UbunTU's Love Letter #1
Family . Impactful
Foreword
This is my very first newsletter to all of you, and more to come in the following 6 months! Anyways, I hope all of you are doing great in this busy, stressful and 'long' month. For some of us, it's almost 2 weeks into our holiday; For some of us, exams just ended. Regardless of which category you are in, have faith in yourself, trust in Lord and enjoy the life of an university student :D
It is 179 days or 49.14% into our term, 2016. We have been working hard for the 1st half term, Q2 & Q3, focusing on managing our members, planning, execution of plans and replanning. In the midst of all the hectic, busy and tiring schedule, have you stopped and ponder why are we investing so much of our time and effort and, what was the result?
Once, somewhere in the middle of last month, I realised I have been becoming less motivated, less productive and feeling unclear of my direction and purpose in AIESEC. The question of 'why did I stay in AIESEC and choose to become an LCP' became super difficult to answer at that point of time. After some self reflection, I'm now much motivated and clearer and I couldn't agree more that it is super duper important to do self evaluation & reflection constantly, keeping ourselves on track.
I also realised that some members are losing relevance, feeling less motivated and being clear on the purpose in doing what we do. Despite that, I am really grateful and happy that we have come this far, hopefully still keeping up the positive attitude through all ups and downs, this is all part of our learning experience ey? ;) All the things were made possible because of your support, sense of accountability for each each other and this LC. I couldn't agree more on the importance of having consistent & effective communication, a clear purpose and determination in continuing on with the remaining 196 days of intense journey and self-discovery.
We could have achieve so much more if we have done and not done certain things. It's not too late to reflect, review and act on the things that need improvements now, right? It's a matter of whether we want it (i.e Top Gun or Most Progressive LC) badly enough or not.
Wall of Joy
The UbunTU
The Support System
The Musketeers
What's On This Menu?
- Current Standings
- Q2 Departmental Review
- Q3 Focus & Plans
- Mark Your Calendar & Cross The List
Current Standings
The numbers on experience.aiesec.org doesn't tally with our numbers in LC tracker. I really hope the exchangers take note and ensure numbers are tally every week on the LC tracker since MC evaluates our current standings based on EXPA. To avoid any confusion, the goal number is taken from LC tracker, whereas the actual number is taken from EXPA.
Looking at the percentage realisation of the entire term goal, we are still way way behind and need to catch up fast like a bullet train. Focus programmes or not, let's do our very best. Nothing is impossible when we set our mind to do it right.
Looking at Q2 performance, do we need to change how we're doing things? Is there anything we can do to significantly increase our process efficiency and effectiveness? Sometimes it's not about optimising our processes or improving what we are comfortable doing, it's about revamping the entire system to what works best. Be bold, take risks.
Q2 Departmental Review
OGX
S
- Strong team engagement
- Constant communication between LCVP and Directors
- Implementation of EP LEAD
- Strong collaboration with MarComm
- Proactive members who are eager to learn & contribute to operations
W
- Lack of strategies to drive productivity
- Low conversion rate from attraction (sign ups) to consideration (applicants)
- Imbalance job description among 3 sub-teams
- Retention rate
- Inadequate knowledge for members (i.e Role as EP manager, oGTP operations)
O
- Collaboration with SHINE for oGCP
- Collaboration with Career Services Centre for oGTP
- Alumni as target EP pool
- Materials provided by MC for EP engagement (eg. EP Newsletter)
T
- Other exchange programmes offered by Taylor's University (i.e Global Mobility Office)
- Academic timeline (eg. Only 1 month break for summer peak)
- Students preferred countries not aligned with partnership countries
iGTP
- Strong team engagement
- Clear SOP (Standard Operating Procedures)
- Well executed member education
- Consistency in tracking & follow ups
- Committed & persistent members
W
- Lack of JDs
- Low number of VP-Directors meeting
- Members are lacking in engagement with other department members *only few of them are engaged*
O
- Untapped GE market pool
- GE forms from AIESEC in Malaysia
- LC-LC partnerships
T
- High EP requirements from TN takers
- iGTP visa
- Quality of internship provided to EP
IGCP
- Capable & committed members, especially junior members (April intake)
- Collaboration with TM for value delivery (mainly focusing on IPS)
- Firefighting/Crisis management
- Comprehensive SOP for EPs (eg. EP fee payment)
W
- Last minute execution due to low sense of urgency
- Lack of member empowerment & education in NCR
- No financial sponsorship secured
- EP break realisation
O
- Collaboration with SHINE or S@W for EP buddies
- Support from Ms. Dorcas for process optimization (eg. Creation of step-by-step application guideline, fees breakdown)
- Incitement as PBoX project partner
- Entity partnerships
- Untapped NGO market pool (eg. Kindergartens)
T
- Unexpected circumstances from NGO side (eg. Last minute pull out)
- EP visa requirements
- Bad experiences with some NGOs might create branding issue
- EP high/unrealistic demand to hosting entity upon arrival
TM
- VP & Directors who are committed to learn and equipped themselves with TM skills & knowledgle
- Alignment of member recruitment based on department + LC needs
- Having improvement in progress (eg. Sports Day which is an initiative to start bonding LC members)
- TM started to have collaboration with iGCP (eg. IPS)
W
- Team minimum education not executed
- Member education cycle not delivered
- Last minute
- The understanding of TM is not strong in TLP, hence lead to lack of support provided to other departments in terms of coaching, tracking & evaluation of team minimums
- VP TM tends to micro-manage everything
- No predecessor to do transition, basic function of TM has been missing for 1st half term
O
- Alumni engagement - mentoring, sharing, trainings & external facilitators
- Constant support from MC
- Potential learning partners, can involved alumni in LnD too
- Concrete education materials done by MC
- More comprehensive assessment to recruit the right members (eg. member or department profiling)
T
- University timeline for LCs. It is one of the threats that can impact the learning and development plan for members
- Summer break *many members losing their relevance & motivation, but not tracked
- Other clubs & societies
MarComm
- Strong team engagement
- Collaboration with oGCP for EP recruitment drives
- Members who are innovative to generate new ideas
- Clear & achievable goals set (eg. # sign ups for EPRD)
- GCP video
W
- Relatively slow progress in certain operations (eg. Revamped LC website)
- Replying and following up with Facebook inquiries
- Focus on supporting oGCP only, but not other exchange departments
- Branding guideline not educated to everyone in the LC
O
- Collaboration with other C&S, NGOs and companies
- Growth of digital marketing
- AIESEC branding and presence in Taylor's University is stronger & more positive now
- Lecture bashing
- STPM students as targeted EP pool
T
- Architecture students' timetable (eg. Continuous projects which required day until night commitment in the studio)
- Unable to control conversion rate from sign ups to applicants as oGCP is main responsible
- Increasing competition from other C&S
FL
- Detailed review on departmental budget
- NAF are paid on time
- Merchandises - track consistently
- Members who are proactive in learning & executing their responsibilities
W
- Weak follow up with post event reports
- No physical meetings as a team together
- Finance SOP not generated, hence no education provided to other LC members
- Importance of FL presence is not significant across departments
- No consistent cash flow: There are times we have income, but minimal income
O
- Potential financial/in-kind partners for iGCP
- Other resources available from Taylor's
- Closer relationship with MC for more support, especially on technical matters
T
- High expenses incurred/expected to incur by iGCP
- High amount of receivables from MC
- Exchange programmes not achieving goals, hence cash inflow being affected
Q3 Focus & Plans
- Creating a Bottom Up Culture
- Embed LDM into Operations
- Contribute to Y4GG via iGCP
Important notes:
1. What's our winter peak (December 2016 - January 2017) goal?
To be review & revised
2. What are the strategies?
To be defined
3. Which are the focus countries?
Does having focus countries aligned with the customer flow, whereby EPs are FREE to apply ANY PROJECTS they find interesting?
What do we need to do to ensure our projects are attractive to EPs?
What do we need to do to ensure the quality of projects our PEPs applied?
So Cynthia, what has EB planned for the next 2 quarters to have a successful winter peak and end term 2016 with a bang??!!
Answer is......we want to hear from YOU first! Bottom up culture is one main thing the EBMT is committed to start driving in LCTU, we know its not gonna be easy, but if we do not try starting it, how could we say we are 100% sure of the outcome?
For us, it's not about putting members first (like a customer),
It's about putting members in the centre.
It's about members taking responsibility in collectively building a great term 2016 for LCTU.
But how would you start it Cynthia? o.o
How do YOU play a significant role?
**I shall leave you feel suspend here and experience it for yourself when the time comes :P
Mark Your Calendar
Member Recruitment Drive
Date: 25th August 2016 (Thursday)
Time: 9AM - 3PM
Venue: Taylor's Lakeside
*AIESEC Night
Date: 25th August 2016 (Thursday)
Time: 6.30PM - 8.00PM
Venue: Taylor's Lakeside
*Assessment Days
Date: 30th & 31st August 2016 (Tuesday & Wednesday)
Time: 6.30PM - 9.00PM
Venue: Taylor's Lakeside
*Induction Day
Date: 3rd September 2016 (Saturday)
Time: 9.00AM - 6.00PM
Venue: Taylor's Lakeside
*Local Committee Meeting #1
Date: 8th September 2016 (Thursday)
Time: 6.30PM - 9.00PM
Venue: Taylor's Lakeside
Regional Induction Conference (RIC)
Date: 7th, 8th & 9th October (Friday till Sunday)
Venue: TBC
Cross The List
Deadline: 30th July, 11.59PM
Deadline: 31st July, 11.59PM
Summary
2. Understand reality of department & LC
3. Being accountable towards your roles & responsibilities
4. Be prepared for bottom up culture implementation
5. Block your dates for upcoming LC events
6. Fill in Global Membership survey form
7. Ensure EPs who completed their experience (went & came back to home country) between April 2016 and end July 2016 to fill in LDA
8. Take some time off to self reflect