Board Agenda & Minutes 07/23/08

Minutes of the Board Meeting July 23, 2008

In attendance:

Board Members: Robert Gonzales, Jori Manske, Margo Pair, Gail Taylor.

Absent: Marshall Rosenberg, Valentina Rosenberg, Stefan Wisbauer

Facilitator: John Buck

Observers: Jeff Brown, Jamie Conglas, Glenda Mattinson

Recorder: Elin Skappel

Summary of decisions:

1. Stefan Wisbauer has been elected as temporary Vice President of the Board, for a term of one month.

2. A report from the Communication Coordinator will be an agenda item for all regular board meetings.

Summary of action items:

1. Margo will provide to the board members a report of how expenditures are tracking to budget before next meeting, for discussion.

2. Glenda to send an email to Robert as board chair and chair of the Board Communication Committee to schedule a meeting to get clarity about the Communication Coordinator role.Robert and Jori offered support to Glenda in regards to feedback on #3 on the Communication Coordinator's roles and responsibilities list, practical tasks and how to make effective use of time in the LT circle.

3. Jori will provide information to Margo in regards to the arrangements with the Belgian/French group.

4. The Admin Team will be looking for and appointing a point person to take the responsibility of pulling together thoughts and ideas for the Strategic Planning in-person meeting in November.

5. Gail offered to be a resource to the Admin Team in regards to compiling a recommended list of questions to help them get the frame of conversation on what the point person for the strategic planning will hold.

6. Glenda will pass contact info to Margo about potential candidate for the point person – Francois Beausoleil.

Future Agenda Items

1. Aug 2008 - Gail Taylor's initiation period is complete next meeting and her board membership will be reevaluated at that time.

2. Aug 2008 – Election of a Vice-President, term to Dec 2008

3. Aug 2008 – Should the Communication Coordinator be a board member?

4. Ongoing - A report from the Communication Coordinator will be an agenda item for all regular board meetings.

1. Announcements and Administrative matters:

• William Poehner has resigned from his role as IT Manager, but has been and will be providing volunteer services. Pan Vera has been hired as the new IT Manager and officially started his new position this week.
• Minutes for the May 14, 2008 Board meeting were accepted.
• The agenda for today was accepted.
• Gail Taylor’s initiation period is complete next meeting and her board membership will at that time be reevaluated.
• Eduardo Montoya was not able to join us today (change from Agenda)
• Added to the agenda: Update / report from Glenda as Communication Coordinator.

2. Financial Report (Margo)

Financial statement through May 2008 was provided to the board members by email. Most of our revenue (60%) still comes directly from IIT, 20% comes from workshops and educational/material sales. Office expenditures are down 41% compared to same time last year. We are in the process of bringing CNVC’s accounting procedures up to GAP standards by Margo and our bookkeeper Randy Eoff. Classifications are being adjusted to better reflect actual income/expense, further details are at the end of the financial statement.

Action Item: Margo will provide a report of how expenditures are tracking to budget to the board before next meeting for discussion.

3. Educational Services Report (Margo)

Marshall and Valentina just finished an IIT in Switzerland and just started the assessor training in Germany this evening. There are 23 participants attending the training.

The Educational Services Team, comprising of the registrars, assessors, Rita as facilitator of the assessor teamCertification Teamcoordinator, Marshall and John Kinyon (staff trainer staff) has scheduled monthly meetings – regular schedule to be finalized at the next meeting on July 28. on the last Monday of every month. At this month’s meeting they will decide whether the meetings will be open to observers. The minutes for these meetings will be made available to everyone in the network through our website

4. Update on our IT department (Margo)

The biggest change is that William Poehner is no longer with CNVC as it’s IT Coordinator, having resigned in order to accept an opportunity to follow his passion in working with youth involved in juvenile justice system. Pan Vera has been hired as the new IT Coordinator and officially started his new position this week. William will be working closely with Pan to support the transition, and has expressed a strong interest in staying connected to CNVC and promoting NVC. William will be volunteering time to support the IT staff and will remain part of the ITC. Elin has taken on the in-house IT responsibilities (hardware, software, network, first point of contact for office support) alongside being Margo’s Admin. Assist.

5. Election of new Vice President of the Board (Robert)

The role has lapsed with John Wiley resigning. For legal reasons we need to have a new VP immediately. Robert suggested that we set the term on this item to December 2008, as we expect there to be more people on the board by that time, and we will set a longer term at that point. Gail, Stefan and Jori were nominated. Rounds of discussion followed until consent was reached;

Decision: Stefan Wisbauer was elected Vice President for a term of one month, consented by all. There will be another election next board meeting, when Marshall, Valentina and Stefan are all present.

Future Agenda Item: Aug 2008 - There will be another election next board meeting, with anticipation of full board membership participation.

6. Unplanned update/report from the Communication Coordinator (Glenda)

Glenda was asked for an update on her work as Communication Coordinator, her role in regards to board meetings and general organizational structure, and input on what kind of support she might need. The majority of Glenda's time as Communication Coordinator so far has been spent working with CNVC teams. It has focused in 3 areas:

1) collecting the information needed to perform items 5 and 6 of the role description (“5. Monitors that the Communication Policy is implemented in each CNVC circle, including that the decisions of each meeting are shared.”, “6. Obtains proposed agenda items before each CNVC circle meeting”) - collecting information on all CNVC teams, how often, when and “where” they meet, who belongs to the team, how agendas and minutes are prepared and distributed.

2) She is trying to develop a standard set of information management tools that each team could use, for consistency and clarity. She is drafting ways to collect pre-decision input and post-decision feedback that don’t increase email overwhelm, using some Google tools. One of the first experiments with these tools occurred prior to this week’s GCC meeting. There will be a meeting next week with the LT in regards to these draft tools.

3) In meetings where she is present, helping ensure the group asks the LT-consented questions inspired by the Board Communication Policy recommendations – what information are we going to share, with whom, and who will prepare it using what process.

She has also been preparing proposals and draft communications at the request of the Admin Team for their review on subjects including a “next step” proposal on translation and fundraising material. With regard to the GCC, she has been working on consolidating input from a variety of areas for a model of NVC Group information to be maintained on the CNVC website, at the request of the webmaster. She has also been preparing for the GCC face-to-face meeting at the end of August, to work with the GCC team to create alignment and clarity in a plan for the coming year. Robert asked about Glenda's participation in the yahoo trainers groups, in regards to tracking information and requests of which the CNVC should be aware. Glenda stated that she had tried to stay up on the forum but found herself less able to keep up over the past month. Also, while it is important to be aware of the issues that might be raised in the forums and they are an excellent tool for distribution of information, it is not an effective form of receipt of relevant items to the Admin Team and she is looking to establish more effective procedures to handle requests and information flow. The majority of Glenda's time has been spent on collecting information on all teams, when they meet, who belongs to the team, how minutes are distributed, how agendas are processed, and which mechanisms already exist. She is trying to develop a standard information tool that each team could use, for consistency across the line. She is drafting ways to organize pre-decision input, using some google tools, and experimenting with these tools within the GCC. There will be a meeting next week with the LT in regards to communication tools.

Glenda is also looking at alternatives to communication that will allow a more extended global participation in our network. Robert asked about Glenda's participation in the yahoo trainers groups, in regards to tracking information and requests of which the CNVC should be aware. Glenda stated that she had tried to stay up on the forum but found herself overwhelmed with it, and that while it is important to be aware of the issues that might be raised in the forums and they are an excellent tool for distribution of information, it is not an effective form of receipt of relevant items to the Admin Team and she is looking to establish better working procedures to handle requests and information flow.

Request: Glenda would like more clarity on Communication Coordinator responsibility #3 ("Clarifies, implements and revises a Communication Policy for recommendation to the Board" – from minutes of May 14, 2008 Board Meeting) and the intention behind the material on a Communication Circle. The Communication Committee offered their support to Glenda

Action Item: Glenda to send an email to Robert as board chair and chair of the Board Communication Committee to schedule a meeting to get clarity about the Communication Coordinator role.

Proposal by Robert: A standard agenda item for Communication Coordinator report will be included for each regular board meeting.

Decision: No objections, proposal accepted.

Future Agenda Item: Aug 2008 - Proposal by Jori: Should the Communication Coordinator be a Board Member?

7. Start of preparation for strategic planning for November in-person meeting

First strategic topic: picture forming around the question of how to identify NVC groups that are forming around the world - pointing to larger questions? John: Stefan wrote a strategic plan a year ago, which was followed up on in the February face-to-face meeting, and some of the strategic thinking in that plan was put into place. We need more depth, and the thought was to have preparation on each meeting before the meeting in November. First topic is fairly specific but will start us looking at what are the deeper issues, and how we perhaps involve more people in the process, not just the board. What’s the organizational view?

Margo: Request to define our understanding, to be able to receive requests from the global NVC network, help digest and understand how each piece fits within the whole and what it contributes to the mission and name of the CNVC, and nurture the growth of what we hope to sustain. Currently the CNVC office does not have a way to recognize groups and circles, other than the GCC. Our accounting procedures, recording capability only recognize each individual trainer. Which does not address requests the office has received. Marshall has been requesting for years for the network to form groups providing support for each other. Concerning our mutual relationship and responsibilities, I would like us to think about the different types of groups which are sharing NVC in different venues in different ways and would like to be recognized by CNVC as a group. On the problematic side of that, here is a current situation: Within the network a group has formed and wish to be recognized – requesting CNVC enter into agreements with the group, yet some members of the group are also requesting different agreements. To identify who we would be entering into agreements with is confusing.

We want to help identify what type of group(s) CNVC can recognize in order set up a supporting structure. I believe the GCC has been working on this. I request we pull together the information and develop base guidelines and expectations in order to be proactive.

Robert: Grateful to Margo for her articulation. For each question asked, more appear. To address two of them: What groups do we want to recognize? How do we do this. Immediate: I don’t want us to determine what groups, but to see what groups are already forming, and to in term recognize them. What is the nature of our collaborative relationship? To me the need for mutuality is the most important here - one of the highest criteria: Is this group/individuals supporting the mission of NVC? I would like mutuality, to not define but invite groups who are self-defined, who are in line with the NVC vision, and make requests that they be willing to contribute to our community. What does recognition mean? Your two examples give us a reason why this is needed.

Gail: I am hearing a lot of questions. How do we want to implement a preliminary process, how do we identify groups, how do we recognize them, how do we organize as a global community, how do we receive and share info with various groups, how does this relate to certification, how do we respond to requests from the local communities in regards to certification. We need to implement solutions to solve this, attempt stimulation, my preference is to first have us agree on allotting resources, people to help with this load, one person who can hold the enormity of the communication, specifically want to trust that we are giving this conversation to someone who will have the time and energy to compile thoughts, do outreach conversations, before even talking about strategy, creating a person who can be resourceful to help out with all of this.

Jori: I’d love to have exactly what Gail said. I see a team of people who has put an enormous effort into this and without support it makes it very difficult to keep their attention there. That points to the resource that we already have, community representative organization (GCC is moving into this). We used to have a page where groups were listed, and we don’t have that anymore. I dream of a situation where trainers and other people are connecting through groups. If we really are going to grow to the size that we hope to, this will be crucial to fulfill the mission. It is going to take a lot of people, we need points of contact, The other thing, hearing Margo’s examples, and her questions, I have information about what you are dealing with now, as I have been involved with this. How did we come to where we are now?

Margo: This is part of our question about defining and identifying groups for one purpose. The group sometimes refers to themselves in different manners. I would like to clarify which agreements were made with which groups/subgroups and who is considered within the group.

Jori: I will try to give you any information that I have on this.

Glenda: Appreciating what I’ve heard. For me, one of my priorities is that we need a way to capture info on groups, a way to be able to cross-reference it in regards to individuals. That’s a prerequisite. I appreciated Robert's view on how to find out who's out there. Gail, I appreciate your recommendation and agree. To me the GCC is the group that has had the mandate in regards to groups, and I appreciate Jori's input that without resources it is hard to keep attention there when people are volunteering their time.

Other Aspects of Strategic Planning

John: Robert let me ask you one more question: Do you want to see anything else organized around strategic planning, building up to the meeting in November, in addition to what I’ve suggested.

Robert: Not sure I can answer that right now. Would like to see something to optimize our chances in November., very encompassing conversation, as much as we can do to prepare for it the better.

John: The board asks the Admin Team to propose in the August meeting a person/process/plan for doing the strategic plan development between now and November. I would like to bounce this idea off Margo?

Margo: This would be a major function to help support the board. I am concerned with our current scheduling, attention can not be put towards this by the Admin Team until the end of August.

John: Could the Admin Team appoint a person?

Margo: Would that be to develop the strategic plan framework or to start putting together a strategic plan?

John: This would be to collect the data and thinking on it. In the past it has all been attempted done at the meeting, all the thinking that is needed, option papers, soliciting thoughts from the network, outline of what it might look like. We would be in a better position for deeper thinking in November because the legwork has been taken care of. The Admin Team would be making the process happen instead of doing it themselves.

Margo: I think it’s a very good idea and fully agree on the need for a lot of the legwork, digestive work, in variety of areas, could benefit from this. I accept for the Admin Team that we’ll be looking for and trying to find a point person.

Jori: How about Stefan?

John: I believe will be important to the process, but may not have the time to do the legwork. The point person might work under Stefan’s direction.

Margo: If there are other suggestions: please provide the Admin Team with your suggestions.

Action Item: The Admin Team will be looking for and appointing a point person to take the responsibility of pulling together thoughts and ideas for the meeting in November.

Decision: No objections, proposal accepted.

Action Item: Gail offered to be a resource to the Admin Team in regards to compiling a recommended list of questions to help them get the frame of conversation on what the point person for the strategic planning will hold.

Action Item: Glenda will pass contact info to Margo about a potential candidate for the point person - Francois Beausoleil.

Closing Round

The meeting was concluded with Check-Out, and ended 3:00 PM Standard Mountain Time.

Original Agenda

Wednesday, July 23, starting at 19:00 GMT/UTC (1:00pm Albuquerque), teleconference
1.712-432-1600; code 825078#

(1:15) Administrative matters

- Observer policy

- Announcements

- Acceptance of minutes of June 11, 2008 Board meeting

- Acceptance of agenda for today

- Welcome and discussion with potential new Board member: Eduardo Montoga-Arriens (All)

(1:35) Content

• (1:40) Updates (Margo)

- Financial report

- Educational Services Department update

- Update on IT Department

• (2:00) Election for interim Vice President - term through December 2008. (All)
• (2:15) Start of preparation for strategic planning for November in-person meeting.

- First strategic topic: picture forming around the question of how to identify NVC groups that are forming around the world - pointing to larger questions? (All)