Nebojša Nikolić
Candidature for
IFMSA PRESIDENT 2019-2020
EDUCATION Medical Faculty, University of Niš, 2012 - present
IFMSA EXPERIENCE Positions Held: Vice-President for Activities 2018/19 Activities Fair and Rex Crossley Awards Support Person - MM2018 Head of the OC - IFMSA TOM2 Evaluation Assistant 2017/18 CCC member AM2017
NEBOJŠA NIKOLIĆ
IFMSA Meetings: TOM2 2018/19 - VPA TOM1 2018/19 - VPA TOM0 2018/19 - VPA 67th August Meeting 2018 - VPA elect TOM5 2017/18 - VPA elect TOM4 2017/18 - VPA elect 67th March Meeting 2018 - Support Person 14th EMR meeting 2018 - observer TOM2 2017/18 - observer 66th August Meeting 2017 - CCC 14th EuRegMe 2017 - general delegate 66th March Meeting 2017 - general delegate 65th March Meeting 2016 - general delegate IFMSA Workshops TNT - preGA MM2018 Presidents' workshop - preGA AM2017 External Representation training - EuRegMe 2017 Essential Leadership Skills - preGA MM2017
IFMSA-SERBIA EXPERIENCE
Positions Held: Supervising Council 2017/2018 Head of OC - 64th NGA 2017 EB member - Secretary General 2016/17 CCC - 63rd NGA 2016 CCC - Extraordinary NGA 2016 LORE - 2015/16 and 2014/15
Meeting attended: 64th NGA 2017 63rd NGA 2016 Extraordinary NGA 2016 62nd NGA 2015 61st NGA 2014
LANGUAGE AND SKILLS
CONTACT +44 7700 9530 nikolicn@outlook.com
Serbian language (native) English language (fluent - CAE C2) German language (basic) Communication skills Organizational and leadership skills Google apps - proficient Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Power Point), Adobe Acrobat, Adobe InDesign
Motivation Letter Dear IFMSA, Several years ago, I attended my first major IFMSA event. Little did I know at the time that the opportunity given to me by my NMO would spark such drive and motivation for me to reach this point, to have the privilege to present to you my candidature for the IFMSA President for the term 2019/20. My name is Nebojša Nikolić, a final year medical student in Serbia, that is only a couple of exams from graduating, yet with a drive of the same strength I had when I first started learning about IFMSA. Granted, it did go through a whole set of changes. It evolved as I evolved. It used to be enough for me to participate in these events, but then I learned more, and wanted to do more. My perspective, motivation and goals changed accordingly. This led to a particular situation. As my participation increased, as I went from being a volunteer in my Local Committee to Vice-President for Activities, I kept being asked the same question by my close friends and family, although at an increasing rate as time went on: “What do you do, and more importantly, why do you do this?”. To them it seemed as a simple question, but I didn’t know how to answer it. How can you explain that feeling you have after successfully completing an activity you worked so much to plan and execute, all the while seeing the impact you were making? How can you explain the experiences gained and friendships made while working in exchanges to those that never experienced them? For those and many other situations, I kept giving different answers as years went by. I do it for friendships I’d say, that joy of helping others that had us enroll into medicine, or that incredible chance I get to go to IFMSA events which are amazing for various reasons, constantly changing the answer. It took me a long time to grasp why, but at one point I had to do it for myself more than to know how to answer the question. I realized everything I enjoyed about IFMSA had its roots in the space IFMSA provides. A space for diversity and unity, respect and understanding, positivity and passion, improvements and collaborations, change and involvement. I found myself in a community that not only supports, but thrives on passion for change and improvements. As someone that from an early age couldn’t keep silent to many injustices and inequities I encountered, it was the perfect space to be in. I could speak my mind, be heard, corrected when wrong, and taught to be correct and efficient. That way I accomplished a lot, learned a lot of facts, acquired a lot of skills, but I appreciate the most the things I learned about myself. By learning about myself, and learning to reflect on myself, I also improved as a person, which in turn enables me to accomplish the things I set out to achieve. That space IFMSA provides, to work and learn in various settings, allowed me to become the person I am today, which is something that has made all this dedication even worthier. To get here, I went through nearly all levels of leadership and engagement within my NMO, participated in different IFMSA workshops, did my best to be involved on the international level
through Plenary Team and International Team participation, before getting to my current position as the Vice-President for Activities. All of those activities have provided me with invaluable lessons. I learned about team qualities. Both by being the one leading and being led, I could see all sides, reflect and learn what kind of values I’d like to have within my teams, leading or not. During this time, I’ve also learned about responsibility and decision making, importance of mental health and appreciation. Going through these levels has helped me understand the struggles and thoughts of everyone in the structure, and appreciate their work sometimes more than my own. Bit by bit I’ve also learned about the structure, how everything IFMSA does fits together, and I already started using the chance I have to assist in its development. Working with so many different people with unique backgrounds, I’ve learned how to make this diversity a strength and not a barrier. These and other experiences have helped me build not only my competency, but also confidence in myself and my work. It is my desire to continue using these skills and qualities that I have, and work within and improve the space IFMSA provides. As I said I find the space the core essence of our accomplishments as a Federation. It ensures IFMSA mission and vision is followed. It ensures that no matter what the leadership is doing, once their term is over, there are others to take over, and begin the cycle anew. Hopefully, using the experiences from the past to be more competent and imaginative to tackle the internal and external challenges they and the world face. That will be my focus. Ensuring that coming from the top, we continue always working towards empowering members. We should never be concerned who will come after us, we should only be excited to see what they will do when given the chance. I understand the task of leading a team of highly competent people who are also leaders in their own areas will not be easy, and that leading an organization at the level IFMSA is will take a lot of time, effort and dedication to do it right. Serving as Vice-President for Activities in the past period has also been one of the most challenging, yet fulfilling experiences I had in IFMSA. In addition to that, working with a team of highly motivated and passionate people has only pushed me forward, and inspired to continue working in IFMSA. My decision to run for another term, this time in a different role, did not come lightly. After experiencing firsthand the requirements of an IFMSA Executive Board and Team of Officials member, the responsibilities this brings, and the dedication required, I knew I had to be confident in my own abilities, before asking once again for your support. Additionally, working in the past period showed me that the confidence and competency are not the only crucial aspects of a successful term. Motivation and desire to dedicate my time and efforts to once again go through the process of team building and leading the Federation were as important to me before I finally was certain.
I am confident in the abilities I have to fulfill the tasks required of me in the position as IFMSA President, and motivated to be the leader throughout the term that IFMSA needs. I promise to you dedication and maximum efforts from my side in order to accomplish this. Thank you for taking the time to go through my motivation letter. I invite you to read the rest of my candidature package, to learn more about what I plan to do during the term if given the opportunity, and exactly what I’ve done to gain the skills necessary to make my plan a reality. Looking forward to seeing you Slovenia! Warm regards, Nebojťa Nikolić
Plan of Action My proposed plan of action was created based on the documents detailing tasks of the President, my personal observations of other roles the President has, as well as the IFMSA Strategy 2017-2020. My primary focus areas will be continuity in the work done by the current President regarding innovations and IFMSA Strategy, as well as empowering Officials to work as a team and achieve their goals. That is not to say I won’t focus on other areas of work of the President as every task is important and needs to be completed. Based on my experience working in the past period I believe these are the crucial aspects that will make accomplishing everything else much easier. Final version of my plan of action that will go into my Annual Working Plan for the term will be changed according to the input from the Officials elect and the NMOs. Should you have any questions about my candidature, don’t hesitate to contact me at nikolicn@outlook.com.
IFMSA Executive Board Due to the mandate of the Executive Board to be the decision-making body of the IFMSA in between General Assemblies, membership in the Executive Board can be a lot to bear. Decisions need to be made on a daily basis that influence both the individual members as well as the entire Federation. They are, more often than not, made on the matters related to another member’s position which requires awareness of the entire board in order to make an informed and the best possible decision. Additionally, the individual tasks still need to be performed by each member of the Executive Board, making it likely to at some point feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities and the amount of work required to perform in both roles. Having had the opportunity to witness this first hand, I fully understand the struggles, and I will work on ensuring that Executive Board members feel both supported and empowered for their individual and team related tasks. This will be my focus as it is vital to have a capable and functioning Executive Board. To achieve this goal, I will focus on the following: • Handover that plays a very important role in continued development of IFMSA. At the point of election of the new Executive Board, the ones still in office have gone through most of the adaptations required and have grown accustomed to the role they are in. o Ensure Executive Board elect is actively preparing through individual handover and personal preparations for the term; o Actively approach the Executive Board to seek their engagement in the process. As one of its members I am in a great position to achieve this; o Ensure Executive Board elect receives the team handover as well on how to function as Executive Board and make decisions. • Unity of the Executive Board which is often observed only in its stances, but there is a lot more to it in a team that needs to work together every day for a full year not accounting for a half term preparation period. Each Executive Board member is also in fact a leader in their own area of work. Having seven leaders working together in a team is a challenge that needs to be overcomed by joint efforts. My role in getting to this stage will be to: o Raise awareness of the importance of knowing the characteristics of each member of the team for better working relationship, and focus on this during the handover period; o Include all members of the Executive Board in the decision making and team activities; o Facilitate the process of setting expectations, values and working preferences of the entire team, and help everyone get adjusted to them. • Decision making procedures and how decisions are made vary between the team. Each team has taken what the previous has done, and made adjustments to suit their team. That comes by naturally, after first setting up the initial guidelines and then adjusting them once the team has had the chance to work together. I will: o Coordinate the process from the elections till the end of the term; o Have informed decision making process within the Executive Board; o Ensure the decisions Executive Board makes are consistent, transparent and timely throughout the term. • Trust in capabilities and decisions of the team. There will be times when not everyone will be on board with the decision made, but needs to be able to accept the final decision made, and trust in it. Additionally, the team will work in smaller groups on different tasks
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and rely on one another to have them completed. It is essential that they trust the tasks will be completed in quality manner in order to be as efficient as possible. I will: o Promote the trusting atmosphere within the team; o Follow up on all members to see how everyone is doing and support them when needed to have the work completed; o Be present myself as well, available to assist, engage and remind about the things we need to do as a team and individuals; o Coordinate the team building during and before the term starts. Meetings of the Executive Board are important not only for the decision making, but also for finishing many of the tasks between individual members. I will coordinate the meetings, both online and physical meetings, and ensure Executive Board members are aware of the importance of their attendance to all of them. Workload management is especially important for Executive Board members that have double roles essentially, as being the EB and an Official. I will ensure there is a support system in place for both the EB and the TO to help them achieve their potential, and not be overwhelmed by everything.
Team of Officials Our Team of Officials is divided into groups, all coordinated by dedicated Executive Board members that are working closely with them. As the President I would be tasked to coordinate them, but what would that mean in this sense when we already have someone following up on each Official and supporting them in their work? All Officials at one point or another rely on each other to have work completed and support to accomplish their Annual Working Plans. To do that once again it’s important to build the team spirit right from the beginning in TOM0, and keep it throughout the term. I see my role in this area as not only someone providing space for the Officials to work together through Team of Officials meetings and opening of the input processes, but also ensuring they feel informed and empowered to actively contribute. Being an Official is an opportunity not only to focus and develop individual areas, but also focus on larger picture and contribute to the overall development of IFMSA. To actively participate in the discussions, and find inspiration in being a TO member and not a burden. This is easier said than done though. It is not possible to force team spirit. It needs nurturing and efforts from the whole Team in order to reach a point where the prospect of meeting each other in a month or two is exciting and motivating. Concretely in order to achieve this I will: • Ensure transparency in the work of the Executive Board even in the elect period in order for Officials to be up to date in TOM0 with the work EB has been doing and the intentions for the term, and also later throughout the term for all Officials; • Prepare TOM0 and future TOMs with the EB-elect to be as involving as possible for the TO with interactive sessions aimed at both bringing knowledge to the TO and provide a get to know each other space; • Coordinate setting up of the team values, and instill a sense of respect of not only our work but also individually; • Create a support system as well for the TO that will best suit their needs in terms of assistance and burnout prevention, as the work can seem overwhelming; • Ensure everyone receives handover and is knowledgeable about the tasks needed to be done and has gone through a preparation phase even in the few short months of the elect period. This will require support from the current Team of Officials; • Follow up on the creation and execution of the Annual Working Plan.
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Following up on the organization and preparations for all Team of Officials meetings and making sure that they will include a balance between capacity building, working groups and general discussions.
IFMSA Strategy We are now at the halfway point working on the most recent IFMSA Strategy, 2017-2020, and I find myself in a great position when it comes to it. Having worked on the remaining first year and my own second year goals, I am fully aware of what is being done, how it’s being done, and what is the plan to achieve our goals. I understand the struggles surrounding the Strategies and the difficulties the current and the past Executive Board have faced. As the President I would be tasked with following up on the execution of the Strategy, and this experience will help me greatly in should I be elected. With the evaluation coming up after our term, it is essential that the Strategy is completed in time for the new one to be drafted. Actions in the next term will either greatly support this process by having the goals completed, or hinder it and reduce the time for preparations of the new Strategy. My planned actions are to: • Put extra emphasis on the Strategy in the EB-elect period and support the EB-elect in the planning on how to achieve these tasks; • Ensure EB-elect is informed about the work done thus far on the Strategy and what is being done right now, both by providing the updates that are being sent as well as approaching the Executive Board to include this information in the handover; • Reassess with the Executive Board and Executive Board elect the current status of the progress, and estimate the time we should be allocating to the Strategy in order to have it fully completed during our term.
IFMSA Alumni and Honorary Life Members IFMSA Strategy is very reflective of the importance IFMSA puts on establishing the structure of involvement of our Alumni and their contributions to further development of IFMSA. Benefits of having former experienced members continued support for IFMSA through even the relatively small number of Alumni that are getting engaged in IFMSA whenever possible. The number of Alumni though far exceeds the number of those that are still following up on IFMSA’s work. My initial plan is to: • Follow up on the progress done in this and past terms in order to provide continuity; • Seek experience from past Presidents to better understand the issues they faced and get their recommendations; • Define procedures for registering Alumni and inform NMOs about the process; • Follow up on the plan for database creation to be better prepared to execute it; It is also not sustainable only for us to be constantly reaching out to the Alumni and seek their support. For the Alumni to be engaged, they need to still feel that same sense of belonging that we all feel when we decide to travel across to world for days at a time, they need to feel the purpose of being still active within IFMSA structure in some form. The new event being held during MM19, the Alumni Gathering Event, is an innovation that I fully support and believe goes a long way in providing Alumni the desire to remain involved. I intend to follow up with the outcomes of this event, and provide support in the possible organization of a future one in AM19.
Specifically, I plan to increase engagement by: • Exploring the potential interest in having more opportunities for meetings of IFMSA Alumni; • Provide them with the updates on the work done, and specifically mention if there is a possibility for them to assist the Federation in some of it’s pending matters; • Identifying what kind of support can we have from the Alumni, and what can we offer them in return; Finally, I will continue the work done on development of IFMSA’s collaboration with the Junior Doctors Network as well as the World Medical Association.
IFMSA Board of Recommendations A group of highly esteemed professionals that have chosen to endorse IFMSA constitute our Board of Recommendations. They do not have specific tasks. IFMSA sparsely uses them. In the past terms there were multiple attempts to review this structure and bring improvements. Although a report is shared at the August Meeting, there is still both general lack of knowledge by IFMSA about our Board of Recommendations, as well as no clear plan known to members for this body. I plan to tackle this by: • Above innovation first would be keeping what we currently have and informing Board of Recommendations members about events in IFMSA and ensuring renewal of its members; • Consult past Presidents about their ideas and experiences on this topic; • Present the Board of Recommendations to our members and provide it the visibility inside IFMSA as well as outside.
IFMSA Global Priorities This is another initiative from the past TO that is being developed by the current TO, and will hopefully continue on in the future. After their implementation, the President took over the role of coordinating the internal goals and this has proven successful so the intention will be to bring this procedure into the Bylaws as well, meaning it would become the task of the future President as well should the proposal pass. I am currently involved in the work on Global Priorities mainly through Programs and follow up on the work done thus far. As someone that is working on the internal areas right now, by both collaborating with the Standing Committee Directors and coordinating work on Programs, I am well aware of the opportunities for integration of the Global Priorities in the current IFMSA structure. This is important in order to understand the feasibility of what can or can’t be done when working on the current Global Priorities and planning the future ones. My intentions with the Global Priorities are to: • Seek active involvement in the development of the Global Priorities for the term as President-elect should I be appointed; • Follow up on the report and the recommendations made by the TO for the first version of the Global Priorities; • Ensure understanding of Global Priorities within the TO and implementation of internal goals in their working areas, as well as involvement of other areas of IFMSA work such as Programs and as always IFMSA members; • Continue working on integration of Global Priorities in the Programs;
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Propose capacity building opportunities for our members to better understand Global Priorities and help them bring similar strategies for their NMOs, as well as get actively engaged in working on IFMSA Global Priorities; Evaluate the structure and provide suggestions for the future term(s), as well as coordinate the reporting process of the work on Global Priorities within the term.
IFMSA Meetings I am taking part in the process of restructuring IFMSA General Assemblies, idea which I’ve loved ever since I heard about it. When we first began thinking about it, we realized what a monumental task this is. We had a lot of ideas on what we want to improve, but we noticed several issues I intend to tackle in order to help IFMSA continue its development in terms of its meetings as well: • Time is forever an issue. Drastic changes and movements from the comfort zone cannot be done in one year and two events; • Courage to change and to evolve. I am hopeful that during the current term we will be able to showcase how changing of the GA structure is good and refreshing, and that we will be able to evaluate it. Getting out of the comfort zone and changing habits we’ve all grown to love is difficult, and needs encouragement. I intend to first of all empower the TO-elect and bring them into the process, and then include the NMOs. The events we organize are not for the TO and our ITs, but for our members, so it is extremely important to gather input on the process we’ll be going through in this case. This process if successful would later extend to Regional Meetings. • Common practices can also be an issue in creating change. Due to lack of will, time or creativity, we tend to stick with old practices that may or may not be good for us anymore. I think this is would also be the time to reevaluate some of the things we’ve been doing and brainstorm how to do them better, and create space in our meetings for other activities. This would be a joint effort with the TO and the NMOs. My biggest desire is to move a lot of preparation for the GAs decision making from morning sessions to online platforms, ensuring only most problematic topics are discussed at the GA itself and for everything else we have a common agreement and majority to proceed quickly. Preparation is the key to efficiency.
IFMSA Secretariat As the current coordinator of the Secretariat and it’s development I am well aware of everything related to it. I understand the plans the current Executive Board has, and how it is functioning now, as well as of its potential. Although it is primarily the responsibility of the VPA to be in contact with the Secretary and ensure tasks are completed, it is the entire EBs responsibility to contribute and assist in the development of the Secretariat. The potential is truly there, and it is up to us to make sure it is reached. One person cannot do this, especially with a high workload as the VPA has. Therefore, this support from the EB will be important. Additionally, it will take some time to reach this potential, so continuation in the work is important. That is why the EB and EB-elect need to work together and have EB-elect informed from the start. • I will keep the VPA-elect and the EB-elect up to date on the current events surrounding the Secretariat and gather their input for development so it could be worked on during the current term as well; • I will during the term ensure I’m there to support VPA in capacity as former VPA, as well as follow up on the progress done with the Secretariat.
The Future IFMSA’s vision is a world in which medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and resources to take on leadership roles locally and globally. Based on everything I’ve experienced we do this for sure. However, I have noticed a problem about this when it comes to us, to positions and opportunities within IFMSA. In the past period I’ve sent a lot of calls. Multiple calls for the same position. I wish to discover why. Going into the depths of this issue that is very apparent, but we somehow never find the time to work on it. Some of the reasons I have discovered are: • Lack of information about the opportunities, even though they are usually well advertised with a lot of time to prepare; • Lack of knowledge on what is the expected work in order to make a comprehensive application; • Lack of motivation to apply. There are more, but of the ones I mention, I know that we can influence all. We can work together to empower our members to take on the leadership roles within IFMSA as well. We cannot create a world we dream of, if we do not ensure there will be others, like us only better, to work towards it. I want us in the future to look at IFMSA and be proud of the ones that carried on with our dream.