NI Stocktake and Planning

Hampton Wick Cricket Club

2nd September 2002

 

16 planned to come, and in the event 9 of us turned up:

Chris Pearse

Claire Schrader

Colston Sanger

Fiona Coffey

Hilary Dobson

Ian Holder

Peter Desmond

Sandra Aldridge

Tony Page

 

We had only 2 hours in the free room that Dave had offered us at the cricket club.

 

We began by each letting the others know about us and our experience to date of NI.

 

As usual the opening round was interesting, revealing who knew who and how people ended up in the room. It was Sandra’s first meeting. Hilary introduced her after attending a Shadow lunch recently run by Ian, who had been involved with for a couple of years after meeting Fiona at psychosynthesis course. Claire had been to almost every meeting in the last 6 months. Peter had been involved sporadically having known Colston and Tony at Tomorrow’s Company. (Chris did not arrive until later and had been introduced by Julian Burton).

 

Button Pressing

Tony reflected that the last Stocktake/Planning was hosted by Colston at Guildford in March 2002. At this meeting a spirited discussion highlighted a difference emerging between those who had been around at the start of NI, who regarded this as primarily a support and development network, and those who had more recently arrived and were interested also in how NI could help them in setting up their businesses. The conversation produced the 3 circles diagram now posted on the website which defines the purpose of NI as offering to its members:

  • Support
  • Creativity
  • Business Impact

 

The first six months of authentic life

Since then several events have been held including “Getting The Gig” (hosted by Garth and Richard Cooke) specifically on the business theme. A wider group has become involved in putting on events. During this period Fiona has only been to 2 events. Tony has missed a couple of events and left early at another. Colston has been to many of them but felt differently, a bit bored by some events, but still with memorable highlights from others.

 

Perhaps the Guildford stocktake discussion had been a significant point in NI’s development at which the founders had ceased to drive, plan and control everything. In Ian’s words, since then we have had “the first six months of NI’s authentic life”.

 

Brand Stretch

Fiona described her more recent concerns for NI under the heading of “Brand Stretch”. This was about whether the events held in the last 6 months were truly congruent with “NI values”. In particular Fiona’s concerns had been about:

  • Allowing experts to dispense advice from on high (as in Trust and Risk, and as reported on Shadow Workshop)
  • Not being in a circle
  • Everyone not being introduced, present, fully engaged in the meeting

Fiona owned these as being her own concerns and her own learning, and was clear that she was not attempting to impose her stuff on the group.

 

There followed lively discussion in which:

  • Colston voiced his concerns about paying for events (as in Esther’s Voice Dialogue session).
  • Ian explained his role in Shadow Workshop which had been (on Tavi model ? …and…) more involved in buying lunch than being expert. He also reflecting that working on the shadow had created a big impact, including not a little anger and that the repercussions where still being felt
  • Tony explained why he had sponsored Esther’s paying workshop rather than running another “secret” workshop, and rather than inhibiting his motivated exploration of a new and interesting (to him) approach
  • Hilary said it was OK to recover room and food costs, and OK to advertise paying non-NI events
  • Fiona reflected on how Andy had been able to use NI to try things out such as theatre games and forum theatre, and others had asked questions online (to 120 or so NIers) and been surprised at the useful response
  • Claire shared her surprise at the high level of interest in the magician/ organisation consultant workshop she is holding with Fiona
  • Peter and Ian “outed” themselves as closet accountants
  • Peter spoke of the value to him and others from NI in rethinking the way they deliver professional services
  • Sandra asked and found out quite a lot about what happens in NI
  • There was a lot said about valuing NI for being human, face to face and warm.

 

Colston summarised 3 values that emerged in the conversation as being core to NI:

    1. Experience freely exchanged – that is, recognising how much we have amongst 120 people in the community, and offering this experience to each other without charging
    2. Dialogic – that is, everyone present, probably in a circle, engaged in discussion with each other, from which new stuff emerges, rather than one-way, experts preaching
    3. Open access – that is, where possible arrange venues that don’t put a limit on numbers, keep costs minimal to share room hire and food and possibly direct costs but not a fee

 

Suddenly it seemed the clock had moved into our last half hour, and we had taken stock but not planned anything. A man stepped through the doorway and asked “Is this NI?”. It was Chris Pearse. He spoke about his interest in reflective practice, and how needed this was in business and in the world.

 

Closing round – what’s next?

We just had time for a closing round during which each person took a minute or two to summarise where they had got to and what was important going forward from here. From this I noted:

  • Ian fascinated by the way NI is developing from a “two tier” community and planning to write this up as a case study, wants permission to do this under the promise of anonymity
  • Not to worry about putting together a schedule of events – it will emerge in a self-organising way  in this post-control phase
  • Ian may be offering another Shadow lunch, maybe around November
  • Richard Cooke is interested in offering a facilitator day
  • Fiona is offering to host an NI birthday party which several are interested in attending
  • Claire and Fiona are putting on “organisation consultant as magician”
  • Hilary and Sandra maybe asking a question online which could help them with developing a new offering
  • Some of us will be meeting again in the Cricket Club soon at the Penny and Richard Ch… Ch… Ch…Changes event.

 

What followed were goodbyes, washing up, locking up and a smaller group going off to the pub to continue networking.

 

_____________

 

Tony Page

3 September 2002