2. “A ship in a harbour is safe, but that’s
not what ships are built for.” Same as
the ship, AIESEC was not created to play
it safe and to stay within “the bubble” or in
the comfort zone. With this quote I started
my elections in December 2014, knowing
that wavy sea is waiting for AIESEC in
Austria; I had the desire to be the captain
and to change the course in order to
guide the ship towards the new port.
The story of generation 2015-2016 is the
story of change. AIESEC globally changed.
Our programs changed. Our 5 year vision
changed. The culture changed. Our
approach towards our business model
changed. And we did not play safe in our
harbour - we were exploring the waves
and making sure our ship is fast and agile
enough to embrace all the changes and
overcome challenges on the way.
Nevertheless, one thing never changed, it
was a non-negotiable, and that’s our
essence. Leadership Development. No
matter how radical the changes in our
operations, structures, business model
were, we were always staying true to our
essence and we were embedding it, like
every other generation of Member
Committees of AIESEC in Austria, into all
our strategies, projects and activities. In
this year, not only that we were more clear
than ever on our essence, but we also
defined our progress towards becoming a
Youth Leadership Movement. After generation
15-16, AIESEC will never be the same
organization. This is our story.
Una Marin
President 2015-2016
AIESEC in Austria
Words from Una Marin
President of AIESEC in Austria 2015-2016
3. What is AIESEC? “This is where the movement starts”
Our Values
We are able to activate the leadership potential of
young people by engaging them early on with a
value-based environment that shapes their
behaviors.
What is AIESEC?
Our Values
We are able to activate the leadership potential of young
people by engaging them early on with a value-based
environment that shapes their behaviours.
Living Diversity
Enjoying Participation
Demonstrating Integrity
Activating Leadership
Acting Sustainably
Striving for Excellence
“This is where the movement starts”
AIESEC is a global platform for young people to explore
and develop their leadership potential. It is a non-political,
independent, not-for-profit organization run by students and
recent graduates. Members of AIESEC are interested in
world issues, leadership and management. AIESEC does
not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation, religion or national/social origin.
The organization spans 126 countries and territories. Every
aspect of AIESEC’s operations are managed by students
and recent graduates in these countries and territories. We
have operated this way since our inception, making us
uniquely “by youth, for youth” for over 65 years.
The quote written on one of the walls in AIESEC Global
Headquarters in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) portrays the
global direction for the term 2015-2016. As we were the last
generation of AIESEC 2015 and the first generation of
AIESEC 2020, it was our responsibility, as global plenary to
set the direction of AIESEC for the following 5 years based
on which the organization is going to evolve and become a
Youth Leadership Movement.
Our mid-term ambition, set every 5 years, provides a
quantifiable, measurable way of setting and achieving
benchmarks towards our purpose - Peace and Fulfillment of
Humankind’s Potential. Generation 2015-2016 was provided
with the unique opportunity to set this mid-term ambition in
International Congress 2015 in Gurgaon, India.
Together with 800 delegates on International Congress 2015
and more than 3000 virtual delegates, the vision was set, we
refreshed the AIESEC Way, started creating the roadmap for
implementation of 2020 and evolved our Business Model.
4. We grow BIG with purpose and create relevant AIESEC
for Austrian society while enjoying our experience.
Our VISION
Together with the whole National Board 2015-2016, we
defined how we envision the entity in our term. During our
MC planning days, we defined the values and behaviors we
as MC would like to set as example to the plenary, and
came up with a team stand that was driving us throughout
the term.
DARE to Achieve, Growing BIG
Finally, as one of the values that was connecting us as a
team and also a behaviour we wanted to see in the entity
in our term was daring, daring to try new things, to grow,
to achieve, to make AIESEC in Austria big, not to be
afraid to challenge the status quo and operate as we’ve
always been operating just because it’s set in stone, we
decided that we were going to be called MC Daredevils
and therefor branded ourselves for the rest of the term
like this.
333
Going towards our mid-term, seeing how much potential
we have for growth and for growing big, together as a
team we defined a number that was going to drive us
until the end of our term
Our STRATEGIES
Based on the model proposed by our Supervisory Group
Chair, we went into planning of strategies, tactics and
actions, where we defined 5 main strategies for increasing
growth and relevance of AIESEC in Austrian society.
Growth through Sales Intensity
Increasing Relevance through External Exposure
Organizational Development for Growth
Growth through Innovation
Increasing Relevance through Standards and
Satisfaction
We wanted to focus on Sales Development programs,
developing new product portfolio for sales and increasing
national sales.
We wanted to focus on PR and establishing strategic
partnerships with different institutions, to shift our sales
approach to Business 2 Business Marketing, to ensure we
are implementing the Global Brand strategies and to ensure
we are showcasing what we do.
We wanted to focus on refreshment of our growth model,
new ways of coaching entities, overall support for the
entities in form of commission management and
sustainability of the organization.
We wanted to focus on innovating our programs and
disrupting our business model, through implementation of
Global Entrepreneurs program and evolution of Global
Citizen project business model.
We wanted to focus on customer loyalty for organizations
and students, minimum standards for operations, LEAD for
our customers and strategic learning and development of
our members.
5. Our Performance
General Overview
In the term 2015-2016 we managed to grow 32,8% when we look at
our exchange performance. In relative numbers, this was the first
year that we as AIESEC in Austria managed to break 200
realizations, achieving 251 exchanges for the whole term. These are
the main achievements that led to the growth and success of our
term:
Incoming Global Talent Program
Incoming Global Citizen Program
Outgoing Global Talent and Global Citizen
Programs
0
30
60
90
120
iGT iGC oGT oGC
114
17
101
19
101
23
39
26
In this term, all 8 entities were doing incoming Global Talent
(comparing to 5 in the previous term) due to national focus
alignment. We introduced Global Entrepreneur program (the whole
business model, pricing model and legal side of the program were
defined) following the global direction of the program. In terms of
sales intensity, 2 Sales Development Program campaigns were
launched which brought growth in results and changed the culture in
the area. Business 2 Business activities were launched, although
majority of them were postponed due to low HR capacity.
The biggest change that had happened in the outgoing programs
was the introduction of the new Customer Flow which followed the
launch of our new platform and the direction of AIESEC that is being
completely customer centric organization. Major changes included
the financial changes, marketing changes, structural changes and
delivery changes. Secondly, we had a CEEDer from Serbia who
helped us out with digital marketing, optimizing our website,
introducing advertising, focusing on content marketing and
education of our members in the area. Finally, we introduced Global
Entrepreneurs as a new product on the market, which was piloted by
LC Vienna WU.
In term 2015-2016, we managed to grow the most in this program.
Our growth was based on the fact that for the first time we had MC
VP completely responsible for this area, who changed the business
model of the program, introduced the new sales approach and
upscaled the operations in a very short time. Our processes were
optimized and the culture of the area was completely changed,
putting the area in focus until the rest of the term. The focus was also
set on standards fulfilment so the satisfaction of our customers can
grow, we managed to reach the government and receive support for
our projects that we realized in school across Austria. Tracking and
evaluation were improved.
6. Our Membership
Team Standards
National and Global Membership
During the term, AIESEC in Austria managed to retain
Global Membership for all three International Legislative
Meetings (International Congress 2015, International
Presidents Meeting 2016, International Congress 2016) and
was able to cast our vote and share our opinion on the
global legislation.
During the term, the MC retained National Membership and
voting right throughout the whole term. Regarding the local
offices, two entities were downgraded to Initiative Groups
(LC Vienna UV and LC Salzburg) and managed to get the
LC status back during the term.
Big focus in Talent Management was given to the standards
of team experiences that increase productivity of the
membership. Every functional area was educated and
required to fulfil the 6 standards of a team experience:
• Team - making sure that every team has identity, purpose,
values, rules and team building.
• Plan - making sure that planning and replanning were
happening, that every member had individual plan, clear
goals and deadlines.
• Job Description - making sure that members were aware
of their roles and responsibilities, duration of the
experience, measures of success and key performance
indicators.
• Training - ensuring transition or induction, conference
content and education cycle being aligned, ensuring that
members have the necessary knowledge, attitudes and
skills needed.
• Tracking and coaching - managing the team meetings,
individual meetings and coaching.
• Evaluation - making sure that there were feedback
spaces in the coaching meetings and that rewards and
recognition were happening on local and national level.
Learning and Development
Youth Talent
During this term, we changed the conference cycle - the
purpose and content of the conferences. Educational cycles
were created for national educational cycle, functional
educational cycle and local educational cycle. More about
our conference cycle can be found on the following page.
LC WS 2015 SS 2016
Graz 43 34
Innsbruck 27 13
Linz 23 19
Salzburg 15 13
Vienna BOKU 13 10
Vienna TU 19 17
Vienna UV 49 18
Vienna WU 86 53
7. Our national conferences
Discovery Conference (July 2015)
For the first time, the National Board decided not to
participate in Central European Congress in Hungary, thus
the MC hosted its first conference in Vienna with the support
of LC Vienna UV. The purpose of the conference was
introducing the national plan and strategies for term
2015-2016 and commission meetings done by all the MC
VPs.
Commission Conference (September 2015)
The purpose of the conference was bringing back the
knowledge and global direction from International Congress
2015 in India and commission functional preparation for
winter peak and winter semester. For the first time, we did
not focus on recruitment in CoCo, as our main priority was
focusing on exchange operations and leadership
development of our primary customers.
Austrian Leadership Preparation Seminar
(December 2015)
The objectives of ALPS were to enforce the message that
Leadership is THE fundamental solution for all world issues,
while AIESEC is THE organization in order to provide this
solution to the world. We were focusing on Sustainability
Development Goals, our leadership development model
and how to implement it in day to day actions. Also, in this
conference, we elected the new President of AIESEC in
Austria for the term 2016-2017.
Transition Conference (January 2016)
In our term, TaCo got a completely new look. Instead of
functional area transition, we decided to focus on pure EB
role education, organizational development understanding
and introduction to our Business Model, as the core of our
operations. The conference was designed in a way that our
delegates would leave it with absolute clarity on EB role and
good organizational understanding in order to even start
with functional transition.
Planning Conference (January 2016)
For the first time, we organized a conference in order to
align the planning process for EBs in the whole entity.
Before the conference itself, a set of educational weeks was
provided virtually by the MC VPs to their commissions, in
order for every commission to align the basic functional
knowledge before going into the planning itself. The
conference was hosted by the MC in Vienna.
National Conference (April 2016)
The last conference in the conference cycle of MC
2015-2016 was NatCo 2k16. The purpose of the conference
was understanding the roadmap to our new mid-term
ambition AIESEC 2020, putting absolute focus on our
customers, understanding in depth the organizational
development and empowering our membership for the
summer peak. This conference was delivered by both MC
2015-2016 and newly elected MC 2016-2017.
8. Organizational changes
Organizational Timeline Change
One of the last decisions of MC 2014-2015 was to introduce
the timeline change for the terms to come, which resulted in
a big focus on change management in the term 2015-2016.
This was the year when we had to change our operational
timeline, LCP and EB selection timeline, members
recruitment timeline and conference cycle. The cause of the
change was our exchange performance and the fact that
the months our members spend in the office were not put
strategically in the timeline, as they didn’t comply with our
operational timeline. The output of the change was creating
a new timeline of LC terms (1st February - 31st January
instead of 1st April - 31st March) which resulted in many
changes in conference cycle (introducing a new
conference, shifting NatCo from May to April), operational
timeline (summer peak preparation starting two months
earlier) and recruitment timeline (being done before March
so the members would be fully operational in April instead
of May).
National Compendium Change
In October and November, a taskforce was created our of 2
LC VP Finance & Legal, 2 LCPs and 2 MC members in
order to revise the whole compendium of AIESEC in Austria.
We spent two months working virtually on the changes in
the main document and prioritized supporting documents,
taskforce met in Vienna for one whole day in order to revise
the changes and give final input and the changes were
legislated in our National Legislative Meeting in December
and Board of Presidents meeting in January.
Structural Change
After International Presidents Meeting in Morocco (February
2016) MCPs gained clarity on the new business model of
AIESEC that was aligned with our mid-term ambition
AIESEC 2020 and the Roadmap for achieving our vision.
According to the business model, we had the need to
change our structures, starting from the MC structure and
followed by the LC structures for summer semester with
pilot entity (LC Vienna WU), and finally followed by the
completely new MC structure for term 2016-2017. We
decided to switch from the original structure of ICX/OGX
and put a bigger focus on Marketing as the area that we
had the most challenges with, which resulted in the new
roles in our structures: Business 2 Business, Business 2
Enablers, Business 2 Customers, Business Analytics and
Digital Marketing as a separate role for our online presence
and Engagement with AIESEC. The structure was piloted in
the term 2015-2016 and fully implemented with the MC and
LCs in the term 2016-2017.
Financial Change
In the term 2015-2016, the MC made a bold decision to cut
on the expenses of the national team due to the inability to
fulfil our revenue goals by the end of the second quarter.
We decided not to rent the office space, but to use other
spaces for our office in the last quarter of the term, but also
to resolve MC living situation with changing the MC
accommodation as one of the biggest expense items in our
budget. This change resulted in reducing the fixed
expenses for the national team by approximately 30.000
EUR for the following terms, ensuring higher sustainability of
the national team for the terms to come.
9. Financial Report
Overall Financial Situation
The financial year 2015-2016 can be recognized as a year
full of internal challenges. In the national office, there were
several changes within the team and sales area didn’t
bring expected contribution to the national budget.
Communication and tracking were not only complicated in
this context, but especially not efficiently developed in
order to achieve the financial goals. The consequence was
that several investments were cut. In local offices, the
change of the EB timeline resulted in important changes in
the financial tools, structure, fees distribution system and
internal control system. Even though the term started with
the focus to support national sales area, the enthusiasm
about a potential big income from this side converted into a
realistic/negative perspective about it. The new focus was
to look for stability in the national office and to support local
offices within their own individual realities.
10. Financial Report
Cash Flow
It is important to mention that the national office faced
several cash flow problems throughout the year. At the
beginning of the term, it was needed to take money
from reserves in order to cover basic expenses, such
as the yearly transportation tickets for the new MC.
Then, by October 2015, it was needed to take a new
loan from LC Linz (already paid by the end of the
term). In order to afford the second semester, national
team members delayed the payment of their salaries
until the moment when cash flow would allow it. In the
chart bellow, you can see the overall planned and
realized income and expenses, with profit/loss of the
term.
Income and Expenses
There were three main sources of income. The
main source is from local entities, called “income
from fees” with 38,7% of participation - 58% by
the fixed part (MC fee) and only 42% for the
variable part (exchange fee based on
performance). The second source is “others” with
35,9% participation, basically composed by
previous term receivables. The third is “from
partners” with 25,4% of contribution. Only 83% of
the planned income was fulfilled, main reason
being low performance in national sales, where
we achieved 61% of the planned financial target.
There was no income from new partners and
some old partners decided not to prolong their
partnership with us due to several reasons.
35,9%
25,4%
38,7%
Income from fees
Income from partners
Other income
Only 76% of the planned expenses were actually made. All the
expenses were lower than expected, considering the difficult situation
faced by the national team in the income side. The biggest expenses
were the fixed costs for the national team.
11. Partners and Supporters
Our General Partner HAYS is a leading global expert in qualified, professional and skilled
recruitment. Since 2008 they are constantly expanding the cooperation with AIESEC.
They consider engagement during the studies as very important, as it is very beneficial
for the personal development as well as for the future planning of the students’ career.
That’s why their goal is to give AIESECers a realistic insight into practice during
presentations and workshops.
EF Education First, the world leader in international education, was founded in 1995 and is
today the world’s largest private education company specialized in language learning,
educational travel, cultural exchange and academic programs. EF shares very similar
purpose and values with AIESEC as well as its mission: to open the world through
education. Thus AIESEC in Austria is happy to collaborate with EF to expand the reach of
both.
To support our partner Kommunalkredit Austria with
projects in social infrastructure, energy, environment and
transport, AIESEC in Austria is engaging in a long-term
partnership enabling both our projects to become
sustainable.
The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central
bank of the Republic of Austria and a long lasting partner
of AIESEC in Austria. As such, the OeNB fulfills a wide
range of tasks and responsibilities. Apart from fulfilling its
core purpose, the OeNB aims at serving as an example
and providing impetus in different spheres of society; it
promotes scientific research, contributes to strengthening
financial literacy, support cultural activities and is
committed to sustainability and environmental protection.
12. National Team
AIESEC in Austria
Diesterweggasse 8, 1140 Wien, Austria
E-mail: office@aiesec.at
ZVR-Number: 355282896
Purpose: AIESEC’s international platform enables young people to
discover and develop their potential, in order to have a positive impact
on society.
AIESEC Internationale Plattform ermöglicht es jungen Menschen ihre
Potentiale zu entdecken und weiter zu entwickeln, um einen positiven
Einfuss auf die Gesellschaft auszuüben.
Una Marin
una.marin@aiesec.net
Anita Živković
anita.zivkovic@aiesec.net
Maria Safronova
maria.safronova@aiesec.cz
Tatjana Mutabdžija
tatjanamutabdzija@gmail.com
Gabriela Vasquez
Herrero
gabriela.vasquez@aiesec.net
