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HomeMy WebLinkAbout121124 - RECIPROCITY_ TRIBAL RELATIONS POWER TOOLALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. PLUS: 2025 Workshop Schedule + NEW Course Offering <https://zllmpd4ab.cc.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=991c549e-30f3-4938-a20d-6ef5fce47c83&a=1132914421113&c=9b0359de-aa61-11e9-8fec-d4ae52a45a09&ch=9ba0908c-aa61-11e9-8fec-d4ae52a45a09>   RECIPROCITY: Tribal Relations Power Tool <https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> <https://files.constantcontact.com/97d26f6c701/260df545-8422-42e4-8b8d-72de5bf3e014.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=001-jHnQaj9KQ2rqWRO0wrxvs8E5vILPP5g-x5KPDTLk5bwGimXApDnCebG6LP57yqccgLXdGzav6AyVwQxhbru4-iHvZajWiQSnADBYRs0O7piIl hS8rVMDKtgEc6iyrt3V28J4CIctlU4MFcG_nfFy8epofbDd9lBtqRNVPkOVts=&c=t5UJYdaza9PSmP60n7kKtEI-9-FJkiqQsxjg2_tLCe4Ws7ipcYRyXg==&ch=KrrOEOfXm2Wpsb7nZHaQRsKj0W4OwXwLspbq544SIPFFhtiPYn-rpQ==> . You and I are probably doing the same thing this weekend: Gifts. It’s a familiar annual ritual—completing our list of gifts for people we care about. But we’re also practicing a powerful skill for tribal relations. The skill is simple: Considering what’s valuable to other people. Using our past interactions for clues. Examining the relationship for hints… What will they want? What do they need? What have they been talking about lately? What hints have they dropped? This is incredibly valuable practice for our work with tribes. It’s training in an ancient cross-cultural dynamic called reciprocity. If we can initiate a reciprocity dynamic in whatever we’re doing with tribes, big positive things become possible. Relational Resources We often get lost in the details and forget the big reality of our work with tribes: We are negotiating a relationship with a nation of people. What do we want that relationship to look like? Relational negotiation sages Roger Fisher and Scott Brown give us great encouragement in Getting Together: “The good relationship we seek is reciprocal… where a favor or concession by one side is exchanged for a similar favor or concession by the other… There is a natural tendency to rely on some form of reciprocity as the key to building an effective working relationship.” Imagine a working relationship where people understand each other’s interests and talk openly about their needs and goals. Imagine a partnership where the Tribe does big helpful things for you? Maybe they already have, and we just don’t realize it. For example, if a Tribal counterpart offers any of the following, it’s invaluable: * A story about anything; * Time or organizational bandwidth; * Knowledge or information; * Expertise or insights; * Participation or input; * Anything to eat or drink; * Space or hosting; * Introductions or name-sharing; * History or perspective; * Candor or emotions (even negative ones); * Personal or formal respect, or * Any kind of organizational capacity. This list of undervalued tribal resources encourages us to search for undervalued resources our organization can bring. This realization is where the transformative power of reciprocity begins. Reciprocity: Our Ancient Tool There are many ancient motifs that transform tribal relations. Reciprocity is a big one. It’s simple: Parties anticipate and give generously toward each other’s needs. We find many examples of this dynamic in diplomatic institutions like Potlatch ceremonies—common among Indigenous nations in the arctic and pacific northwest. As Bruce Johnsen describes in Potlatch Economy: Reciprocity Among Northwest Coast Indians: “A pervasive institution known as the potlatch governed human relations through reciprocity rather than the hierarchical state. Potlatching involved recurring intertribal feasting, gift giving, ceremonial dance, storytelling, oratory, dispute resolution, declarations of claim or right, and some measure of property destruction.” Ronald Trosper (Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes) elaborates in Indigenous Economics: “The Potlach institution in this simple model would make each fisherman share his catch with the other fisherman… to pool their catches and divide them between each other… A society can enforce sharing, however, which is what the potlach institution did on the Northwest Coast.” Pool and divide. Gather and distribute. Inventory and give. That’s our strategy. Step 1: Pooling the Inventory We first assess the essentials—we pool resources. We consider both our tribal counterparts, and our own organization to identify what’s most essential for each party. Just start by asking… As Fisher and Brown encourage: “Start by asking, ‘What do they care about?’ The better I understand your interests—your concerns, your needs, your wants, your hopes, and your fears—the better the chance that we will be able to satisfy them, at least minimally.” We’re thinking about resources, capacity, and barriers. Only you know the answers here, because you are the only true expert in your special work on a special subject with a special Tribe. In our conversations, meetings, research, and other interactions, we always listen for tribal counterparts discussing resources, capacity, or barriers in their work. And we ask respectful questions to better understand everyone’s interests and needs—on both sides of the relationship. We then create and list categories: * Category 1: List key resources for the Tribe and for us; * Category 2: List key barriers for the Tribe and for us, and * Category 3: List key capacities for the Tribe and for us. Many professionals list and track these in a grid, updating them periodically. Once we see these important factors on paper, our next step is to act. Step 2: Distribute—A Concession Strategy We now decide what we can give away—concessions. We start with three questions: (1) What do we have? (2) What do they seem to need? And (3) what can we give away? We then use our lists to identify and rank the wants and needs driving the relationship: * Priority 1: Absolute essential (non-negotiable); * Priority 2: Most essential (high priority); * Priority 3: Less essential (low priority), and * Priority 4: Least essential. Then, we develop our concession strategy. Our goal is to identify concessions to give away, concessions that are more valuable to our counterpart than they are to us. We want to provide the most valuable concessions possible. Hopefully, this is where the transformation begins. Transformation: The Lady who FOIA’d Herself Transformation looks like many different things… A couple years ago, a woman working for a large western state lands department learned a tribe planned to sue her agency. She anticipated they would file extensive Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. She feared this cumbersome process would strain their relationships on other positive projects. So, she FOIA’d herself. She anticipated all the land records the tribes would likely want. Then, she prepared and executed an extensive records request on her own agency. Weeks later, she arrived to a meeting with tribal counterparts, and brought a massive collection of land and mineral records. The relationship was transformed. The lawsuit hasn’t happened, and their good work continues. It all started with a gift. And her process is the same one we can all use… What do we have? What do they seem to need? What can we give away? <https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> <https://zllmpd4ab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001-jHnQaj9KQ2rqWRO0wrxvs8E5vILPP5g-x5KPDTLk5bwGimXApDnCcwBVdpECjM6st1iOmYD5FapxH383OlIejPSSRgVVwawMbEJfbfanlWwPPJgJfDbMrEyjGI7_8HIxcdnShjZdsZStuyhvkKI3DCDCc07 tfYId-RmLXbCefg=&c=t5UJYdaza9PSmP60n7kKtEI-9-FJkiqQsxjg2_tLCe4Ws7ipcYRyXg==&ch=KrrOEOfXm2Wpsb7nZHaQRsKj0W4OwXwLspbq544SIPFFhtiPYn-rpQ==> Robert Harper (JD, MA, MA) Founder America's leading expert practitioner in conflict resolution with Tribes. Seventh Sovereign has helped over 730 professionals from 510+ organizations transform their work with tribes. <https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> 2025 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE 2025 courses cover the most high-demand topics for professionals working with tribes: * AUTHENTIC LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT * DOING BUSINESS WITH TRIBES (NEW) * TRIBE-SPECIFIC 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: * SACRAMENTO (*Full/Wait List Only*): May 12-15 * PHOENIX (Limited Space): June 23-27 * MISSOULA: September 29 - Oct. 3 * SEATTLE : October 20-24 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: * JANUARY (2025) 20 - 31 * MARCH 24 - April 4 * JUNE 2 - 13 * SEPTEMBER 8 - 19 * DECEMBER 1 - 12 NEW FOR 2025: All participants now enjoy... * Revamped Tribally-Vetted Curriculum * New Course: Doing Business with Tribes * Rolling Enrollment & Group Rates * Quarterly Community of Pracice * 40-Hour Professional Certificate Options Group & Multi-Course Rates available. Email B.B. at: training@seventhsovereign.com. 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