THE
AIESEC
WAY
Internal Usage Guide
The AIESEC Way Guide is here to help you spark your own ideas on how to use the
AIESEC Way in order to fulfil your MCP/MC role as a guardian of our essence.
Why do we need a guide for AIESEC Way usage?
The document of the AIESEC Way is written in a very general and aspirational language,
this allows us to have more terms, phrases, principles that are open to interpretation,
while this is great for AIESEC because we are all different, it can cause certain confusion
if the conversation is not held in the right context.
What will I be able to find here?
● Overview of what the AIESEC Way is and its purpose
● MC Role in protecting AIESEC Essence and using the AIESEC Way
● Connecting AIESEC Way with your external context
● Communicating AIESEC Way changes to entities
● AIESEC Way & Essence Sessions
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AIESEC WAY DEFINITION & PURPOSE
What is the AIESEC Way?
The AIESEC Way is the comprehensive document to describe everything about us an
organisation. It includes:
-Our origin story
-Our vision
-How and What we do to achieve our mission, as well as who we serve
-Our values and stance towards political matters
While our vision never changes, other details of the AIESEC Way are subject to change
depending on the state of the world and where AIESEC’s vision is relevant. The 2021
AIESEC Way refresh comes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While vision
comes before strategy, the 2021 AIESEC Way refresh was designed to be congruent
with the A2025 mid-term direction.
Disclaimer: In future, any AIESEC Way Refresh should be done before the creation of a
new mid-term direction.
How did we get here?
The 2021 AIESEC Way refresh was an iterative process that incorporated the
perspectives of 27 individuals from all over the world and at all levels of the
organisation, including the 21.22 MCP Steering Team. This team surveyed 500+
members of the global AIESEC network to validate assumptions about the relevance of
AIESEC and how we need to achieve our vision in a post-pandemic world. The 2021 AI
Team and the 20.22 MCP generations gave their perspectives on the final iterations, as
well as a professional linguist. It was legislated and launched at Virtual IC 2021.
Role of a Vision
An organisation’s vision answers the question ‘Why do you do what you do?’. It is a
deep seated purpose that is the source of our passion and inspiration. It determines
whether we as an organisation are fulfilled. The AIESEC Way is a unique document in
that our vision is included in, but not the only content of the AIESEC Way - other parts,
such as our ‘How’ and our ‘What’ are dynamic and can change depending on the
world’s context.
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AIESEC WAY & YOUR REALITY
Why is it important to do this?
The AIESEC Way Refreshment led to changes which helped clarify AIESEC’s relevance
to the world. This will affect the perception our members have of the organization, as
well external positioning in every Country and Territory. To ensure smooth
communication, you should first have a clear understanding of your members’ opinions
and of your reality.
Key points of attention
When explaining the AIESEC Way and the meaning of its’ components, you should
always refer to the official description of each statement. While presenting the AIESEC
Way externally, be extremely careful to comply to the Global Brand Rules and
Governance. You should include AIESEC Way in your National Education Cycle as well
as induction materials for members. This is the first thing your members should learn.
How to effectively communicate internally
To communicate the AIESEC Way to your Entity, you need to be aware of its’ current
perception. In order to gather your memberships’ opinion, you can use your Entity’s
existing tools and touchpoints. If you run a monthly National Engagement Survey, for
example, you can use that to analyse their perception of the refreshed AIESEC Way. If
you already have scheduled touchpoints, start discussions to ensure each one of your
members can find their personal connection to the organisational essence.
How to effectively communicate externally
To ensure a proper communication externally, it is strongly advised to go deeper into
the reality you operate in. Analysis of the economical, political and social situation
(PESTLE analysis is one framework you can use) can help to understand how to pass
the right message without hurting our external perception. Another suggestion is to
run customer interviews to ensure you are positioning AIESEC properly and
connecting it to the needs of youth in your country.
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MCP ROLE & HOW TO WORK ON THIS ON A DAILY BASIS
Our role as guardians of the Essence
AIESEC essence should be more than a group of statements for us . It is our mission
and daily purpose that drives every action as AIESECers. In AIESEC we learn how to
be true to our values, how to define peace and strive for it and how to have faith in
every human being's potential. We have the ability to influence people with how we
learned to tell the story of leadership .
Why is this relevant
The start of a new term is often a time for reflection and resolution. For MCPs, it
means another opportunity to set things right for the future. It means we can start
making a difference in the world by taking action on pressing matters.
What we envision for the world may seem far off untouchable. However, it is
something that we will always be striving for. It is our ultimate goal.
The question now is: How can we actually do it as MCPs ?
The way we do it:
-Communicate our mission Constantly: Refer frequently to the mission of AIESEC in
talks and speeches.. Acknowledge and thank those members who have achieved
something which particularly emphasises the AIESEC way.
-Refresh the understanding of the AIESEC Way within the National Plenary:
allowing members to refresh their understanding of the AIESEC way and always try
to find a new way to embed it in our daily routines.
-Confront Contradictory Behaviour: Ensuring that we give feedback to those who
don't live out our AIESEC way and allow them the opportunity to change their
behaviour.
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MCP ROLE & HOW TO WORK ON THIS ON A DAILY BASIS
-Culture tracking system establishment: measuring culture will help you develop and
improve on it. It allows you to set goals and then track their achievement for a better
entity alignment.
-Check out with Feedback: Always ask people about their thoughts when it comes to
our values and how they think it influences how we operate in AIESEC because
giving feedback is an opportunity to get things out in the open so that issues can be
resolved.
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HOW TO COMMUNICATE AIESEC Way CHANGES?
Communicating properly is essential, mainly because the membership is already in a
general process of change in the organization To better communicate the
developments in the AIESEC WAY, we recommend the following steps:
First: make the plenary feel that it is a shared purpose
Explain that it was a creative process where young people with different roles in the
organization could participate. Therefore, the new AIESEC WAY contains the holistic
vision of the young people who make up AIESEC.
Second: Define well who your audience is
It is different to downscale the AIESEC WAY to a new member than to an EB member
or a member with a lot of knowledge of it, that is why you must find the way to creat
your sessions thinking about this questions: Should I communicate that this is a
change? o Should I simply explain it with the new elements and emphasize that it has
had evolutions?
Third: Create an internal communication plan
This may contain various ways to approach: such as challenges to integrate the
membership, national education cycles, local education cycles, communication in
internal social networks and especially in spaces where you can connect with the
entire membership such as conferences and summits.
Also be sure to create a showcasing campaign to highlight the tangible impact of
AIESEC and how that connects to the AIESEC WAY Here you can integrate your
partners, members with experience in leadership roles and young people who have
had some experience with AIESEC. 📍DISCLAIMER: Remember to follow
international guidelines.
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DOCUMENT PREPARED BY
Eva Dutary
AI/Panama
Kenneth Josué Gamboa
Parrales
Ecuador
Michael Gonzaga
Australia
Eleonora Barile
Italy
Rania Sakhri
Tunisia
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