Fwd: [FriendsOfNVC] Important changes at CNVC - and dialogue with the network now in prospect :-)
Ray
I'm aware of a huge amount of practical and emotional work and caring that has gone into producing this statement from the CNVC board, which came through to everyone on the FriendsOfNVC yahoogroup.
There is no request from me or the authors, except maybe to celebrate the work done, or send a blessing to all involved?
For those who don't want to read the whole history, or the full details of Marshall and Valentina's donation to CNVC, and what CNVC has signed over to them, I've pasted the end at the top, since it concerns what comes next, and may soon be followed up with a specific request (for dialogue) to all of us:
Is there a role for CNVC in the world? If there is, what might its contribution be? What is the relationship between CNVC and the trainers, and the wider network? How might CNVC compliment and enhance the changes so many thousands of people are making with NVC every day?
The changes of this past year at last set the stage for the Board to move toward conversations with the larger NVC community, confident that anything decided on can be carried forward based on available resources and the shared agreement of those who actively participate in the conversation.
GOING FORWARD
We look forward to dialogue with you about what comes next. We are aware that you'd probably like to know what that dialog process will look like -- and we're not there yet. This letter is to mark the end of one phase of our work. At our next meeting, we will start the next phase.
We believe that CNVC will survive as a meaningful enterprise only if it becomes something exciting to and effective in supporting the aspirations of the larger NVC community. We look forward to welcoming increased co-creation with trainers, with the dedicated, caring and competent CNVC staff, and with others to whom NVC is dear. We hope this will contribute to healing and to re-energisation of the underlying intention we all share of co-shaping a world where everyone's needs matter and conflicts get resolved peacefully.
In partnership,
Bob, Irmtraud, Dominic and Stefan
CNVC Board
From: cnvc_board <bo...@cnvc.org>
Date: 22 February 2013 04:28
Subject: [FriendsOfNVC] Important changes at CNVC
To: friend...@yahoogroups.com
Dear NVC community,
The current CNVC Board -- Stefan, Irmtraud, Bob and Dominic -- has been working together for a year. We have met over 50 times in this period, most often for 2 hours or more at a time, one of the most intense periods of Board activity in CNVC's history. We understand that profound change is both necessary and possible at this time, and are committed to creating the ground for this to occur.
Yet this is our first email to you as a whole Board, and our meetings have not as yet welcomed observers. We want to let you know where we are now, and summarise the new conditions this year's work has clarified.
Unusually during this time CNVC has been without an Executive Director, so a fair part of our work has been that of supporting and dialoguing with staff over the running of the organization -- with issues related to funding and the economic sustainability of the organization, the web site, certification, staff relationships, IITs and the many procedures that go into their daily work. We would like to have done considerably more to support the staff and intend to in 2013.
However, by far the most pressing issue for us has been to create the conditions for a deep re-thinking of CNVC's purpose and activity. To this end, as a first step in creating those conditions, most of our time has been devoted to reaching agreement with Marshall and Valentina about the shift in their relationship with CNVC and the consequences of that for the organization and the trainer community.
Our goals in doing this work have been to collaborate in caring for the Rosenbergs' ongoing well-being, and to reach clear and consistent understandings that support the CNVC office, Board, trainer community and the wider network of those applying NVC in their lives and communities. Our sense is that doing so facilitates us in furthering the mission Marshall has dedicated himself to, and for which he developed NVC: that of creating relationships and social systems which support the fulfillment of our common needs.
We have now reached clarity with the Rosenbergs on moving ahead. We want to share and celebrate this milestone with you all.
Here is how this process occurred and where it stands.
FORMAL CHANGES
At the end of 2011 Marshall and Valentina resigned from the CNVC Board. With this change, and the end of Marshall's contractual term as Director of Educational Services, what remained to be sorted out were issues related to intellectual property claimed by the Rosenbergs -- that is, who owned and could use terms such as 'NVC', 'Nonviolent Communication', 'IIT' and such.
Together with their lawyers we looked at licensing, and for some part of the year established an interim agreement that allowed us more time to think about the situation. At the end of this period the Rosenbergs made an offer to permanently transfer some intellectual property to CNVC and grant an endorsement for CNVC's future role in spreading NVC. Specifically, the donation transfers to CNVC all the intellectual property they think is needed for CNVC to continue offering International Intensive Trainings (IITs). The donation also includes Marshall's endorsement and grants CNVC the right to use Marshall's name, image, and likeness in promoting IITs. (The documents that define the donation are available to logged in users of the CNVC website at http://www.cnvc.org/rosenbergdonation2012 .)
The Rosenbergs retain the rights to any published materials they hold, which we hope will -- amongst other needs met -- continue to contribute to their material well being. They may decide to republish some titles previously published by CNVC with third parties, such as PuddleDancer Press or Sounds True.
From an intellectual property standpoint, the donation implies CNVC can continue all current activities and develop new ones with the assurance that the Rosenbergs do not see us conflicting with their view of the law. The donation also gives CNVC explicit permission to use Marshall's name and image in promoting IIT activities. In order to pursue its mission, CNVC does not need any intellectual property from the Rosenbergs beyond that which CNVC already owned, that which the Rosenbergs have now donated and what we understand to be in the public domain.
Organizationally the Rosenbergs are no longer part of the decision-making structures of CNVC, and there are no longer any contractual constraints on the future strategic choices CNVC can make.
In reflecting on the donation, we've thought about our understanding of the Rosenbergs' intentions, the legal advice we've received, and our own sense of nonviolent empowerment in responding to anything that might arise in the future. Ultimately, we determined that we are ready to move forward, and we feel confident in our ability to stand behind any decisions that might be collaboratively made regarding CNVC's future.
From a symbolic standpoint this completes a process of clarification of the relationship between the Rosenbergs and CNVC and confirms that CNVC can determine its future by itself with no requirement to involve the Rosenbergs in either governance or day-to-day running of the organisation. This does not preclude the parties from choosing to work together on whatever projects they choose, of course, nor of seeking each other's advice.
Marshall and Valentina have expressed to us in a variety of ways that they are eager for the new CNVC leadership to "get on with it" and to find a way for the organization to thrive without their active involvement.
We will deeply miss Marshall's active presence as a source of inspiration and wisdom.
The Rosenbergs explicitly state the intention of their gift is that it "contributes and supports your aspirations and benefits you with healing so the NVC community is alive with peace, compassion, and unity."
We are touched by this intention, and resonate deeply with the desire it expresses.
DEEPER CHANGES
Historically, CNVC has been a paradox: an organization dedicated to promoting and manifesting in its functioning a consciousness that creates connection and healing and supports aliveness -- while often, heartbreakingly, failing to do so in the eyes of many, inside and outside the heart of the organisation, who have most opened their hearts to the dream that CNVC held out to the world.
Sometimes this has occurred via interruptions, either to collaborative decision making -- such as with the GFC / GCC -- or to trusted processes -- like the pause in certification. Events such as these stimulated a great deal of pain and reduced some people's willingness to invest energy in processes involving CNVC, as it has functioned until now.
As a new Board we are determined to look clearly at this history, and at the factors within ourselves and our colleagues that have contributed to this, so as to create a context for healing and for moving forwards. We envision that if CNVC is to have a meaningful future, we need to create conditions in which people will be able to invest their energy in CNVC, and in collaborative projects involving CNVC, with trust that their efforts are likely to be fruitful.
The agreement we now have with the Rosenbergs cares for one of the most complex, and -- for many in the network and organisation -- personally intense dynamics that has been part of this history. While Marshall has been the channel through which the profoundly life-affirming gift of NVC has come to us, he has for many been part of what has made CNVC so challenging to work with. The interplay between a founder's preferences and choices, and those of the people who have learned from and seek to carry forth the vision and practice of that founder, are notorious. Those working with CNVC and Marshall himself have struggled with aspects of this for many years. What happened always arose from attempts to meet beautiful needs, often under difficult circumstances in which everyone involved was doing their best. Yet, many more times than we would have wished, the result of these relationships and power dynamics didn't care for, or realise the dreams of, the people involved, or carry forward the mission of the organization.
The agreement embodied in the donation, taken together with our understanding of nonviolence, offer the basis for moving beyond these dynamics.
We understand this as preparing the ground for engaging with larger questions, some of which trainers and others have been asking for over a decade. Is there a role for CNVC in the world? If there is, what might its contribution be? What is the relationship between CNVC and the trainers, and the wider network? How might CNVC compliment and enhance the changes so many thousands of people are making with NVC every day?
The changes of this past year at last set the stage for the Board to move toward conversations with the larger NVC community, confident that anything decided on can be carried forward based on available resources and the shared agreement of those who actively participate in the conversation.
GOING FORWARD
We look forward to dialogue with you about what comes next. We are aware that you'd probably like to know what that dialog process will look like -- and we're not there yet. This letter is to mark the end of one phase of our work. At our next meeting, we will start the next phase.
We believe that CNVC will survive as a meaningful enterprise only if it becomes something exciting to and effective in supporting the aspirations of the larger NVC community. We look forward to welcoming increased co-creation with trainers, with the dedicated, caring and competent CNVC staff, and with others to whom NVC is dear. We hope this will contribute to healing and to re-energisation of the underlying intention we all share of co-shaping a world where everyone's needs matter and conflicts get resolved peacefully.
In partnership,
Bob, Irmtraud, Dominic and Stefan
CNVC Board
sans-serif
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Ray
I am currently at home near Bristol, UK.
* UK mobile 07501 444047
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