Driving Change by Managing For Results: The Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Some very big news about changes at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) - the Board of Trustees has ratified a Strategic Plan that included six Priorities and ten Strategic Results all focused on “improving the conditions of Native Hawaiians”.

Created in the 1978 Constitutional Congress, OHA is using its Strategic Plan to fully focus all of its resources on measurable results for Native Hawaiians. As part of the planning process, OHA re-defined its roles as Advocate, Researcher and Asset Manager. This means, according to Clyde Namu’o, OHA Administrator, "We are fully focused on systemic change to improve the conditions of all Native Hawaiians." Secondly, OHA is completely restructuring itself to fully manifest these three roles and achieve measurable results for all members of the Native Hawaiian community. Hey MFR Surfers – this is world class!

Much is at stake! Native Hawaiians experience much higher rates of chronic diseases, lower success rates in education and lower family incomes than the population of Hawaii as a whole. Some of the numbers around chronic diseases are among the worst in the world.

Through an eight month process, which included a statistically valid survey of nearly 3,000 Native Hawaiians, OHA has developed a Strategic Plan that is the foundation of a full MFR system, which includes integrating planning, budgeting, reporting, employee and contractor performance, decision making, and an integrated research and advocacy service delivery system. Based on new clarity about results and the three primary roles, OHA is now "Re-Organizing for Results." And they are going top-to-bottom.

Talk about courage! Over the next few weeks, OHA is changing their structure from a topic-based organization, e.g. health, to a functionally organized agency with four Lines of Business: Resource Management, Community Relations, Research, and Advocacy. The new position of COO has been filled by former senior special assistant Stanton Enomoto. Subsequently, LOB and Program managers will be hired in October and November, as well as a Chief Knowledge Officer. This mission-driven organization is reshaping itself around its Strategic Plan and becoming results oriented more quickly than any we have worked with in 11 years and 49 jurisdictions! Note that their courage comes from an urgent sense of mission to achieve results for their own Native Hawaiian community.

The focus on systemic change through advocacy, built on research to develop the best information available, is giving OHA a renewed sense of purpose and direction. On September 23, Haunani Apoliona, OHA Board Chair, and Mr. Namu’o held a press conference announcing the Strategic Plan and the organizational changes. You may find their Strategic Plan on the OHA web site at http://www.oha.org/stratplan/; there is also an hour-long video featuring OHA leaders as well as our very own Marv Weidner you can watch there. You can catch a replay of the press conference at http://www.oha.org/ccn/2009/09/23/.

To see some of the great press coverage of OHA’s Strategic Plan announcement check the editorial published in the Star Bulletin (click here to see it). We would all like to have some of that in our morning paper! Fantastic press.

Folks here at Weidner are proud to be OHA’s consultant for Strategic Planning and MFR organizational and systems alignment. More great stories to come from the land of Aloha!