Organizational performance improvement and
       change management

Larson Slade Associates has been working with several federal agencies and tribal beneficiaries since 1992 to improve service for the Indian Trust Fund. This $3 billion trust was established to protect and manage millions of acres of land owned by American Indian tribes and citizens. In the 1980s a series of audits and reviews were performed that revealed serious mismanagement problems, including an inability to account for title to some of the lands and the income generated from land use leases. In the late 1990s, 300,000 Indians filed a lawsuit against the federal government, charging mismanagement of the trust and demanding management reform and financial compensation.

In support of organizational reform, Larson Slade initially performed a series of tasks whose purpose was the documentation of the state of the trust and the agencies that serve it. Among our tasks were:

• Workload and job/task analysis of 75 labor categories at multiple Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Area and Agency offices and at the Office of Trust Funds Management (we documented task performance and measured workload)
• Focus groups and individual interviews of hundreds of BIA and OTFM personnel at multiple sites
• Analysis and documentation of treaties, federal laws, Executive Orders, regulations, and policies and procedures that govern the trust, including a gap analysis of missing and needed guidance
• Documentation of the BIA's complex process for developing policies and procedures
• Creation and training of a plan for policies and procedures development

Later, Larson Slade and its teaming partners were selected by the newly-appointed Special Trustee to develop a strategic plan for organizational reform of the trust process. Because of strong pressure from the trust beneficiaries and the U.S. Congress, this intensive effort was accomplished in only four months. Our tasks included:

• Development of a project plan that served 80 project personnel
• Recruitment and deployment of highly-specialized Subject Matter Experts
  
• Formation of a survey and data analysis plan
• Design of print and electronic survey instruments
• Creation of a logistical plan for almost 100 site visits, including 50 tribal offices, which were conducted in two months by 50 contract personnel
• Interviews, focus groups, and observations for five federal agencies' as well as tribes' business functions including personnel descriptions and job tasks for 75 labor categories; management and leadership hierarchies; policies and procedures; training and communications systems; automated systems including hardware, software and peripherals; databases and data management; assets management; and accounting, investments and payouts
• First-ever wide-ranging outreach to tribal beneficiaries, including focus groups and interviews with tribal chairpersons, financial officers, and systems personnel
• Data scrubbing and analysis
• First-ever business process map of all federal and tribal trust business processes and steps
• Captured "best practices" from SMEs and also from commercial trust departments, including job descriptions for 40 labor categories; also documented gaps between successful trust departments and the federal organization
• Developed an ideal "straw" organization that could meet legal, judicial, and treaty requirements for trust performance.
• Identified and interviewed vendors of outsourced, COTS trust management applications
• Using the performance gap analysis, developed findings and recommendations for improved automated systems, policies and procedures, training, data management, archives, trust asset management
• Developed a five-year strategic plan for trust reform
• Using ISD, performed a training needs and cost/benefit analysis and developed a five-year training plan which uses videoconferencing, videotapes, systems networks, user conferences, and print materials to relay information to hundreds of BIA and tribal personnel in approximately 300 locations. The training relies on existing, commercially-available courseware and customized training modules.
• Developed and presented oral, PowerPoint, and multimedia progress reports at a series of meetings with tribal and federal government leaders. Reports also received by U. S. Congress, the Secretary of the Interior, and the GAO.

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