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HomeMy WebLinkAbout090324 - TRIBAL RELATIONS_ TURNOVER TURMOIL - 4 Ways to Reduce Relational RiskALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. Update: Seattle Workshops (October) Space Remaining <https://zllmpd4ab.cc.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=121a102f-d53d-409e-9f43-da902dcc6e34&a=1132914421113&c=9b0359de-aa61-11e9-8fec-d4ae52a45a09&ch=9ba0908c-aa61-11e9-8fec-d4ae52a45a09>   TRIBAL TURNOVER TURMOIL: 4 Steps to Reduce Relational Risk <https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> <https://files.constantcontact.com/97d26f6c701/d371f323-cc6a-4ecb-99c3-bfebdeeea533.jpg?rdr=true> Know someone who works with tribes? Share & they can sign-up for these briefs HERE <https://zllmpd4ab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001l__A0LQuy9WYPnthaT66pqQW-AW5hhG4upHdNM-cEPFEMcBQALcLoqnaV3mbUOnMTqsa0_RC2PrEgaR7iHio43JjvbQoIHrulCn7fki2gvVwYr 3Q2rknfT5pOCJNYTU0LaT62pjvbIJr5DzRJSOfim8tk4xviqdsLZsgRZOjsso=&c=fzZvXcQp0upyCPLn-jGYMT_rFnHTF5pa5bvWQQd1uZ0C0r1Dh8jSew==&ch=bHC9r_PafQ6hX4OaIkCEzzMkh45Ta6IfXUMnlM-0cg5345qwVLe3YA==> . BIG QUESTION: Is turnover impacting your work with tribes? Have you made great efforts and progress toward projects, programs, partnerships, or agreements—all to have them setback by turnover? Maybe someone new got elected? Maybe someone got un-elected? Someone retired? Someone got promoted? Somebody went on leave? The examples are endless… But the scenario is the same: We’re starting over from scratch because of factors beyond our control. You’re not alone! Turnover is one of the most common disruptors in tribal relations. It poses the most persistent risk to the great work we’re trying to do. Good News: Once we understand the type of turnover we encounter and the type of risk it poses, the path forward is clear. Turnover Turmoil Depending on your points of engagement with a Tribe, you likely experience different types of turnover. Many of us see it in our executive-level engagements with tribal leaders. Books like Rebuilding Native Nations (Jorgensen, 2007) and American Indian Constitutional Reform (Lemont, 2006) explore high turnover rates among elected tribal leaders. They explain: * Frequent shifts in government priorities, initiatives, and direction; * Changes in consensus needed for agreements and relationships, and * The need to negotiate with a wider range of leadership coalitions. For others, we work at the organizational level—with different tribal departments or corporations. The National Native American Human Resources Association (NNAHRA) surveyed 67 tribal entities employing over 50,000 staff in 2019 and found: “Turnover is high in tribal organizations, with 50% of respondents losing at least 20% of their staff annually. In the government sector the top three departments with the highest turnover include Head Start, health services, and tribal police. On the enterprise side, food and beverage, housekeeping, and maintenance make the top of the list.” Just like non-tribal organizations, tribal entities face all kinds of unique dynamics putting long-term, consistent relationships in flux. So how do we navigate these shifting seas? We must build a network, a system, a min-organization. It’s our sturdy little boat to navigate these shifting seas. But we must first consult our relational compass to understand the underlying currents before deploying four simple, adaptable solutions. Shifting Seas: Relational Risk For us, this isn’t an HR issue. It’s not a problem with tribal politics either. It’s about risk management. For some it’s legal risk. For others, it’s risks to projects, permits, grant proposals, partnerships, agreements, business ventures… The list goes on. These situations are very different, but the real risk is the same: It’s relational… Because all these different efforts require consistent, stable relationships to succeed. In tribal relations, the most common cause of relational risk is what we call “narrow engagement.” This occurs when organizations rest their entire relationship on one or two key people, yielding inconsistent, unstable relations. To solve this, we must first expand, and then stabilize our engagement. Expansion: Relational Relevance Many folks in engineering, investing, and physics may know, when we encounter risk, we want to multiply and diversify. In tribal relations, we reduce relational risk through careful expansion—multiplying and diversifying our points of engagement. We start with the Tribe… But hold on! We don’t want to just start thumbing through the tribal government rolodex calling everyone we find! Instead, we carefully add only the relevant people the Tribe may want involved. Specifically, we must identify and engage with (1) Official and (2) Unofficial people connected to the special (a) Subjects, (b) Activities, or (c) Locations we work with. Wherever we discover them, our goal is the same: Find an appropriate way to include them in our relationship. After we widen, then we stabilize. Stability: Consistency, Groups & Linkage We use three common methods to stabilize relationships with tribes: Consistency, groups, and formal linkage. Consistency is our first step. We must build consistency into our interactions any way we can. Consistent communication is the hallmark of positive work with tribes. Here’s a few factors to work with: * Timing & regularity; * Meetings & attendance; * Location-based activities; * Initiating, maintaining & follow-up; * Channels & modes of communication; * Transparency & information-sharing; * Personnel & points of contact; * Listening & responding, and * What we say & do. Each of these are highly adaptable to different circumstances. We can be creative, and inventive in ways completely unique to our work. Groups are our second step. Groups connect to discuss and do things together. Creating groups can stabilize tribal engagement by providing a relational forum and platform for interactions. Maybe it’s a site visit team to hear hosted stories about a landscape, or a bi-monthly staff-to-staff Zoom meeting to process new ICWA cases. We have lots of options. But the common denominator is this: Groups help diversify and multiply points of engagement in a more collaborative way. Formal linkage is our third step. A linkage is anything in writing that commits time, people, resources, interest, activity, or information. It might be something as simple as a meeting invite list or a working group agenda. Or, something much more formal like a Memorandum of Agreement or a grant proposal. It might be a revision to someone’s job description or a contractor’s work. Anything (a) written that (b) formalizes, (c) functional linkages (d) between organizations will work. Next Steps: 4 Easy Questions Over your next cup of coffee, grab a pen and paper, and see what comes to mind… * (1) How can you find other points of engagement with the Tribe who are somehow connected to the subject you work on? Where might you find them? * (2) How can you build more consistency into your interactions with Tribal counterparts? * (3) How could you create some kind of collaborative group with tribal counterparts? What kind of information-sharing, coordination, perspectives, or understanding could arise? * (4) Lastly, what kind of formal functional linkages could stabilize these efforts? Who could benefit? How would they benefit? How could those benefits appear in some kind of writing—even if it’s just a meeting agenda? Even if you think all you’ve got are small ideas, please remember… In tribal relations, big things have small beginnings! . <https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> <https://zllmpd4ab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001l__A0LQuy9WYPnthaT66pqQW-AW5hhG4upHdNM-cEPFEMcBQALcLogAASsf0iJnQzPiT7Qni3GBhJjwxarmlFLxzguRMZPztLlzkg5LBpIR_cWAg_ILN_HWy45W1m1go9aDEhoeJt0kxOFyMiDsCSmp93Qz- 1VPMBlnzQrRFY78=&c=fzZvXcQp0upyCPLn-jGYMT_rFnHTF5pa5bvWQQd1uZ0C0r1Dh8jSew==&ch=bHC9r_PafQ6hX4OaIkCEzzMkh45Ta6IfXUMnlM-0cg5345qwVLe3YA==> Robert Harper, Founder America's leading expert practitioner in conflict resolution with Tribes. Seventh Sovereign has provided professional Tribal Relations trainings for over 700 professionals with 440+ organizations. <https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> 2024 WORKSHOPS 2024 courses cover the five high-demand topics for tribal relations practitioners: * LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT * CULTURAL AWARENESS * TRIBAL ENGAGEMENT 101 * TRIBAL CONSULTATION * NEGOTIATING WITH TRIBES REGIONAL WORKSHOPS combine interactive lecture with real-world scenario table-top exercises. Each runs from 9 AM - 5 PM local time in: * SEATTLE: October 21-25 LIVE ONLINE WORKSHOPS combine live lecture, Q&A, and reflective hands-on research, self-assessment, real-world examples and multi-tribal perspectives. Each course runs two mornings from 9AM to NOON Mountain Time: * SEPTEMBER 16th -27th * NOVEMBER 11th - 22th * JANUARY 20th-31st (2025 Group, multi-course, and student rates available. Email B.B. at: training@seventhsovereign.com. 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