Re-organising Support to the Constellation

[Marlou]

Dear Friends,

The Constellation needs your help.
The Constellation Support Team is going through rough financial times, just like many country teams. Since a few months, the team members are volunteering their time to continue to fulfill the necessary support functions.
Click on this link for an Analysis of the Financial Situation.
We know that any crisis can be turned in an opportunity. Therefore, we are taking this financial crisis as an opportunity to revisit our dream for the Constellation, and to reconsider how we can organise ourselves to be more resilient. We need your thoughts and advice in further shaping the possibilities.

First, we invite you to listen to a 5 minute address from Jean-Louis, Constellation Chair on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0TXJyupdds
and to read the reports in the following links. A 2-page report summarises the The CST's dream for the Constellation, which was discussed at a recent CST meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It also lists some of the support functions that need to be in place to achieve this dream.

What is most important is to hear your voice. Please contribute in this forum with your response to one, more or all of following questions:

1. What does the Constellation mean for you, both in your personal and your professional life? (The CST and Constellation Coaches in Chiang Mai explored the Dream for the Constellation in 2050. You may use this document as a reference for your response).

2. What kind of support, from Constellation Teams, helps you most in your personal effort to apply and spread the Community Life Competence Process, or SALT? (The CST defined essential functions in the document ‘How CSTs support the Constellation'. You may use this document as a reference for your response)

3. Country teams, such as RDC-Competence, Kenya Competence, India Competence, are one expression of the wider Constellation. Do you agree that country teams and/or individuals can and should contribute more to global support functions and connect more with other teams?
(For reference, JL’s speech).

4. Would you, or your country team, be interested to carry out specific ‘packages’ of support? Examples of ‘packages’ are moderation of the ning platform, compilation of the annual report, exploration of new partnerships...
What conditions would need to be in place for you to contribute effectively?

5. In the world and in your specific context, what business opportunities or new revenue streams do you see for the Constellation? And what conditions would need to be in place for you to start addressing these?

6. What further/other suggestions would you have for a resilient future for the Constellation?

Your input to this thinking is essential for the future of the Constellation. We count on hearing from you this week. You can respond in this forum or, following Jean-Louis example, you can podcast / video your response and share the You-Tube link in the forum. We will close this first consultation round on September 7. We will share a synthesis on September 9, which will serve as input for a virtual board meeting which will take place mid September. After a review and a vote of the Membership Assembly, we will aim at having our new organisation in place by end of 2011.



With gratefulness for your friendship and commitment,


The ‘Constellation Dream’ Team,

Olivia, April, Yves, Sanghamitra, Jean-Louis, Gaston and Marlou

[Dr. E. Mohamed Rafique]

Dear Marlou,

I volunteer to help Rituu, and Laurence facilitate the ning platform. Accordingly, I propose to Rituu and India Competence, to consider the India Competence support to the Ning package.

With best regards,

Rafique

[wiwin winarni]

Dear The 'Constellation Dream' Team;

 

My response is personal, I will initiate to discuss what IndoCompetence's Response to this.  ( I can't read the attachment, so this response is direct one.) Kindly see bellow:

1 and 2. For me personally, the constellation support me room for consultation, directly and indirectly by reading web and posting from other coaches, facilitators and facilitation, when I plan to deliver advice or facilitation both done with IndoCompetence and voluntarily.  The constellation also could provide me such a legal acknowledgement and affiliation of my "coach status" .  this benefit me personally and professionally. The constellation also encourage me to improve my facilitation competent, my English, reading and writing and to be honest with you I feel free to express anything without afraid of being judged. I learn about humble and warm heart and motivation to do something real, useful even it's so small in coverage. All in all this such a personal and voluntarily working, while most of us still have to find better opportunity , good job and flat form to express our salty-ness.  so this quite a challenge.  For me what the constellation's provide is fit to my personal need, leraning and development.  

 

3. Yes country team should be actively to contribute at global support function and connect with other team.  I do personally, And I'd like to talk more to other member of IndoCompetnec that as a country team we need to do more. 

 

4.- 6 will be discussed further.  This also challenge for most of us that how could the specific support packages will also consider country team independence and self reliance.  And how could the constellation could support and improve participation/involvement facilitators or coach experience of facilitation.

 

Perhaps this personal assumption, I don't think that most INddoCompetence frinds hardly open, read, reply or respond to NIng, so sometimes most of us has no idea about that should be done or what to be plan dealing with CLCP and SALT spread.  I hope I'm wrong and this would invite other comment from IndoCompetence country team.  

I will keep writing and responding, to ensure that I personally 's flaming :)

 

Love, 

wiwin from Jalan Jaksa Jakarta

[Jean-Louis Lamboray]

Many thanks Wiwin for your thoughts and your offer to relay this message to the Indocompetence team.

 I'd love to  hear from the friends from Indonesia. 

Love

JL

[Boris Alberda]

First of all I want to congratulate the team with all  the work you've done so far. Also I feel the practices were very carefully chosen and very well described, forming example practices of any support team anywhere.And what a great invitation it is to us practicing in the field to share what we think is important and what we can contribute. Walking our talk of local response. I love that.

 

My pulse is this: Who is the support team other than us ourselves? Together we perform the functions (practices) we deem necessary to create this dream and I already complimented the CST on the defined practices. The whole challenge about budget might be god send when it urges us as a wider community to use/offer our own resources as much as we can.

Then ofcourse there are some (maybe perceived) limitations to grow the movement with our own resources like e.g. lack of expertise, focus and attention (when we need to earn our money in a different job). For this we could follow an example of a Dutch NGO who found sponsors to cover the support team budget, so that all other funds directly go to where it's inteded for. I'd love to make a compelling offer for businesses to get this sponsorship (also country team can use the same system).

The other way of obtaining more budget is making use of the added value we have for businesses, although this to me sounds like a long term solution. It's just making use of our experience in a different way. I'd love to be a leader in this development. (Grow our movement into the field of CSR&Leadership/organisational development)

 

Yet another way is to use the expertise of people in businesses to help us grow our movement. We could find partners (businesses) that believe in strengths and local responses and put their people to work in our support team and even in the field as coaches (give and learn). This would result in us needing a lower budget for support and higher margins on projects (Again I'd love to lead the thinking in this)

 

Hope this helps and inspires you to also put down your thinking here!

 

With love

Boris Alberda

 

 

 

[Geoff Parcell]

I've reflected on the notes and on JLs video message and have something to share. I've been facilitating a workshop in which one of the exercises involves reframing a problem, that means taking a problem and looking for the higher level need, or what it will look like when the problem has gone away. It occurs to me that the Constellation dream defines what it will look like when the problem has gone away.  And I don't think we have to wait till 2050, I think it looks like that now. I think the crisis is only seen from the perspective of the CST. Others don't see a crisis.

 

I believe we have to care for the needs of the members of the CST as individuals but as an organisation perhaps it is time to move on. The starfish isn't dying, the limbs are growing strongly into fresh starfish. The process has been incredibly successful and we must celebrate that.

 

The best thing the distributed organisations and individuals can do as they focus locally is to stay connected as a community globally, to share inspiration, knowledge and responses. I'll offer to help with that.

 

Meanwhile I am focussing locally on my community. I have offered to facilitate the development of a community plan where everyone gets to share their dream for the community - the social, economic and environmental aspects. http://www.penselwood.parishcouncil.net/news/news.pl?record=719

 

Geoff

[Jean-Louis Lamboray]

Many thanks Geoff!

That is the spirit!

And congratulation for transferring the energy captured in so many communities into your own..

I always dreamed of  the  doing the same, but did not dare so far. 

I'll need your help!

Yours friendly

JL

 

 

[Marlou]

Dear Geoff,

Many thanks for your encouraging response!

You write: The best thing the distributed organisations and individuals can do as they focus locally is to stay connected as a community globally, to share inspiration, knowledge and responses.

Can we elaborate a bit further on what is needed to allow those groups to stay connected? Is it the shared responsibility of all groups and individuals and/or is any kind of global support still desired?

 

Thanks!!

 

Marlou

[Geoff Parcell]

Hi Marlou

 

I think it could be a shared responsibility , and there are community members who I know can make it work. It will only sustain if people value the benefits of being connected globally. Those are apparent to those who actively contribute and use the shared experience but new entrants to the community will need support and encouragement. That could be shared but a dedicated resource would ensure it. Perhaps though that is a luxury the Constellation cannot afford. Ultimately it has to be everyone's responsibility.

 

Geoff

[Ruben F. del Prado]

Brilliant Geoff!

[M.L. Prabakar]

Dear Constellation Dream Team and my friends who are connected with me through the constellation,

 

We are at a very crucial stage.  But we beleive in our competencies and of others.  We are resilient in nature but situations and crisis do not allow us to take cognizance of it so that we may act.

having said that and experienced the same I wish to share some of my responses here.  I have tried to answer some of the questions and I hope it will be useful. 

Warmly,

 

Prabakar





 

 

[Marlou]

Thanks Prabakar!

I appreciate your belonging and commitment to the Constellation. Your response and those of all other friends confirm our sense of togetherness an help us all forward.

Marlou

[Olivia Munoru]

Dear friends,

If I can share my dream for 2050......

 

It would be a world where SALT is a natural way of working (level 5) in all interactions people have with one another. In 2050 we will look back at how development circles became SALTY, companies became SALTY, the general public became SALTY, governments became SALTY and we all started listening to eachother.

 

IN 2050 communities - the excluded, the vulnerable, the young and the old - will be able to celebrate how SALT had opened conversations, led to greater understanding, and allowed people to ultimately determine their own destiny.

 

I see the role of the Constellation as a place for this SALT social movement to start. As SALT spreads, the Constellation will no longer be needed in its current form, but the connections made will never break. 

 

I'd like to see the Constellation encouraging greater SALTiness in the way conversations are carried out in the policy process - from local to national to regional to international - there are conversations occurring and decisions being made around the world which effect people's lives. I'd like to see SALT as the facilitative method for these conversations. It doesn't have to be called SALT. Nor does it have to explicitly come from The Constellation. It just has to result in people being valued as humans, their views appreciated and listened to.

 

To me, SALT could be integral in breaking the cycles that lead to poverty and violence. 

 

1.b.I ultimately agree with the 6 practices of the CST's contribution identified in Chiang Mai.

 

2. The support I receive from The Constellation teams and members is less tangible and more spiritual. From you I receive understanding, inspiration and out-of-the-box working. When I interact with Constellation members, I feel encouraged and not alone. I feel that the possibilities are endless.

 

I don't get that elsewhere.

 

3. I do agree that country teams could and should take on specific core functions of the Constellation. 

 

4. I would, personally, be interested in carrying out packages of support. Either alone or as part of a team, my contributions could include: 1. Project Management and Strategy, 2. Streamlining business processes, 3. Developing new ideas and models - e.g. .how to spread salt in Policy Process, 4. open to other ideas.

In most cases, for large pieces of work that fall closer to the core of The Constellation's operations or existing strategy, I think better quality will come from paid contracts, paid at reasonable (local) rates. However, where there are non-core projects, voluntary working groups will work beautifully.  

 

5. I see potential new partnerships for the Constellation in advocacy and policy development - particularly as the international community looks to encourage greater democratic accountability. (e.g. Paris - Accra - Busan, the Post-MDG' dialogue....)

 

6. We have such a great deal of spirit and momentum - we can do it!

 

Liv