Strategic Planning Committee Notes of the meeting held 12/19/11 [nal draft] Present:

Dora (facilitator), Bill, Peter, Kathleen, Michael, Jeff, Anthony, Bonnie (recorder), Galen (by conference call); Alan, Pat, Teri. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DEADLINE for revisions to Draft Notes: (W/holiday delay) 12/27. Final notes to be sent out 12/29. NEXT MEETING: Mon., Jan. 2, 2012, 4:30 - 6:30 pm at KCC [NOTE TIME CHANGE! Focus: SWOT preparation, review initial survey responses, plan how to handle surveys/SWOT data. Review and decide on a communications policy (working agreement) proposal. Facilitator: Peter Terminology in the Notes: KCC includes both urban and rural centers (SCOL). When just one is meant, urban center, or UC, or SCOL will be used. LTR means long term retreat, OYR means one year retreat and TYR means three year retreat. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ACTIONS TAKEN/ AGREEMENTS: Notes for the 12/12/11 SPC meeting - approved. SWOT survey: revised - more response choices, respondent information. New SPC members: Unanimous recommendation that the board approve adding Pat and Alan to the
SPC, since they have
been attending and participating regularly and shown their commitment. Tasks Assigned - TO DOs: Jeff - write up communications policy to consider at the next meeting. Jeff - re-send the test email to the SPC with the intro and link to the SWOT survey Peter - make 40 hard copies of the survey deliver to Bill and Doras before he leaves on Wed. Alan - help Peter with above if need be Kathleen - go the board re: adding Pat Parker, Alan Gladstone to the SPC; charter approval SPC members - email our responses to the test survey to Jeff by 5 pm. Tues. (12/20) continue to follow up with individual sangha members re preparing for and coming to the SWOT. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DISCUSSION POINTS: Meeting Notes: Key are the decisions and to dos. Some prefer a shorter synopsis vs a transcript. Others want details to recall the context of decisions. Concern - at times its been unclear whether a decision was reached and what it consisted of. Suggestion - we build a habit of verifying this after each agenda item, before moving to the next item. The Notes format highlights decisions and to dos at the start, followed by the Discussion Points detail, which people can refer to or skip as they wish. Communication Policy: Discussed last time, but the conclusion was unclear. Jeff was asked to write and send us a proposal to consider at our next meeting. SWOT Survey: Several people had trouble getting both the descriptive intro and the survey link in the trial email. If it comes as just a live link, people may avoid it lest it be a virus. Responses: The weight of the response relates to the persons knowledge of KCC - input from a brief visitor is probably less relevant than from someone deeply connected and committed to KCC even if for a short time, or someone distantly connected but for years. So it would help to track this data too.

SPC Meeting 12/19/11 - Notes - Final Draft

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Theres value in limiting the choice of responses to force people to chose, best to avoid options such as other, dont know. But if have only 2 categories, and an important one is left out, might be better to add other as a 3rd option. Concern re providing only positive choices - important to know if folks feel negative about KCC. Listing more options helps get a more nuanced response. Survey aim: For this type, its more about getting people to think about the issues, to open the dialogue rather than learning what they think or getting valuable information - face to face is better for that. It was suggested that SCOL be mentioned in the survey as well as KCC. Jeff agreed to incorporate these suggestions, send us the revised version tonight to review and see if the issue re getting out the intro with the survey link has been resolved. For sangha who dont use email, well put out some paper copies of the survey at KCC - Peter will get these (40 copies) printed. SWOT team: We need to follow up with the sangha members each of us agreed to contact. If someone wants to contact more, they can get names from Hannah, who took on extras. SWOT preparation: There was a request that the SWOT team info, logistics for the SWOT and the survey results be sent to all the SPC members. We need to consider in advance how to handle the data sorting it (with an eye to what we want from it), and communicating the results. Why formally add people to the SPC: While anyone can attend only members can vote. It also recognizes the persons regular attendance, participation in and commitment to the SPC. Unanimous approval to request that the board add Alan Gladstone and Pat Parker to the SPC. Hidden Assumptions /Hot Buttons: Understanding where each of us is coming from may be key to facilitating our work together - each person talked about some of their assumptions in this process. It was requested that the responses be included in the Notes: Bill: Concern re decrease in overall coherence for the direction of the center, in seeing how it all ts together. Need a way to refuel without the energy drain. The volunteer energy is weak, so too few do too much. How to recreate a felt sense of community now, not just about what others felt in the past. Pat: The sangha assumes that the committees take care of all the work, vs. it being up to all of us. A lack of awareness of how were all interrelated in keeping KCC going. Peter: Upset by groups hedging on the timeline. Based on a little window when we had a clear start date, he began a formal retirement process at work. Then people started backing off on the start date. Without 100% commitment by others own commitment suffers, e.g., consider more travel. Dont assume more availability to do more SPC work. If a whole academic year before start of OYR, have to rethink retirement or part time work. Taking over a year to do the plan seems weird. Now see some wanting to do the retreat want a later start. How to get real commitment (among ourselves) and support each other? Alan: No matter what we do none of this will come to fruition w/o the nancial leg of it. But even if we won the lottery and put all the $ in the mid of the room, wed still have to go thru this process to agree on how to use it. This process is the evolution of the community that will enable LTR, the next generation of practitioners to develop. Its more than writing a plan we have to really connect. What happens here is also what were trying to foster happening for the larger group, the sangha. Whether the plan comes to fruition isnt about how well written the plan is, its dependent on our dharma practice. SPC Meeting 12/19/11 - Notes - Final Draft




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Michael: We have to resolve how LT retreats will be nancially sustainable. I assume, have condence, well succeed, avoid long term debt. We need a culture of development planned giving, cultivating major donors. Assume well keep this from subverting our mission and vision. The success of KCC through 2017 and beyond will be measured by the people that come out of the retreats. Concern re gender imbalance 4-5 x as many women as men signed up for OYR - risk establishing this as an imagined outcome of an imagined difference, impacting practice and relationships. We need to involve men and women equally in the dharma. Jeff: If KCC is successful, the model will view KCC and SCOL as a whole, with people folding both into their daily lives, as a life practice. Thus SCOL and long retreat wouldnt be seen as just for a small elite group, but for everyone, that people would expect that when you have the time and money, SCOL is a place where you can go and do long retreat. If we dont have this view, itll jeopardize KCC. Bonnie: Concern re subgroups with information, discussion that doesnt get shared, so folks outside the group not in the know, dont understand or feel part of the decisions being made, people feel marginalized, become disengaged. Dora: We depend on such a small group really focused on the organization, who know whats going on, having the time, focus and thoughtfulness about kcc . We barely have the critical mass. Hiring an executive director could help, but we dont have the money. Worry re thinking our problems will be solved by major donors we think might be out there. The people who care about us are practitioners. Galen: KCCs ambition exceeds its ability to a point that endangers the mission at the moment. The project is so sophisticated and the normal volunteer culture is not. Concern re a general lack of a kind of leadership, a leadership culture. Concern re how many inaccurate ideas and misunderstandings there are, assumptions about things - eg, people saying there isnt cell phone coverage at SCOL when there is. Kathleen: We need a larger urban center (UC) but need to make it sustainable. If we had it now not sure we could sustain it. Need to make it easier for people to do volunteer work - better identication of jobs, of mentoring volunteers. Financially need to plan how pay for utilities, custodial needs guring what those things are and how to do them. Need to attract, engage more people, w/ enough cohesion. Need to be able to distinguish how much detail to share when and where , and to hand off to someone with ability and the authority to carry it on. How to get it to connect, a sense of cohesion.. Anthony: Many echoes. 3 areas: SCOL, KCC, SPC. Assume value of LTR. Doing OYR was clearly the most meaningful thing Ive ever done. Concern - we dont communicate the true value of LTR- we just point to someone else or say its just to create teachers if we do that were screwed. Not all coming out of retreat will be a rock star, a teacher. KCC concerns - culture of deference to the teachers, and teachers involvement in operations - weird organizationally. Value their input, but concern functionally. Teacherss views given more weight - so how much weight will I get if Im not a teacher. DRZC model seems better. SPC concern if get so tied up in the process fail to step back, ask do we really need this part. Why re-invent the wheel - use the DRZC model as a template - but still take a deep look at KCC. Timeline / Looking ahead:
From Jan. to Mar. we will be assessing the results of the SWOT, preparing for the Leadership Retreat meeting, and moving toward the focus groups that will happen after that. Question: whether any focus groups would be started before the Leadership retreat. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Final draft - Posted by Bonnie McLean for the SPC SPC Meeting 12/19/11 - Notes - Final Draft




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