And so, the first Team Days went by..
And it was "Team Days".."Team Days" represent a 2 days event in which usually the EB comes together to give feedback and solutions to existing strategic problems and most of all to plan the quarter up ahead (as in taskforces inside the EB team, ways of working between the EB members and functional areas).
This "Team Days" was really special, since we had both EB teams together (05-06 and 06-07), the outgoing ones having their last Team Days and the new comers having the first glance of what would be the quarterly "Ho-Ho-Ho Days" as Tibi called them.
I, as an LCP elect, had low expectations towards it, being used to what planning means. But, what I didn't realise was that in a single room,for 2 days, 13 minds, 13 people with different background, values and beliefs are coming together to be united in one direction... and soon I came to realise that it is not as easy as it might look at the first glance.
The agenda of the meeting had a well planned structure (thank you Dodo) in which the following topics were included:
- EB transition plan presentation:
- Matrix Structure (what are the connections between the functional areas in AIESEC Bucharest?)
- Task Force Presentation and TaskForce establishement
This were 3 main focuses that the agenda had. At first it looked as if the 2 days would be more than enough to cover them all, but we soon realised that the lack of deep and through discussions on Global Concepts, AIESEC Experience alignment, LC Outcomes lead to different perceptions on how to split responsibilities between the functional areas so as we encourage our members to work together not only by telling them to do so, but more to role model the way and be the examples ourselves.It made us realise that synergy comes from the top and not from the bottom, that we must have a clear picture before creating a clear structure.
The EB transition plan went pretty smooth, with Dodo (LCP 05-07) presenting us the established EB plan. The most funny part was the moment in which we had to set the dates for the EB preparation.. when everybody took out their agenda and started checking the proposed dates (and now we realised what EB vs Functional Area really means, when you must move a training because you already have a planning settled for a day, in which weekends are the only days that are available but still, you need them to relax and have your own time). Starting with AIESEC Identity, AIESEC Bucharest History in which the EB 06-07 team will meet with AIESEC Alumni that can create a link between external and internal reality at certain points. This will help us understand our role as continuers of what have started not 2 years ago, but 16 years ago.
We made some small changes in the transition plan (trainers, possible trainers for AIESEC topics and external ones).
Then we took a brake..
Well.. actually VLD (VP ICX Corporate 06-07) continued his endless search for SN's in Insight while playing Need For Speed (being super-vised by Sorin Albeanu VP ICX 05-06 aka McWhite.The others were enjoying the "African Queen" or I don't know what's the name of that song, but it haunted us in the 2 days, at every break we took, somebody was playing it, until we got African Queenized.
We got back to the Team Days agenda, starting the discussion over the matrix structure. Each VP elect and current had a discussion and made flipcharts that were answering a question "How/When am I interacting with the other functional areas?". Efficiency was not our characteristic for the 2 days, but for sure challenging ideas was. It was really cool to see how people strive to think from the EB point of view but still considering more the functional area...this is how a great team is done and people understand the role and challenges we will face as EB. Every functional area presented their opinions, questions were asked and answers were given or digged for in the past or present, but better yet the ideal future.
Due to an external help Dreea (Alumnus AIESEC Bucharest) we had the chance to challenge and come up with some ideas and inputs on a more efficient structure of the LC.
My personal opinion is still that synergy is the challenge of our organization. What I came to realize is that we are really performing as separate functional areas and it takes only so little to make us perform even better. During our discussion I had in my mind the great generations AIESEC Bucharest has in the organization now.. 2003,2004,2005 combined, each one of them with good or not so good skills, qualities, characteristics (call them as you wish) but in the end, perfection comes from diversity. We must embrace this diversity and put it together in order to have what we expect from the next years.. AIESEC Bucharest to remain the number one organization for students and not only in the economical university but also in others.
The second day was more related to AIESEC Ploiesti and our strategy for the future, how will we as EB team ensure that AIESEC Ploiesti will continue growing until it reaches the objective of being a simple member of AIESEC Romania. Long discussions, regarding LC Development Responsible role, who should that person be, arguments, pro's or ideas that were just holding us from taking a decision made it one of the most intense discussion we ever had in AIESEC Bucharest (because it meant thinking a lot in the future, workload of each VP, the priorities of AIESEC Bucharest and urgent systems we need in place).
After that we went on discussing about Taskforces. For the ones unfamiliar with this term, taskforces represent a group of people from the same team that are united in a smaller team that has clear objectives regarding a task, with a determined period of time and where the chair of the task is responsible for clearing out this objectives and creating the way of working frame work.
We have established 3 taskforces:
- Growth on Exchange (Chair - VP OGX, VP PD, VP ICX Non-Corporate, VP Communication - as core team)
- Strategic Development (Chair - Local Committee President + EB)
- ER (Chair - Vice President Incoming Exchange Corporate + LCP, VP Finance -> as core team)
After establishing the measures of success in simple guidelines we went on discussing in working groups about each taskforce. At the end of the day we had some meetings established in which to continue discussing on each specific taskforce.
And that was.. roughly our first Team Days!
What is next?
It's time to put the plans into actions and perform.
It's time to create synergy.
Mugur
AIESEC Bucharest
Local Committee President 06-07
