Board Agenda & Minutes 11/03/08

CNVC Board Meeting 11/03/08

To provide feedback on any of these decisions, please complete the following form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p6HBFi7KGIumoPEP5UgVAVw&hl=en

In attendance:

Board Members:

Gail Taylor (entered 1:30PM MST) – Board Member

Jori Manske – Board Member

Margo Pair – Board Secretary

Marshall Rosenberg – Board Member

Valentina Rosenberg – Board Treasurer

Absent:

Robert Gonzales – Board President

Stefan Wisbauer – Board Vice-President

Observers: Eduardo Montoya (Italy), Glenda Mattinson (CNVC Communication Coordinator, Canada – Ontario), Jeff Brown (US – Missouri), Pan Vera (CNVC IT Coordinator, US – Vermont), Susan Livingston (US – Virginia)

Facilitator: John Buck Recorder: Elin Skappel

Summary of Action Items:

1. Next meeting – In Person Meeting, November 13-16, 2008. The following meeting will be held December 17th at 1PM MST.

2. Glenda Mattinson will contact John Buck and suggest ways on how to efficiently incorporate her two areas of responsibilities into the In Person meeting agenda.

3. Eduardo Montoya will email Elin Skappel his home number. Elin will forward this number to IT Coordinator Pan Vera, who can pull Eduardo into the meetings at no cost for Eduardo.

4. Elin Skappel will send Gail Taylor’s email address to Eduardo Montoya.

5. Gail Taylor offered to reimburse the costs for this call for Eduardo Montoya, if he would send her the charges that the call incurred.

6. Elin Skappel will send the Agenda Package for today’s meeting to Eduardo Montoya.

7. Pan Vera will re-send the link to the Board Members for Survey2 – raw information.

8. Pan Vera will solicit more participation in the Survey in accordance with the Decision that the Board made at today’s meeting. Included in this communication will be an acknowledgement that survey results have not been obtained from the German and French networks at this time, but that they will be incorporated and shared along with the rest.

9. Gail will forward her thoughts on Board Process to the Board Members through email when she has distilled her notes on the subject.

10. Eduardo Montoya – and any other board member who might have questions they did not bring up at this meeting – will send questions and thoughts to Margo, Glenda or John.

Summary of Decisions:

1. Eduardo Montoya will join the board for an Applicant Period of 3 meetings. If Eduardo is not able to come to the In Person meeting, he will be brought in via teleconference at key points. By the end of this Applicant Period, Eduardo and the Board will have a conversation about how this is working for everybody, and see whether Eduardo would take a full 3 year term as a Board Member.

Term: 3 meetings

2. Once information is assembled for the In Person meeting, we will share the results with the whole NVC community, in accordance with Board communication policy.

Future Agenda Items:

1. The meeting dates for 2009 will be discussed at the In Person Board meeting Nov. 13-16.

2. For the In Person Board Meeting Nov. 13-16: As each decision is made during a Board Meeting, the facilitator will check with the Communication Coordinator if she needs any additional clarification regarding observations and needs.

3. For the In Person Board Meeting Nov. 13-16: Strategies around the Scholarship procedure and fees, and possibly electing a new Board representative for the Scholarship Committee.

Announcements & Administrative Matters

• Minutes of the September 3 2008 Board meeting were accepted.
• Agenda for today was accepted with one addition: Scholarship Committee.

Future Agenda Item:

• The meeting dates for 2009 will be discussed at the In Person Board meeting Nov. 13-16.

Financial Report

• Financial reports through the end of August were attached to the Agenda for your review.

- IIT revenue is lower than last year. This is accounted for by the fact that there are 9 IITs scheduled, compared to 12 last year. The maximum number of participants per IIT has also been lowered.

• Expenses are being kept in check, and are lower than last year.
• Donations are lower than through the end of August compared to last year and 2006. We have received 70% of the average of the previous two years. However, we do typically receive a large portion of our annual donations the holiday months of November, December and January. The impact the current economic situation will have on this is unknown.

Communication Coordinator Report

• Report was included in the Agenda Package for this meeting for your review.

Observations and Needs:

• Communication Coordinator (CC) current role at Board meetings is as an observer, except when presenting their report.
• Another part of role is to help ensure Board minutes align with Board communication policy, including identification of observations and needs related to Board decisions.
• In some cases, the Communication Coordinator has not been clear about the observations and needs during the meeting.
• Needs: Contribution, clarity, shared understanding, support meeting flow

Proposed Policy:

• As each decision is made, the facilitator will check with the Communication Coordinator if she needs any additional clarification regarding observations and needs.

Decision:

• To do a trial run of the proposed policy during today’s meeting, and to make a policy decision at Face to Face meeting.

Action Items:

• Glenda Mattinson will contact John Buck and suggest ways on how to efficiently incorporate her two areas of responsibilities into the In Person meeting agenda.

Future Agenda Item:

• As each decision is made, the facilitator will check with the Communication Coordinator if she needs any additional clarification regarding observations and needs.

New Potential Board Members; Discussion with Eduardo Montoya

• Eduardo Montoya joined the teleconference call today as an observer and potential Board Member. A letter from Eduardo to the Board was attached to the Agenda for today’s meeting.

Observations and Needs:

• Eduardo’s NVC work has been basically promoting, helping start and guiding NVC Learning and Practice Groups in Italy. He has helped start one group in Spain (2005) and seven in Italy (2006/8). A new collaboration will begin for him this autumn when he gives 4 weekend workshops to a group of members of the Italian branch of the ngo SERVAS (a community of global peace-seekers).
• Needs the Board would like to meet in selection of its Board members:
• Inclusion – including members from additional countries, with an understanding of various cultures, and who communicate in additional languages (Eduardo communicates in Italian and several other languages in addition to English).
• Awareness, shared understanding and consideration re: CNVC guidelines
• Shared understanding with the Board in regards to building an infrastructure that will flow with ease and be self sustaining, and also the very alive topic of recognizing and supporting global groups.
• There is a needs-not-met situation between Eduardo and a certified trainer in our network. Several possibilities to address this situation were raised.

Decision:

• Eduardo Montoya will join the board for an Applicant Period of 3 meetings. If Eduardo is not able to come to the In Person meeting, he will be brought in via teleconference at key points. By the end of this Applicant Period, Eduardo and the Board will have a conversation about how this is working for everybody, and see whether Eduardo would take a full 3 year term as a Board Member.

Term: 3 meetings Action Items:

• Eduardo Montoya will email Elin Skappel his home number. Elin will forward this number to IT Coordinator Pan Vera, who is able to pull Eduardo into the meetings at no cost for Eduardo.
• Elin Skappel will send Gail Taylor’s email address to Eduardo Montoya.
• Gail Taylor offered to reimburse the costs for this call for Eduardo Montoya, if he would send her the charges that the call incurred.
• Elin Skappel will send the Agenda Package for today’s meeting to Eduardo Montoya.

Scholarship Committee

• Jori has been serving as the Board’s representative on the Scholarship Committee, but now that her term on the Board is complete, she requests clarity in regards to whether the Board still wishes to have a representative on the Committee, and if so, to choose that representative.
• The role includes receiving applications for scholarships for IITs, reviewing them, giving recommendations on the applicants, and forwarding them to Marshall and Valentina for consent. Jori found this process involved an average of 2 ½ hours per IIT.
• The Scholarship Committee and many other functions within the scope of Educational Services are in the process of being re-evaluated by the Educational Services Team.
• All scholarship applications for 2008 have been considered.

Future Agenda Item:

• For the In Person Board Meeting Nov. 13-16: Strategies around the Scholarship procedure and fees, and possibly electing a new Board representative for the Scholarship Committee.

Board Terms / Appreciation to Jori Manske

• Jori’s term on the Board (through October 2008) has come to an end.
• The Board shared memories and a deep appreciation for all the work that Jori has done for the CNVC, not only as a Board Member but also as an Interim Admin Director, Leadership Team Member and GCC Coordinator. Her service, nurturing and care, and how she has supported the growth of the organization, always with a sense of mutuality and a desire to assist others in growing with her. She has introduced many of the current Board Members to NVC, and the Board looks forward to seeing how she will continue to work with passion for NVC in many ways.
• Jori reflected on what a ride it has been, with many unexpected turns, and shared appreciation for the Board members who are willing to carry things forward, and continue to find a way to serve the incredible vision and mission we hold. She is glad to be moving on to some other projects, and feels very fulfilled having done what she has done, and moving on to what she is moving on to.

Surveys (Margo, Glenda, Pan)

• Two Strategic Plan-related surveys have been sent out to the network – one consisting of a few high-level questions, the second requesting input on some concrete options. Response data and analyses from both surveys were part of the Agenda Package for today’s meeting.
• Margo: I highly appreciate the support from Susan Livingston, Pan Vera (CNVC IT Coordinator) and Glenda Mattinson (CNVC Communication Coordinator & GCC Coordinator) in assisting to pull all this together.
• We are still in the middle of receiving feedback. We have received 49 responses from the first survey (the High Level/Overview survey), most of the responses being from the English-speaking part of the network. The survey has recently been translated into French, and is in the process of being translated into German, so we are awaiting further responses from the French and German speaking parts of the network.
• Glenda highlighted that there were four documents provided related to Survey 1, two related to the interviews done by Susan Livingston, and two related to all write-in material.
• Susan Livingston interviewed 8 people over the phone using the questions in the first survey, and provided two analyses – one a compilation of visions, and one analysis of focus areas. She found it very hard to collate the answers, especially on the “vision” questions due to the richness of the responses, each reply was very unique.
• Glenda noted that the Board had received a copy of all Survey 1 responses (the file with “Input” in the title), and a rough analysis of 3 of the 4 responses (excluding the “ideal dream” question). This analysis categorized each response by the topic(s) discussed, and then grouped all comments on the same topic into a single set.
• Susan and Glenda both recommended reading the column about the ideal dream to get the unique image of what each person had shared.
• Pan compiled the spreadsheet over Survey 2, the detailed survey, where 45 responses have been received. He recommended paying special attention to the “Rank and Priority” sheet with graphs, where he has the ranks of priority from the entire community, but also separated out the answers from Certified Trainers. He also pointed out that the answers to “additional activities” were interesting and recommended the Board pay notice to those as well.

Decision: Observations and Needs:

• The Board wishes to solicit more responses from the network in order to be as complete as possible for the In Person Meeting.
• Independence – for each person’s input to be uninfluenced by reading what others have shared
• Board Communication policy of Aug 13, 2008 “Feedback information is to be made available to everybody on a view-only basis as long as the person supplying the input has the ability to choose whether their feedback will be seen by everyone or by a limited group of people”.

Decision:

• Once information is assembled for the In Person meeting, we will share the results with the whole NVC community, in accordance with Board communication policy.

Action Items:

• Pan Vera will re-send the link to the Board Members for Survey2 – raw information.
• Pan Vera will solicit more participation in the Survey in accordance with the Decision that the Board made at today’s meeting. Included in this communication will be an acknowledgement that survey results have not been obtained from the German and French networks at this time, but that they will be incorporated and shared along with the rest.

Review of Agenda for In-Person meeting

• Teleconference with invited leaders in the NVC community: 2/3 of the people invited have indicated they will be available and really appreciate the invitation. There is a request for translation to French and German – Glenda will be working on finding translators. How to continue the work begun in these teleconferences with their participants, possibly in connection with the GCC, may be part of some of the discussions that will come up at the In Person Meeting.
• Gail asked when there would be time on the agenda to discuss Board Process. John asked for some sample items. Gail indicated that she has these in a document she would like to share.
• Danielle Beenders will send out information about the venue to the Board Members, and will be happy to assist Board Members if they have questions about the venue, transportation, needing to be picked up at the Airport, and so forth.

Action Items:

• Gail will forward her thoughts on Board Process to the Board Members through email when she has distilled her notes on the subject.
• Eduardo Montoya – and any other board member who might have questions they did not bring up at this meeting – will send questions and thoughts to Margo, Glenda or John.

Closing Round Comments:

• Marshall – I have no further comments.
• Valentina – I don’t have any comments, but just want to give John a lot of gratitude for being here with us and to Eduardo for his patience and continuing to stay here and Gail for supporting him with the financial piece, and to everyone else who is present here. For Jori again, and just all that has been shared today, I feel that it’s been a very productive and very complete, wonderful meeting.
• Margo – I so appreciate everyone’s time and attention to be on the call today, and that means the observers also. I appreciate the opportunity for connection, and for us to assist each other with clarity. Jori, I loved hearing the quiver in your voice, I got a sense that you allowed your heart to be open to receive some gratitude, and I am hoping that you did truly hear the gratitude that everyone shared. And Eduardo, thanks for joining in on the call today, we look forward to trying to have it happen with ease in the future.
• Jori – This has been a sweet phase, and I did take in the appreciation and feel a sense of warmth and connection with people on the call, it brought back very fond memories. Again, a deep appreciation that you continue to do this work, and I feel complete, thank you.
• Gail – Three small comments – One, I am just wanting to voice my regrets for not coming on the hour and showing up a half hour out, it is not the way I want to be showing my care or demonstrating my integrity, and so I just want to voice that again and I’ll absolutely be sure to attend more carefully next time when we are scheduling. Secondly, again, just wanting to welcome Eduardo, and just really appreciating the level of eagerness, and a kind of warmth in reading his document, I really enjoyed receiving that, thank you. And I also, out to the community, want to offer gratitude for the respondents that did say yes, and that did participate with Susan, and again I know I said thank you already to the team for everything that you have done, but also wanting to acknowledge the people who are taking the time to making their voice be heard, and giving us their insights, it has definitely informed my perspective much more fully. It’s been a total joy.
• Eduardo – I am very grateful to be welcomed to this conference, and I am warmed by the appreciation that I have heard from several of you. I am hopeful that I will be more able to participate, and some of the things that were said made me more curious about it, I have no knowledge of the items of the agenda, and I hope that at the next conference I will be able to participate more actively, and also not being jetlagged! I just want to thank everyone.
• John – I missed Robert and Stefan on the call today, wish they could have been here, and I am reminding myself of how important it will be to set aside time before I get to Albuquerque to really review all this rich material that is available. I feel like I would have benefitted from going over it even more than I did. And Jori, please say hi to Jim for me.
• Jeff – I was glad to be here, I missed about 30 minutes, I ducked out for another purpose. I feel a little bit more connected, and what I am sitting with no is just some internal confusion about my place in CNVC and how to find relevance and deep meaning. I am sitting with that curiosity and a bit of confusion.
• Susan – (bad connection and echo)
• Pan – I really enjoyed listening to the Board and the deliberations and look forward to seeing you all in a short while.
• Elin – I really enjoyed being on the call today, I just love these meetings and have a big smile on my face.
• Glenda – Ditto to many of the things that I have heard. And I am also somehow from my statistics background wanting to acknowledge that we have something less than 300 certified trainers, and I have no idea how many people there actually are in the network, but a 10% response rate is often considered extremely good in surveys, so wanting to celebrate the responses that we have had.

Feedback on Experimenting with Modified Communication Coordinator Role in Meeting

• Glenda – I would say in terms of your role, John, it went very well. In terms of my role, I am noticing when I do not have as much clarity as I would like, that is a skill I am going to build. At this moment I am feeling very content and very appreciative of the board for being willing to give it a try this time, and do want to make sure that we get a chance to hear if there were any needs not met, partly for learning, and partly so we can make a different choice as necessary.
• Jori – I am just really glad that you spoke up and that you continue to speak up, to meet the needs that you are hoping to serve.
• Gail – Ditto Jori’s comment.

Agenda for Meeting 11/03/08

(1:15) Administrative matters

- Announcements

- Welcome to Eduardo Montoya

- Next meeting date(s): Nov 13-17, Dec 17, accept proposed meeting dates for next year

- Acceptance of minutes of September 10, 2008 Board meeting

- Acceptance of agenda for today

Board Communication Policy:

1 - What will we communicate - information (ask / tell), decisions (observations & needs met?), feedback requests 2 - Who do we communicate it to? 3 - Who / how will communication be drafted, agreed to and sent?

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