Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 10, 1 October 2017 — The Urgent Need to Restructure OHA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Urgent Need to Restructure OHA

1 his is the last eolumn of my series proposing a 360-degree restructuring of the way we do

business. My intent is more of a thought lead-

ership sense of urgency wake-up eall appeal to my fellow Trustees. It is not a get in the weeds dictation brimming with specifics as to how it should all occur. But it is my attempt to specifically carve out a road map toward a total restructuring of the organization. Previous columns called for (1) re-visiting the constitutional intent of OHA, (2) re-interpreting the overarching mission, (3) re-

writing the strategic plan, (4) ramping up OHA's communications with beneficiaries to produce maximum transparency, (5) developing a far more sophisticated set of objectives in building strategic relationships with the broader Hawai'i community, especially its most important institutions that impact Hawai'i's eeonomie growth and public policy development, (6) establishing a quality of life index that clearly spells out what it means to "better the conditions of Hawaiians and native Hawaiians," and (7 ) constructing our budget based on a set of pre-determined measures of success to accurately measure performance. It's important to note that last year the Board already started on the difficult task of overhauling a fundamental document of our governance model when Trustee Hulu Lindsey and I were appointed as an ad-hoc committee that completed a considerable amount of work on overhauling OHA policies that govern our operations. There was also another initiative triggered last year that had another ad-hoc committee make recommendations on what would constitute the ideal characteristics and skill sets required whenever the next opportunity occurred to recruit a new CEO. Like Trustees, who are subject to being elected to office thus creating a turnover at the trustee level, the OHA CEO position might also be subject to the same opportunity to allow for new ideas and perspectives every so many years.

Both initiatives still await full discussion by the Board.

An important new condition in the making that I believe will support my eall for restructuring is the expectation that the current audit of OHA operations by the State Auditor will provide an indepth analysis of both Trustee and administrative performance based on the existing governance model and the policies that frame the model. I anticipate that the audit findings will support the need for revising our operations. The one condition that I hope

a restructured OHA would address is the sometimes contentious relationship between the Board and administration, where hnes of authority are blurred and driven by outdated policies and a govemance model that divides more than unites. No set of quick fixes will resolve the continuing contentiousness to whieh both Tmstees and administrators fah victim. My last comment beats the same drum that OHA, in its rebirth, should vigorously pursue further empowering existing community organizations that are already working on just about every single ehallenge, from heahh care to public policy, and leverage our resources by maximizing partnership opportunities so the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Let us share the power and the resources. Lastly, I continue to plead that it is vital that OHA reach out beyond its beneficiaries and begin to communicate to the rest of Hawai'i. We must stop operating in a vacuum and fully grasp the reality that, no matter where we decide we'd like the road to lead, we cannot go there alone. And we should not. Hawai'i loa kū like kākou. All Hawai'i stand together. ■ Visit PeterApo.com to see all ofmy eolumns on restructuring OHA, and please "like" Facebook/peter.apo where I post articles about Hawaiian culture, traditions and events.

PetEr Apo TrustEE, O'eIiu