it wont work with you, in your situation. Build up something unique, something very yours. It doesn’t matter, what kind of leader you are: matters only the effect, the result of it. I’ve Leading Yourself and Leading Your Team: Stories from LCPS in the trenches. When I started as LCP, I was shocked by how much information was given to me and how many things I needed to do and manage. From one day to another you become a leader of the LC and everyone is telling you what you need to do. Lots and lots of things, planning team building, exchange processes, numbers, goods etc. Everyone is asking you how things are, what have you been doing, if you’re doing this and that, NST, MC... The responsibility of an entire LC is on you and what I figured out after 6 months is that you are not the LCP so that others can tell you what to do or what timeline you should follow. You were elected because the people in your LC thought that you were the best person to lead that LC for this year, with your vision, ideas and priorities. The pressure of the responsibility sometimes makes you forget that. So try everyday to
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! remember why you applied for LCP, why your still here, and how you will make YOUR difference. Larraitz Ventoso, LC Bilbao, Spain Do what you really want to do not what you are supposed to do”
Hélène Yohannes- ULB-Belgium “You LC is going to be what you are.” Olivia Lee- UIBE- Mainland of China. Team Motivation ABC: To trust your teammates more than they trust themselves. It's simple but practical. In AIESEC there's a big problem that we don't have enough knowledge or experience towards our operation especially when we are facing more challenges with bigger scales. The problemsolving flow is: Determine Direction - Define problems - search for inputs - implement feedback and review. As we don't have enough infor mation and knowledge sometimes it's hard for us to determine and ensure our direction because we are not familiar with the area we are facing and we don't feel safe towards it. It's a must for the leader to motivate teammates, pushing them
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to enter the process of problem solving and help them to believe more in themselves. People will not treat I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT as IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DO IT, and you give them the power and encouragement to start their movement.
- History of the LC- How things used to be done
Kay Zhang- LC UNNC Mainland of China
- Ask you team what they want from their term
“Your team are not your followers, but your believers and the future”
- Where do they see the LC in one year?
Hélène Yohannes- ULB-Belgium
- How are they going to accomplish this? Offer your insight and see what they think.
Larraitz Ventoso, LC Bilbao, Spain This is exactly what leadership is about! I tended to believe that being LCP was just tracking and coaching my EB.... But HELL NO! Remember you chose to run for this position, what was your motivation to take this step? Mine was passion, my vision and the change that I really wanted to bring into my LC. As LCP, I strongly believe that we tend to think that were going to be recognized through what our LC will achieve in terms of results but it’s not being a leader its being a CEO. Being a leader is simply; make your LC believe through your identity and your OWN story.
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“Make sure that you and your people are going in the same direction”. Maybe you have heard this before but the question is, why is this so important for you to know? Imagine that your term is pushing a huge stone, from point A to point B. It is very hard work. Imagine how much harder it could be if you and your team are pushing the stone in opposite directions. The main thing is, achieving a common understanding between you and your team will allow the cohesion needed to push the stone together toward a common destination. Advice: ❖ Know your team - Team building- It is easier for people to understand each other when they know one another. - One on one meetings- Understand their personal goals and what motivates them. - Have activities together. Facilitate communication and activities so that team members can easily work together. ❖ Explain to them previous accomplishments and challenges
- How to build on the term before yours. ❖ Plan the future- Think about this before
Maybe you will not like all of these answers, but if you want to go in the same direction as your team, you have to take part of their ideas or even to change your original plans to accommodate their goals. All of these things you are doing are will help you and your team agree on the future and this is how you LC will push their “stone” in the same direction. Predrag Gogic – LC ALFA – Serbia Everything starts with the mindset You have big goals and you want to reach bigger dreams? Then you have to be aware of the importance of the role of the culture in, or simple the mindset in your LC. A maybe small looking thing could change the behavior and the ambition in your LC. If your dreams do not scare you, they are just not big enough It is important to never settle and dare to take risks. Don’t be afraid of failure. Create an atmosphere which is ambitious and realistic.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! I can accept failure, everyone fails at something but I can’t accept not trying Michael Jordan You’re here to learn - failure is just another valuable lesson, so cherish it up! Radu Matei, LC Anod, Romania People might think you are crazy but do not let them get you down because what you want is possible, you just need to make it happen. It’s the unreasonable people and ideas that bring progress to the world. Think of the example: with just selling toilet paper 230 LCPs from 42 countries at EuroCo 2011 in Prague raised 10 000 CK in just 4 hours! Cut the Crap Ask yourself whether what you’re doing is actually important and productive. What would you do if you could work only 2 hours / day? These are the only really important things. Think of the Pareto rule 20% of efforts bring you 80% of results. (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Pareto_principle) Maybe you’re putting unnecessary rules, tasks, and reports for your team - cut out. Maybe you’re the obstacle to their success. Sometimes you may think that you’re productive if you’re doing a lot of stuff: like checking emails all the time. Well, YOU’RE NOT! Be there for everyone! Most underestimated thing for your LC is to get in touch with everyone and letting them know that you’re always there for them on a professional and emotional level.
My VP Comm was working so hard that at some moment he said: I just have a black hole in my head. I don’t know what to do. That was the time to send him on vacation. I told him: have rest, don’t check emails… Denis, LC Cologne, Germany Your main duty is to take care of your EB but don’t forget to be close to your members as well. Your personal experience / inputs have a huge impact on members’ engagement and performance. Radu Matei, LC Anod, Romania Don’t take yourself and your work too serious It’s ok to have fun once in a while. If you feel that you can’t look at your EB, it’s definitely the time to slow down. Don’t get stuck in an AIESEC bubble Good ideas are not only created by AIESECers - ask your environment. Think outside of the box - there is no box so don’t limit yourself: Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Spoon boy: There is no spoon. Neo: There is no spoon? Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. The Matrix movie Expectations and Adapting All LCPs will walk into their terms with different expectations. Expectations for what they want to accomplish, for their team, for the experience its self and for their personal performance. Many of these expectations will change, evolve or be completely blown apart. An LCP has
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to adapt the changes that are thrown at them and to do their best with ever changing circumstances and challenges. ❖ Your team will work well together, listen and respect you, desire personal and professional development, be highly motivated, take initiative, and last their entire term. - W h i l e t h i s m ay b e b e yo u r expectation it is an unlikely reality. - Adapt: using the personal skills that you have brought to your role as well as new ones you have developed, you have to adapt to these situations. Team members quit, or have to be fired, strong personalities may challenge you, your team may not get along, there may be cultural barriers, differences in values, lack of motivation, or a struggle to take initiative. ROLL WITH IT!! ++ - Be creative, innovative and understanding, but don't give UP! ❖ Your going to accomplish great thing in your term. Your exchange numbers will be the highest they have ever been, everyone on campus will know and love AIESEC, companies will be running to meet with you, your team will love making marketing calls, and Eps will always have an amazing experience. - Many LCPs accomplish amazing things in their term, both within their LC and personally. And have ambitious goals is an excellent strategy. We added this expectation because there will always be challenges to your success and the above may not happen the way
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! you expect them to. Companies maybe be reluctant to work with you or give you the time of day, creating awareness on campus may be difficult, members may lack initiative in marketing and doing core work. While these challenges can be discouraging, it is these tests that develop and distinguish you as a leader. Embrace them, overcome them and learn from them. Its GREAT to be a LCP! ❖ Women on billboards ❖ Your team losing the focus is one of the most dangerous things which can happen in the term. Just like the picture shows, it doesn’t matter how attractive the opportunity is, if it’s not helping you to reach your goals, don’t do it.
Of course he looked up, and the next thing you know it, the car was on the roof. And he could have just parked the car and enjoy the billboard later…If you know what I mean ❖ That can easily happen during the term. The thing is that there will be many “new” opportunities and epic ideas from your VPs, but not all of them are going to be the ones that can help you hit your goals. That’s where you step in to make sure the ideas provided are on the same track, yes, four women look great right now, but they’re not helping you to park the car… ❖ Try a small exercise. Take an interesting video and put it on the wall. Tell your EB to pay attention to the movie, but while they are watching it, put your laptop on one side of the group and play something else, like a funny commercial. Most of them will take their eyes of the important video, even just for a second. Explain them that that second can be even three months in the term. Don’t lose focus!
Role model Respect – it's now or never ❖ The guy whose car is on the picture was probably driving across town, minding his business, going to grab a snack or have a beer, the music in the radio was playing, no traffic, everything as he planned. But then, just as he was about to take a turn park the car, a billboard with four drop-dead women appeared above his head.
❖ Responsibilities When was the last time you told you’re VPs to respect the deadlines? To answer missed calls? Not to be late for EB meetings? - frustrating, isn’t it? Well, let me tell you a secret, the way you behave is the way your team will behave! Don’t forget, you are the leader of your LC, if you want your
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team to respect you, you need to show them your respect. At first I didn’t take too much care about some of the VPs not answering e-mails regularly. I thought that some freedom might create positive atmosphere in the team. It turned out my “positive atmosphere” was nothing more than “easy-going” one – and easy – going atmosphere is like a black hole, sucking in all the enthusiasm and responsibilities you guys have. At one point I was pissed off because they were lazy and irresponsible. But the core of the problem was that I was the one sometimes late with e-mail responses, phone calls etc. Normally, they followed. The point is to create a set of rules in the beginning and to make sure you are the first one to follow them. E-mail reply within 36 hours or less, respecting DDLs, answering missed calls ASAP... Involve the VPs in creating the rules and make sure YOU follow them. Kristijan Vukobrat - LC Rijeka Croatia ❖ Trash talk How many times did you talk bad about your members, about your MC, or about the AI (yes, the myaiesec.net is a frustrating thing to work with)? Now imagine your members talking bad about your EB behind your back. Not so nice, is it? Be aware of the influence you have on your members. Constructive feedback is good, not so constructive crap – not good. The way you lead your EB is the way they’ll lead their functional teams. Domino effect is a powerful thing. See your LC as a bunch of sheep, especially in the beginning. You’ll maybe need to clean up the LC meeting room or arrange the chairs by yourself, but soon they’ll copy the behavior
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! and do it themselves. Everybody is copying you. It looks a bit weird, but it’s the truth. Aileen Selderhuis – LC Twente – The Netherlands ❖ Enthusiasm - Make sure you and your EB are the first ones for the morning plenary, doing roll calls. Soon the members will join. It works with everything you do, from LC meetings to simple cup of coffee with members. - NEVER forget the impact you have on the membership.
I didn’t care really care about their feelings, and personal problems and that was really catastrophic because they were totally demotivated. Stefan- Nis- Serbia The culture of the LC cannot be changed because some members don’t like it, it should support your goals and vision and individuals should feet on it or give up. Stefan- Nis- Serbia Top 10 fuck-ups experiences ❖ If you hide fuck ups from your people eventually they will find out and they won’t trust you anymore. Vit , CZU Praha- Czech Republic
Top Challenges & FuckUps During your term you will have many challenges for this we’ll give you a hand. When you are elected you have the stupid expectation that everything in your term is going to be great… I have to tell you that you are totally wrong! Sometimes things not turn out the way you expected to. ❖ Don’t panic! You have the chance to learn from all that! ❖ Take a bath, relax and reflect. Trust me it’s really good! ❖ Find a solution. Below there are some challenges that are happening during LCP term EB team: they are the people that will make your life hard! But not just that.. When somebody asked me who makes my life hardest I replied my EBs.. but afterwards he asked me who makes my life wonderful and I replied exactly the same thing. Christina-Aegean-Greece
❖ If you try to be BFF’s with your EB members, they will never respect you. ❖ If you are doing something just to satisfy your members, it will be always someone who will disagree you. You can’t make everyone happy, but it’s ok. ❖ If you complain to your EB of how hard is your job, no way someone will apply as LCP next year. ❖ If you take too many responsibilities just to show that you are capable, at some point you will be so overwhelmed that you will want to quit. ❖ If you offer your help if it’s not needed, people will tend to use you to do their work every time. ❖ If you try to manipulate people at some point they will figure it out, be true to yourself and others. ❖ If you choose your team from people you don’t think that are capable don’t choose them at all,
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they will be always complaining about they’re position and will make the others unhappy. ❖ If you try to be like someone else and simulate everything that he’s doing, you won’t be credible. ❖ Don’t overcomplicate things you will lose 3 quarters of your time to structure and you will have only 1 quarter of actually putting in practice. Roxana, Galati- Romania Top 3 MCP challenge’s Choosing your MC VP’s coming from other areas (VP COMM- MC VP ICX) Sedat, MCP Turkey Trying to do so many things and in the end of the day realising that if you really want to do something big you need to focus only on one thing Florent, Mainland of China Trusting your team that they know how to do things right. Mikey, MCP Romania
Characteristics of a Leader While operating a leader performs s e r i e s o f s k i l l s, a b i l i t i e s a n d characteristics. While he does so, he develops them and they bring him success. In fact the personal characteristics of a leader have only one way to be developed: By doing it ❖ Among these characteristics are: ❖ Being confident ❖ Being respective ❖ Being inspirational
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! ❖ Being charismatic
❖ Being empathic
Without the foundation the building will collapse, no matter how grand it is planned. Also without respect your plans will collapse, no matter how great they are.
❖ Having the ability to listen
Inspiration
❖ Having will power
What else we have among main characteristics is being inspirational to your team and if we go a little further being a role model for your team. About the best way to do it is being an example to your team, leading by example, giving your team more than your duty requires, more knowledge and wisdom. In that case your every meeting with your team, your ever y speech and ever y instruction will inspire and motivate people to work at the best of their ability. Also what matters here is the charisma of the leader, charisma and self-branding. And these two elements come from the person, his leadership and his actions.
❖ Being visionary ❖ Being convincing
❖ Demonstrating integrity and honesty, Etc. Confidence promises the considerable result of a leader’s activities. As an example let’s take case when a leader is having a speech before people. And here it doesn’t matter how properly dressed he is, how good his voice sounds or his body language operates, as long as he is not confident. While having a little less presentation skills, but being confident, he can have much more success in delivering his speech. Respect Respect, apart from being a very necessary thing in our everyday life, is a great virtue and basis to everything we do. As one Japanese proverb goes “Everything starts with respect and ends with respect” and it does have a big point; just in your mind take out respect from your team and imagine what will happen. And being respective doesn’t just mean that when you meet an elderly lady you must greet her first. Respect is more than that; it is an approach to everything around you. It includes being punctual, because otherwise you will be late at a meeting, which is stealing people’s precious time’, which is disrespect. And definitely without respect you can never fully achieve your final goal. Respect is like the main part of the foundation of the building you intend to build.
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what is easy. And it takes a great deal of strength and will power to see the right thing and great deal more to choose it. Leader’s choices must first of all be for the long-term good of his team, his community. We are managing not only teams, but we are managing lives. Ksenia Baberina, LC Krasnodar,Russia No one can be the leader unless he takes the genuine joy in the success of his team. And your team is your LC. Love your people stretch them. Grow them. Olga, LCP Moscow, Russia Your job is to lead, not to be liked. Charlotte Sorensen, LC Tronheim, Norway
Ability to listen A good instructor as a leader must be, yet he must also have the ability to listen, to see and understand other points of view. It usually happens that people think they’re listening to others, but actually they think what to say when others finish speaking. But it’s obvious that if you listen to others, look at things from their perspective, it’ll be much easier for you to deliver what you have to say, to convince them in accordance with their concerns. Will Power Also will power is a very essential thing any leader should be “made of ”. \Because during your term as a leader you must constantly face the choice between what is right and
Contribution by: Sarah Guinta- LC Guelph- Canada Kay Zhang – LC UNNC – Mainland of China Marek Hojnacki – LC Warszawa – Poland Predrag Gogic – LC ALFA – Serbia Kristijan Vukobrat – LC Rijeka – Croatia Niels Hachmann – LC Passau – Germany Larraitz Ventoso-LC Bilbao-Spain Helene Yohannes-LC ULB-Belgium Roxana Golaes- LC Galati- Romania Denise Benski – LC Koeln – Germany Annamari Lignell – LC Saimaa - Finland Vit Fratric – CZU Praha – Czech Republic Faci Anya Dvornikova, LC NSU- Russia Arman Khachatryan - LC Yerevan- Armenia
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 12. What’s in it for me? Learning and choice of individual: everything is already there, served and ready. It’s up to you how to use it for your own benefit. You are the only one who can choose what you want to take out of it. The choice is up to you whom you want to be. “AIESEC XP Challenges are best ever as they will push not just to come up with problems that you may face inside the organization but it s more. It’s about totally life changing way of creating your future. The unexpected of your story will be that you will be that you feel that main thing that changed through the time within the organization will not be the one within your Local Committee but your life.” - Denisa, LCP Venezia, 2011/2012 Personal challenges Fear: Fear is totally okay, everyone has it. Fear related to decision making: ❖ Do you have a hard time taking important decisions? Then you are fearing the consequences. Every decision is connected to fear, but most of the time the risk is worth it and if it feels right for you, and you feel connected to it will be the right decision. “Just fucking do it” i.e. LCPs of Canada. How to overcome fear: ❖ get feedback from others and implement it ❖ prepare yourself ❖ share it with your EB ❖ trust yourself
“In search for motivation. I was quite often down and demotivated because when you are LCP you very often have the time that you are always final responsible for the decisions you take, these could be failures as well. What I did was I just talked to people who already experienced this position and talked to people who were close to me. You need support in these moments and your dear people are the ones who are giving it to you.” - Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF, Russia 2011/2012 “Young leaders have very often unreasonable fear for asking feedback and advice from their predecessors. Keep in mind that your predecessors are one of your best advisors and make them to be your friends and supporters” - Erik Raudsepp, LCP Tartu, Estonia 2011/2012 “I had a team, each of which was amazing individual but also very egocentric sometimes and I had to deal with that just showing respect to all that they were saying, balancing and telling them one key thing: they should value the inputs of each of them.” - Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF, Russia 2011/2012 “I am challenged personally on a daily basis. Challenged by the people, my EB, my LC, my members and even myself. I question my ideas and my beliefs, I challenge my confidence and my leadership. And that’s how I learn!” - Leo Szivo, LCP City, UK 2011/12 Overcoming fear: “I was scared to be the leader of the whole LC, after I had just been OCP. I was afraid of the lack of authority especially considering that my EB included 5
generations of AIESEC 2 of which joined before me. And the only way that I could deal with that was to tell my EB that I am not more experienced than they are, that I am going to learn during this year as well and that I need their support in that , because at some point people trusted me, but It doesn’t mean that I was ready for that position” Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF, Russia2011/2012 “How can you not be scared when you are leading a local entity, when you handle so many responsibilities, when there is so much to be done and everything depends on you, on your actions and thoughts? But AIESEC teaches you how to get over it, how to deal with pressure and expectations, until you succeed. In AIESEC, as soon as you overcome your fears, your doubts, you will learn and develop, you will achieve and make an change” - Leo Szivo, LCP City, UK 2011/12 The best thing how to deal with the fear of failure is to ask yourself what is the worst thing that can happen? “Even if you fail totally and the LC gets closed down in two years they will open it again” - Dey Dos Even if you take the wrong decision, if you fail you have the chance to learn through failure and make it better next time. “ever tried, ever failed no matter try again fail again fail better” - Nice Quotes “Failure is the step to success” - i.e. Mindaugas “You are not a failure until you give up” Unknown
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Fear of not being the right person:
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” Bill Gates
Have you ever had doubts that you are the perfect person for this position? We all have this feeling at one point, but you have been chosen for a reason and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. No one is perfect in the beginning and during your term you will grow in your position.
“I have failed over and over again, and this is why today, I succeed” - Leo Szivo, LCP City, UK 2011/12
“When you think you figured out everything, when you know what are the things you have to do, you are at the end of the term.” i.e. Anna Kofink – LC Salzburg – Austria Try to work with this fear and don’t let it become a barrier. ❖ Practical tips: “For me it was really helpful to read books about management and how to lead a team. It helped me to overcome this fear, because it gave me practical insight in the topic.” i.e. Jana Proskeova – LC Zlin – Czech Republic “Ask your predecessor for feedback, it can help a lot” i.e. Anna Kofink – LC Salzburg - Austria Chance to learn through failure: “We had magnificent summer RE. The only thing missing was quality. Our trainees were not satisfied with what they got. Apart from that we lost the office, in which we were working for 20 years. My EB was telling me that I do not have any authority and there was no money in the LC budget. But after I faced all this crap and was really at the bottom of this world cursing myself for everything and thinking that that was all my thought I thought that now it is just my role to bring this strange thing to the state of LC back. And this pushed me to stand up and go and make an action plan instead of giving up” Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF, Russia2011/2012
Responsibility: “I love having such big responsibility, sometimes you can be afraid of it but sometimes you see it as as the greatest opportunity that you have. It can be overwhelming from time to time. One of the amazing things in the network is that we are all connected by this responsibility. It is important to remember, that even considering your overall responsibility you always should be the one driving your team to a certain direction and not doing everything by yourself. If in the end of the year we would have reached all the goals, I would be happy to celebrate it with my team” - Andreas, MCP Norway. 2011/2012 “It is not hard to be LCP, it is hard to wake up and feel the responsibility” - Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF 2011/2012 Being the one managing amazing AIESEC experiences: “Being LCP of one local committee in such big city, full of opportunities and people who want to grab them all is not so easy job. But once you realize that even in such ocean of activities you can participate in AIESEC is still unique opportunity, you feel yourself more confident. I feel myself as a present giver. With my work is to allow people bang their mindset by living outstanding experience every day. And the coolest joy I ever experienced is my returnees, leaders, members and interns. In the end of the day all crap is cut and you see how you changed their life. It’s my happiness.”- Olga Ivanova LCP Moscow 2011/2012 “Managing these amazing AIESEC Experiences you are always afraid of the
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influence that you produce on people. And in this situation you should always remember to be yourself because when you were already elected for this position, you can be sure that you are the right person for that. Whatever comes, trust in yourself. YOU is the best person that you can be” - Alisa Taiturova, LCP SPUEF, 2011/2012 You as an LCP you have are the most responsible for the results of the LC. You are the one managing the fife changing experiences for the member and TL. When you are with your team you have to act as a roll model. You are the one shaping the LC, the way you act the way your LC will be. This means a lot of pressure not to fail. But in the end it is ne of the best feelings you can have, and if you really are able to change only one person’s life it is a huge impact. Lack of motivation: There are always time when you feel super demotivated and frustrated. This period will definitely come. But it is also a time where you learn a lot. Tips: ❖ Talk to other LCPs from different countries, they are facing the same challenges and feeling the same way. You will find always an LC that is more fucked up than yours ;). ❖ A lot of problems an LC Is facing comes from the fact that the LCP has no time to reflect ❖ plan some time for yourself, activities you like, family, friends outside of @ ❖ Take a rest, take the time to reflect on everything. ❖ find out at the beginning what motivates you
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! Have a boyfriend or girlfriend outside of @: Very difficult to manage, he/she is not on the same page, takes time, doesn’t understand, set the right expectations, only a year Practical tips: ❖ if you spend time with him/her focus only on him/her ❖ the best thing you can do is find an AIESECer as partner ;-) “People are actually completely different. You should approach everyone differently. It’s obvious – you may say – it was obvious to me when I was starting . But putting it into practice and focusing on peoples good sides is actually terribly hard, which you can learn being an LCP. There are many such examples: you know the theory, but when it comes to the realization it turns out to be tough: developing vision, strate g y, negotiations, crisis management, crosscultural understanding and effective communication. You will practice all that while being an LCP and that will change your life J Not to mention the people…. :) - Mavek, LCP Warsaw 2011/2012 Connecting to your Network LCPs are the young leaders. One day those young leaders will be leaders in the business world. By taking the LCP position you have taken the step forward to join this special group of people around the world. During your term you might feel lonely, but don't worry, you are not alone out there. If you 'll look around you, you'll be able to find many previous LCPs who shared the same ambitions and fears. Don't hesitate to contact them!
Trough LCP position you can connect yourself with hundreds of previous LCPs and gain the knowledge from their experience or what they have learned in the business world. You're the leader of your LC you will create the impact for you members. In the future these people might be your successors and will make use of the network like you did before them. As LCP there are so many networks and connections that you can utilize. So we can name just a few of them: ❖ LC P n e t wo rk ( c u r re n t a n d previous ones) ❖ Board of advisors ❖ MC connections ❖ EB connections ❖ International LCP connections Therefore I would like to share something with you wich is part of my LCP experience: “I've heard that LCP is a very lonely position. Well, in terms of the LC it's more or less true. However when I became a LCP I discovered that there are ways to make it not lonely at all. I remember the words of one of the former LCPs in Poland, when she said that we should create a team of LCPs but also find at least one person among all these LCPs that is somehow similar or totally different from you (there is no rule ;)) and become true friends. When I've heard it, I thought – cool, easy to say but what if I don't find that person? And the answer is stop it and just connect with other LCPs I believe I've found few lifetime friends among this amazing group of people and I can say that I as an LCP am totally not a lonely person.” - Magda, LCP of LC Lodz in Polan If you don't believe us how big and awesome your network is just take a
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look at you Facebook page and take a look how many of your friends are AIESECers :) You're part of this awesome network so don't hesitate to use it! Being part of the big picture influence: Three blind men had never seen an elephant and went to the zoo to figure out what this elephant is. after the excursion men had a met and began to discuss their impression. The fist said elephant is like a snake. Second said “no its hard and bony. Third said: No! Elephants are like a tree. All three were really confused. Elephant and blind men story: As a member, you can only see a small part of the elephant, but as a leader you will not only see the elephant it is your job and responsibility to see the whole. As a leader you are painting a picture. Sometimes you need to take a step back to really admire the entire image. This is the only way you can see your future steps, as a promise; take a step to the future, and you will see the things from a different perspective. You will see how the experience that you are living now is developing you in the present moment. Your LC is your canvas. Your EB team is your color. You have to paint the most awesome painting, a painting that you will be proud to showcase in your life gallery. Stop for a second from all your tools and spreadsheets. Take a step back and look at your EB team. Look at your LC members. Take a look at your national presidents’ team. All of this is developing you every day. In
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! the end it is all about being the best you can be and enjoying every second of it. Appreciate. Cherish every moment you spend with your team. No matter how bad they screw up, make them see the learning points and find some of your own. At the end of your term you’ll miss them a lot. Outsource. Give your EB the opportunities to develop. Stop doing all the work. Trust your members to do it. You will engage them and help them have their own aha moments. T his way your focus will be developing yourself and developing others. Along your LCP term you will find companies, alumni, NGOs that will support what you are doing and this will help you to be focused all the time on the things that matter. Share. Create a space for sharing ideas in your team. Don’t kill ideas. Encourage them. Understand people and their ideas since every idea makes sense to its creator and you as a leader should see the view of other person. After all, a good painting is not formed only by one element, but from a mixture of diverse and creative pieces that will make a whole. “Take a step back and enjoy your work. Your EB team reflects your passion and enthusiasm. Your LC reflects the attitude of your EB. So in the end, if you appreciate what you do, everybody will appreciate their work as well. If you don’t, then they won’t either.” - Eduard Till - LCP of AIESEC in Craiova, Romania “Your team resembles you in all that is good and all that is bad” Kristjan Vaalberk – LCP of AIESEC Aalto in Helsinki, Finland
“as a leader you can envision together and engage forever.” What changed for you? Being an LCP for a year will change many things for you. ❖ With time you learn how to s ay ,,why n ot?” to al l th e challenges you face ❖ You should just take it easy ❖ You realize that a leader should be part of the team, your success depends on your VPs. ❖ You will be more flexible ❖ You will not be afraid of asking ❖ You will expose yourself which will help you to discover what are you capable of ,,Every time I’m messed up I try to take a second and look at myself from outside and I always realize that everything connected to my life, my personality and my mindset have changed. That’s what makes me happy and that’s why I’m doing it.” - Ildi, LCP of LC Szeged in Hungary What do we gain? ,,To live AIESEC you have to leave AIESEC” Network Self-confidence Self-knowledge Spiritual awakening Professional and personal experience ❖ Patience ❖ Adaptability ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
“What I gained is the awareness that I’m developing myself in a way that many young people don’t have the opportunity to. I gained a lot of self-confidence especially referring to the fact that I’m only 22 years old, but when I speak people really listen to me and respect
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me as someone who is important and who is able to make an impact and a change in our society” - Ajla, LCP of LC Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Why is it worth it? ,,During conferences you will have the pleasure of joining LIQUID Country Meetings… here you will discover the fun of adding ,,between my legs” to for example company slogans.” - Jendrik, LCP of LC Hamburg in Germany ❖ Feeling of satisfaction (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of commitment (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of passion (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of fear (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of not being alone (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of knowledge (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of gaining knowledge (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of believing in yourself (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of trust (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of someone having your back (between my legs) ❖ Feeling of fulfillment (between my legs) “So cut the crap, because IT’S GOOD TO BE AN LCP!!!”
Contribution by: Jendrik, Joanne, Edu, Kristjan, Magda, Anna, Ajla, Jannik, Alisa, Jana, Ildi, Silver Feedback: Inge Tanke, LC Tilburg, the Netherlands
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book!
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Chapter 13. Connecting the dots How you as a LCP can make the change? Once Steve Jobs said: “you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has Ask made all the difference in my life.” ❖ Now that we have taken a serious approach to AIESEC as social ❖ enterprise, we are able to connect the dots and to see the relevance of being the ❖ CEO. For the future, we have to imagine that we are in 2015 and have achieved ❖ our goals. Only this point of view enables us to connect the dots and to see ❖ that every single facet of this booklet is connected to the higher goals of 2015. ❖ During EuroCo ‘11, we demon-strated that ❖ AIESEC is not an NGO anymore, nor is it only a profit orientated enterprise. We l o o k e d a t o u r organisation as a social enterprise, and realised that AIESEC becomes the largest social enterprise of the world when defined in this context. Being a social enterprise means striving for (financial) sustainability by selling our programs, but at the same
time having a social impact. Rather than driven by product and service delivery, it is experience delivery.
eliminate the things that are limiting us right now. We need more human and financial resources and a better developed structure in our LC’s to This is exactly aligned to our values achieve the 2015 goals. Acting as a and strive for excellence, develop social enterprise means having more leadership potential and have a resources to invest in our activities positive impact on society, but exploit and learning how to use these resources, saving time without wasting anything. Our goal is to become the yourself the following questions: first choice of our partners, so we have to start doing How can you make the exchange programs business in a more financially sustainable while having a positive professional way. At the impact on society? same time we need to How can you think out of the box to increase treasure the fact that we are the awareness of our organisation? students and that we are having an impact on young How can you lead your team to make your LC people. performing? How can you motivate your EB to achieve their goals? Max, LCP Amsterdam: “The LCP has What can you do to engage every young responsibilities in 2 ways: person in the world and become the largest firstly checking whether global youth voice? your activities financially What does this social impact mean to you as an sound, secondly: role in individual? encouraging a way of How can you eliminate the things in your LC working that is professional that are limiting you to achieve your goals? and business oriented. Hopefully this ensures a How to obtain credibility and to become the m en tali ty o f fi n an c i al first choice for your partners? awareness throughout the organisation”. the opportunities to become more professional and increase the quality of our products. Currently we have grown and developed to this extent that we are getting to the limits of our abilities. If we want to achieve the ambitious BHAG of 2015, we have to
Betti, LCP Pecs: “It is also important to consider the impact that we have on society. For example the importance of having the talent management program. Only studying does not give enough practical e x p e r i e n c e. A I E S E C e n a b l e s individuals to develop themselves. We
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 - LCPs Wisdom book! should make this unique characteristic of AIESEC more visible to the outside world.” The new AIESEC programs will contribute to achieving these goals only if we deal with them as the products of a social enterprise. The GIP, GCDP, TLP and TMP are our core products and are actually the experiences that we can sell. Being the CEO of our LC as a social enterprise, we as LCP’s need to create financial sustainability with these programs. In order to become a social enterprise, we might have to change our LC culture and adapt it to the triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.
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Being a CEO of a social enterprise means thinking out of the box. After having conversations during the congress we found out that thinking out of the box can have some pretty nice results
and finally decided to join. I am really happy with this decision because I became LCP straight after being a member for a month. AIESEC gave me the opportunity to go straight to the top”.
Antoinne (Belgium): “I joined AIESEC because I met them at a waffle stand at the university”.
Francesca (Italy): “I understood what I really want to do in life as a result of my work in AIESEC”
Ïncze (Romania) “Rather than thinking of reasons why not to do something, think of the reasons why you should.”
Carson (Canada): “I took an internship to India during my term to live our product and demonstrate that you can lead from 12 000 km, and experience more failure and personal development of your key members.
Birdy (Germany): “I joined AIESEC after meeting them at an information evening with friends and drinking gluh wein. I went to this info night
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
The Ultimate 2015 LCPs Wisdom Book
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The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
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AIESEC INTERNATIONAL TEILINGERSTRAAT 126, 3032 AW ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS. TEL: +31 10 443 4383 FAX: +31 10 265 1386 WWW.AIESEC.ORG PUBLICATION DONE BY: MICHAEL OMESCU, MCP 11-12 AIESEC ROMANIA MICHAEL.OMESCU@AIESEC.NET