Tips and best practices that can help improve Tribal operations

Tribes of all sizes share some of the same operational challenges to efficiently and effectively serve their members. There are operational strategies that can help Tribes improve service delivery and outcomes. In this article, we describe some of the most common challenges and how to overcome them in a straightforward manner.

Silo mentality

When Tribes function as a silo organization with different departments operating separately without communication, programs can be inhibited from achieving their full potential.

This is especially common between the finance department and program management. The finance department controls when checks are paid, how invoices are received and processed, what vendors are hired, how payroll is processed, and other responsibilities. Program managers, on the other hand, focus on program execution and may view some of these processes as impediments to providing seamless services.

Build knowledge

To fix these challenges Tribal leadership needs to ensure that each department understands how the other functions. Tone is important, so being patient and open-minded can help form better relationships between departments and lead to stronger communication and implementation of new processes or deadlines.

For example, if a program manager wants to know why the finance team needs to control purchasing or the approval of new vendors, the finance department should explain it’s an important safeguard that protects the entire Tribe and that centralized processes increase consistency and reduce risks. Program managers should also clearly articulate when deadlines or financial processes are negatively impacting the services they’re providing. A collaborative approach will enable the needs of both groups to be met.

Schedule meetings

Your Tribal leadership can easily assess the effectiveness of the relationship between your finance department and project managers by determining if these departments formally meet on a periodic basis. If they don’t, then plan to schedule an initial meeting with finance and program management to brainstorm ways the departments could better support each other. Also, establish a regular meeting rhythm to identify and resolve challenges.

Lack of policies and procedures

Many organizations don’t have a comprehensive set of updated policies and procedures. While these are important documents, organizations, including Tribes, often have difficulty finding time outside of day-to-day activities to focus on them. As such, organizations face the potential for noncompliant activities, which could create financial, operational, and reputation risks.