Whistleblowers: Come to save the day

Recently there has been a lot of media focus on the whistle blower from Facebook that has leaked thousands of documents which revealed that the company consistently put profit over people. Of course this is not new but there has never been so many clear examples before. The company has already changed their name to Meta and there is a serious possibility that the company could be broken up into smaller companies within the near future.

All Tribal governments have a whistleblower policy but it is rarely followed and in some cases it is probably the most underutilized policy of all. A number of Tribes struggle with ethical issues which is a leadership issue. This can take the form of sexual harassment, embezzlement, fraud, abuse of power and many other examples. These ethical breakdowns can demoralize staff, result in staff turnover and even jeopardize an entire programs funding source. Whistleblowers who know what they know and come forward to address the issues are often retailiated against. Once this happens several times there is a great reluctance for others to come forward to speak truth to power.

In one of the spiritual programs I follow they have a saying which is "you are only as sick as the secrets you keep." This also applies to dysfunctional Tribal organizations. Transparency and openness need to be practiced by all those in leadership positions throughout the organization. If not the very very credibility and trust of the Tribal organiztion can be diminished and once you lose this it is very hard to get it back.

Steps you can take to create a more ethical organization should include having an very clear and strong whistleblower policy based on the federal guidelines for the Whistleblower Act. Then you need to make sure that the policy is enforced at all levels within the organization. Keep Tribal politics out of this or you will regret it later. Policies and procedures should not only apply to some of the people some of the time. You need to be consistent and fair with them. And lastly if the whistleblower has identified a major ethical breach like major fraud or embezzlement actions honor that person in some way by giving them recognition with a Star Quilt or some other way to let them know that they are valued and appreciated.

Mitakuye Oyasin - All My Relations