CNVC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes – Wednesday, March 25, 2009

CNVC Board of Directors CLOSED Meeting

Minutes – Wednesday, March 25, 2009

In attendance:
Board Members:      
Gail Taylor – Board Member
Margo Pair – Board Secretary
Marshall Rosenberg – Board Member
Robert Gonzales – Board President
Stefan Wisbauer – Board Vice-President
Valentina Rosenberg – Board Treasurer

Facilitators:    Robert Gonzales and Margo Pair
Notetaker:      Elin Skappel

Financial Report

1. Financial statements were provided with the meeting agenda by e-mail to the Board Members.
2. Per Board request of November 13, 2008, Board Treasurer Valentina Rosenberg and Board Secretary Margo Pair rolled the maturing CDs back into 6 month liquid CDs.

Eduardo’s Status

1. The letter of January 14th, 2009 from Board Member Applicant Eduardo Montoya to the Board raised some confusion and it is unclear to the Board Members whether his intentions were to gently step down or asking for the Board’s feedback on whether his skills will be useful to the Board or not.

Action Item: Margo will contact Eduardo and ask him for clarity about his letter and his interest in joining the Board.

Leadership Team Report

1. Observations:
2. The Leadership Team announced its upcoming Extended Leadership Team Forum scheduled for April 14th and is in the planning process. The GCC is a significant part of this meeting, which is open to the public. The purpose of the Extended Leadership Team Forum is to give the global NVC community an opportunity to connect with the CNVC Leadership, learn how the Leadership Team is forming circles and also a place to bring ideas and concerns.
3. The Extended Leadership Team Forum was held twice in 2008, and is planned to be held 2-4 times in 2009. The Board members are also invited and welcome to participate on the call.
4. The Admin Team has put a significant amount of effort into building and nurturing the Leadership Team, at the direction of the Board. The LT meets twice per month and is set up to address CNVC business activities and inquiries of the global community.
5. The current coordinators of the Leadership Team are: Information Technology Coordinator, Communication Coordinator, GCC (Global Community Circle) Coordinator, Director of Educational Services and CNVC Office Representative. The GCC Coordinator functions as the link between the global community and the CNVC Governance.
6. Following the team decision table, certain categories of issues (including legal issues) are brought forward from the LT to the Admin Team and further upward to the Board when applicable.
7. While CNVC business activities and inquiries of the global community are addressed by the Leadership Team, the Board addresses the overlaying Policies and Guidelines that the CNVC Leadership Team’s decisions are based upon.
8. A majority of the participants on the international calls during the November Board Meeting are not part of the GCC and are not directly represented through the GCC.
9. The community has the opportunity to directly communicate to the Board through the Feedback Form on the cnvc.org website.
10. The already existing linking between the global community and the CNVC Governance was not fully addressed during the discussions that lead to the decisions regarding GCC participation on the Board and regularly scheduled international calls between the CNVC Board of Directors and the global community.  
11. Needs: connection, efficient use of resources, shared information,  
12. Decision: Using the channels currently in place, GCC Members will participate not directly at the Board Meetings but through the Leadership Team and Extended Leadership Team Forum. An LT Member will report the results of the LT and Extended LT Forum meetings at the Board Meetings, to ensure double linking. On a case by case basis the Board is open to considering direct discussion with GCC Members at select Board Meetings.

Website Development

1. Future Agenda Item (April Board Meeting): Website Development. IT Coordinator Pan Vera will be invited to participate through Skype.
2. Observations: The Admin Team will have a lot on their plates preparing both for the In Person Board Meeting in May, and the Extended Leadership Team Forum in April
3. Decision: The April 15th Board Meeting will be a short meeting, with the focus on Pan’s Website Development Presentation.

CNVC Training Team

1. The GCC has requested observations and needs behind the 2007 decision to implement a Training Team. The Board made the following observations:
2. The current organization is sustained by the income generated by one salaried trainer (Marshall Rosenberg), which generates substantial surplus which allows the organization to survive.
3. Building a sustainable team of In-House Trainers was one considered strategy for achieving sustainability.
4. In the past, when the CNVC has provided referrals for training opportunities to certified trainers, without organizing the event itself, it usually does not bring any revenue back to the CNVC.
5. Needs: sustainability
6. Suggestion by Stefan: On the web site, replace the specific mention of John Kinyon with a section where people can make requests for our support in finding the right trainer for mediation or their specific training need. The CNVC would function more as a “clearing house”, that can help people find the best trainer, organize the event and potentially being the contracting entity. Would like for the LT and Admin Team to experiment with that.
7. Marshall: I am in harmony with your request and I do think that we need to learn from this experience that didn’t work out too well in many respects. I think we need to do as you say and review how we are going to deal with those requests. I am not sure of the specifics on how to do it, but it didn’t work out the way we did it before, and I think we need to learn from that and do it in a new way. It doesn’t have so much to do with which people have been involved, but more the structure of it and that is what we need to review.
8. Action Item: Stefan will provide his proposal re: Web Site changes to support a restructuring of the Training Team to the Admin Team.

GCC Synopsis of the November 13-16 Board Meeting (Parts regarding the Global Community)

1. Observations: Responding to the request from the Board in January 2009, the GCC has provided a synopsis of the parts of the November 13-16 Board Meeting that touched on issues pertaining to the global community.
2. Decision: The Board requests of the GCC and its representatives who put the synopsis together, that they formulate concrete and specific requests from the report, to distill it and have it clear and concrete for us during the Board Meeting so we can aim our specific action items in that direction more effectively.
3. Action Item: Board Secretary and Admin Team Member Margo Pair will make the request as decided by the Board of the GCC.

May In Person Board Meeting Dates

1. The meeting dates for the Board of Directors In Person Meeting for Spring of 2009 will be May 14 – 17th starting around noon on May 14th, ending around noon time on the 17th .

Meeting Measurements:
Valentina – Enormous appreciation for the Board’s support to the Admin Team and Leadership Teams.
Marshall – Enjoyed the meeting and the complicated items that we managed to struggle through.
Margo – Filled with gratitude and feel supported.
Gail – Feeling peaceful and delighted for the clarity of today’s meeting. Grateful for facilitation by Robert and Margo.
Stefan – Enjoyment!
Robert – Feel wonderful and relieved and happy to connect with everyone. Loving the voices and shared intentions, happy about what we have accomplished.