AIESEC Future Leaders in BINUS – International Networking Space, living diversity together

AIESEC Future Leaders (AFL) is a vessel for youth to develop their leadership skills over three months. One of AFL’s key sessions is the International Networking Space, where participants have the opportunity to connect on a global level. For AFL Summer Peak 2024, we have introduced the theme “Triwizard Unity: Teamwork Across Cultures.” This theme celebrates the power of teamwork in transcending cultural boundaries and fostering unity among diverse teams. It emphasizes the importance of embracing cultural differences as strengths and working harmoniously together to achieve common goals. Through this theme, participants are encouraged to explore how they can leverage their unique perspectives and talents to navigate challenges, address unconscious biases, build cultural awareness and sensitivity, and create inclusive workspaces. By championing the values of cooperation, mutual respect, and empathy, “Triwizard Unity” aims to inspire teams to harness the magic of collaboration across cultures for collective success and prosperity.

We had the honor of collaborating with three International Partners. The first one is AIESEC in UST from the Philippines, which presented the topic “How to Build Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity.” This session helps delegates develop cultural intelligence to navigate diverse cultural contexts with confidence and effectiveness, improve their ability to communicate effectively across cultures, navigate cultural differences in communication styles, and foster empathy and perspective-taking skills to better understand and appreciate cultural differences.

Our second International Partner is AIESEC in Kuching from Malaysia, which presented the topic “Managing an Inclusive Workspace.” Delegates learned strategies for promoting inclusivity and diversity within the workplace through effective leadership practices, explored techniques for encouraging open communication and collaboration among team members from diverse cultural backgrounds, and developed skills for creating an environment where all team members feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives to achieve collective goals.

Our last esteemed guest is AIESEC in NEU from Vietnam, which presented the topic “Addressing Unconscious Bias in Global Teams.” This session helped delegates understand the concept of unconscious bias and its impact on decision-making, identify common types of biases that can affect interactions in global teams, develop awareness of personal biases through self-reflection, and understand how biases may manifest in a global team setting. Delegates also learned strategies to mitigate unconscious bias in decision-making and communication, and explored techniques for creating inclusive team environments that minimize bias.

In addition to the learning materials, we provided delegates with a space to engage more deeply with our International Partners through an interactive engagement session. Delegates, coaches, international partners, and organizing committee members were divided into breakout rooms to work together on an online escape room challenge. These activities included sharing cultural insights and playing mini-games. At the end of the escape room, participants connected through social media to foster long-lasting connections, embodying one of AIESEC’s core values of lifelong connection.

Through this session, we hope that every participant has learned the importance of diversity through the provided materials and interactive games. We aim to inspire participants to elevate their self-development to an international level, enhancing their overall experience.