This document summarizes a presentation given by Ismo Heikkila on effectively managing community wealth. The presentation discusses establishing community priorities and managing change through communication strategies and financial education programs. It emphasizes building community capacity to enhance decision making for growing wealth today and preserving it for the future. The presentation covers topics like managing change, literacy, financial education, communication, and Appreciative Inquiry. It stresses taking a community-based approach to capacity building using frameworks like CIRCLE that incorporate Western concepts and community research.

1. The Path for Effectively
Managing Community Wealth
December 17 & 18, 2013
Vancouver, BC
Ismo Heikkila
National Director,
Financial Education & Communication
Aboriginal Services
First Nations Economic Success – Links to Learning for Economic Development and Land Managers 2013

2. Speaker
Ismo Heikkila, CFP
National Director, Financial Education & Communication, Aboriginal Services
Ismo brings over 30 years of financial services experience and an effective ability to communicate to
a broad spectrum of issues related to planning and financial education. He is a member of the
Aboriginal Services team and leads the delivery of Financial Education and Communication
Strategies within First Nation Communities.
Ismo is a member of the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association. He is author of articles in the
Journal for Aboriginal Management entitled “The Financial Planning Growth Process” (Volume 5,
June 2008) as well an article entitled “Supporting Community Change through Communication and
Financial Education” (2010), and "The Rewards and Consequences of Retirement Planning" ( 2013).
Ismo works closely with human resource professionals to audit their existing financial education
programs and design complementary programs that assist them in meeting their fiduciary
responsibilities. He is a regular speaker on such matters having recently spoken at AFOA Regional
conferences as well as the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association (AFOA) National Conference.
Ismo also works on matters relating to adult learning and literacy.
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3. Our mission statement
Our team works with Aboriginal Communities and Trusts that are
accumulating wealth received through treaty settlements, economic
development revenue streams, resource revenues or the settlement of
specific claims. It is our objective to build capacity at the Community
level in order to enhance decision making abilities necessary in
growing wealth for today...and preserving wealth for tomorrow.
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4. A little bit about T.E’s Corporate background
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Roots going back over 40 years (1972) – 2 nd generation firm
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Offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal
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Completely independent and objective Multi-disciplinary firm providing a wide and unique scope
of service offerings
•
Investment advisory
•
Financial education
•
Communication
•
Respected voice within the Aboriginal Community
• Endorsed by the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada (AFOA) to
co-develop a curriculum and deliver Trust Management workshops nationally
• Partner Member of the National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association’s Education
committee, National Advisory Board and Membership Committees. (NATOA)
• Partner Member of NationTalk
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5. “The process”
1.
Community Readiness
a. Establishing Community Priorities
b. Managing Change through Effective Communication
Strategies
c. Financial Education Programs
d. Getting the “team together”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Establish Investment Priorities & Objectives
Developing the Investment Policy
Portfolio Structure
Investment Manager Search and Selection
Ongoing Performance Measurement & Interpretation
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6. Today’s topics
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Community
Managing change
Learning & literacy
Financial education
Communication
Appreciative Inquiry
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7. Community status
•
•
•
Goals
Capacity building
Empowerment
•
•
Strategies
Primarily mainstream researchers and practitioners
•
•
•
Evolving trends
Communities taking control
Programs representing “own culture”
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8. Dimensions of capacity
• Leadership
• Participation
• Social support – collaboration
• Sense of Community – readiness to improve
• Access to resources
• Skill development and empowerment
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9. What’s lacking
• Strategies for building capacity
• Measuring capacity change
• Managed by each community
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10. Considerations
• Aboriginal frame of reference is still developing
• Mainstream definitions of success differ from Community
expectations
• Mainstream models assume mainstream resources and
skills exist and can be identified
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11. What about…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Community history
Culture
Language
Identity
Culture division – traditional & dominant
Band sovereignty
Priorities
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12. “Ways of knowing”
• Aboriginal vs. Western mainstream
• Transformation of power relationships
• Honoring direct experience interconnectedness,
relationships, values…
• Focus on Community self-determination, healing,
transforming
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13. Community uniqueness
• Process on own terms, own skills, collective assets, link
to other community initiatives
• New large initiatives can overwhelm resources and staff
• Long term initiatives have value, yet substantial
immediate needs may have priority
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14. Time
• Time is needed to fully establish and integrate a
capacity – building process
• Mainstream models expect to much too soon
• Historical, cultural, special, political environment plus
time is needed
• Pressure to succeed may cause failure – need time
to build trust, improve communication, develop solid
working relationships
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15. Sustainability
•
Time for long term support and evaluation
•
Is there an assumption that leadership will actually use the tools and
processes?
•
Communities want to preserve natural balances in nature and life
•
Need to minimize mainstream linear, static, time – oriented format
•
Mainstream involvement must include community specific
orientation (awareness to action model)
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16. Change
• The relationship of events to time
• External & internal
• The growth process
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17. What we know…
• Strategy
• Tactics
• Templates
• Leaders & managers
• Influencers
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18. Review of the learning process
Awareness
Information
Mental
Understanding
Acceptance
Competency
Action
18
Education
Emotional

19. Factors to consider
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Age
Gender
Current health
statues
Marital/family status
Income
Personal assets
19
Literacy
Current events
Organization culture
Residency
Ethnicity
Personal values
Education

20. New definition of literacy
“Literacy is the ability to understand
and use information from written text
in a variety of contexts to achieve goals
and further develop knowledge and potential”.
-
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
International Assessment of Adult Competencies - 2013
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21. Educational Activism
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From these 4 elements select the most essential
1. Basic Literacy
Ensure that every individual has core literacy skills, including reading,
writing, and math.
2. Critical Thinkers
Teach individuals to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.
3. Workforce Readiness
Give individuals the skills that they will need to be successful in the
workforce
4. Greater Good
Prepare individuals to contribute to the greater good
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22. Educational Activism
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23. Overview of managing change
What we want to accomplish….
•
guide us to appreciate the “people issues”
•
give us tools we can use to manage change
• stimulate discussion among members
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24. What major issues do individuals think
about every day?
•
Health
•
Relationships
•
Career
•
Finances
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25. If in 1722 the Six Nations invested $1.00 in a trust
fund at 5% simple interest.
About how much is in the fund today?
10
1.
About $15
2.
About $1,500
3.
About $150,000
4.
About $1,500,000
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26. Financial stress
“…the unpleasant feeling that one is unable to meet financial
demands, afford the necessities of life, and have sufficient funds to
make ends meet…”
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27. Determinants of health
Source: Centers for Disease Control
Institute for the Future
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28. Financial stress health issues
Health issue
High level
of stress
from debt
Low level
of stress
from debt
Migraines / headaches
44%
15%
Severe depression
23%
4%
Insomnia / sleeping problems
39%
17%
Severe anxiety
29%
4%
High blood pressure
33%
26%
Heart attack
6%
3%
Ulcer / digestive problems
27%
8%
Muscles tension / low back pain
51%
31%
Source: AP-AOL Health Poll 2008
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29. People challenges
•
Understand member is on the receiving end of change
•
Manage change so the members will “own” the process
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30. The members
“ We don’t have
a single
person to waste”
-
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Maggie Kuhn, founder of the
Gray Panthers

31. People factors
Culture
•comfort in routines
•fear of change
•“initiative” fatigue
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32. The challenge:
… Overcome fear while
preserving ego
… Fear → “Saving Face”
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33. Gaining buy-in
Progress requires four pre-conditions:
•knowing what to do and why
•knowing how to do it
•wanting to do it
•having the resources
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34. Resistance
Overt
Covert
• Memos, meetings, one-on-one,
public behaviors
• Hidden and can go unnoticed until it
destroys a change initiative
• More constructive than covert
because it can be heard and be
addressed
• Clandestine unrest from indirect
complaining to sabotage
• Usually the result of low trust and
inadequate preparation
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35. The community
“Social advance depends as
much upon the process
through which it is secured
as upon the result itself.”
-
Jane Addams
Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
social worker, and suffragist (1860-1935)
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36. Community chaos?
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37. Community sources of resistance
•
Diverging Goals
- change is seen as a threat to established
goals and means of achieving goals
•
Economic Motives
- change seen as a threat to current
resource allocation
•
Political Motives
- change seen as a threat to establishment
power relationships
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38. Communication
Step 1
Sender
Message
Receiver
Receiver
Message
Sender
Sender
Message
Receiver
Step 2
Step 3
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39. Communication
“The greatest problem in
communication is the illusion
that it has been
accomplished”
- Daniel W. Davenport
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40. The communication gap
Chief & Council
Trustees
Members
Time
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41. Establish key messages
Answer the 5 W’s
•
WHO: Who is affected? Who is championing? Who is
Watching? Who cares?
•
WHAT: What impact will it have on me? What will I have to do
differently?
•
WHERE: Where can I ask for help? Where can I get more
information?
•
WHEN: When will I hear more? When will these changes
happen?
•
WHY: Why is this necessary? Rewards & Consequences
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42. Who will be affected?
•
Internally – the community members
•
Externally – non-members
•
How will they react?
•
What are their expectations?
•
How can they impact the success of the initiative?
•
What approaches will be successful with each?
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43. Communication delivery
•
What are the current methods?
- Face-to-face
- Print
- Electronic
•
What are the potential methods?
- Committees
- Special Events
• What methods do the members prefer?
(do our research...get the support of the “go to” members)
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44. Awareness to action model
“I wonder what these changes will
mean to me?”
“Something important is happening”
“I understand the importance of
these changes
and what they mean to me.”
Co
mm
De
sir
e
“This is a good change!
I’m ready to take the next
step!”
In
te
re
st
Action
s
nes
re
Awa
itm
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en
t
“This sounds important
and interesting,. I’d like
to find out more.”

45. Frameworks
•
Gathering of native American’s (GONA)
• Heath education professionals
• Traditional culture, values, training
• Community advocacy & development
• “CIRCLE”
• Community Involvement to Revenues,
Commitment, Leadership and Effectiveness
• 4 – step, cyclical process and philosophy
• Incorporates Western concepts of capacity building with
Community research
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46. What it does…
• Create personal and professional relationships
• Development of individual and group skills
• Create effective working partnerships
• Promotes commitment to issues, the group, the process
• Core is Aboriginal Ideology
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47. How it works…
1. “Building relationships”
• Strong emphasis on “belonging”
• Importance of “commonality”
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48. How it works…
2. “Building skills”
• Learning “mastery”
• Unique individual contributions
• Enhanced interpersonal skills
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49. How it works…
3. “Working together”
• Promotes “interdependence”
• Full integration of individual, family,
Community
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50. How it works…
4. Promoting “commitment”
• Honors “generosity”
• Knowledge transfer and
intergenerational sharing
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51. Going beyond…
•
•
•
Standard approach;
“Action planning”
“Engaging leadership”
•
•
Overlooks;
“Disparities, wounds, poor conditions
•
•
•
•
Future seeking;
Collective identity
Trust
Reflect the Community’s reality
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52. Why it works…
• Mainstream models tend to blame Community “culture”
for failure
• Their models were inadequate coming from
“top
down” (Community placed)
• Community CIRCLE model is from the
“ground
up” (Community based)
• Individual can overcome institutional inequality
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53. Appreciative Inquiry
• Theory and practice of
organizational change
• Result of dissatisfaction
with Action Research
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54. Focus
• Self
Think about a time when you…
• Community
Think about a time when the Community…
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55. Why Appreciative ?
•
Appreciation is a process of
affirmation, it is an act of attention
•
Create change by paying attention to
what you want
•
Appreciation helps groups generate
images for themselves based on an
affirmative understanding of their past
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56. Problem solving & Appreciative Inquiry
Problem solving
Appreciative Inquiry
Felt need ‘identification
of problem’
Appreciating and valuing
the best of what is
Analysis of causes
Envisioning what might be
Analysis of possible
solutions
Dialoguing what should be
Action planning
Innovating what will be
Basic assumption: community
is a problem to be solved
Basic assumption: community
is a mystery to be embraced
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57. Assumptions of Appreciative Inquiry
• In every society, organization or
group, something works
• What we focus on becomes our reality
• Reality is created in the moment and
there are multiple realities
• The act of asking a question
influences in some way
• People have more confidence and
comfort to journey to the future when
they carry forward parts of the past
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58. Assumptions of Appreciative Inquiry
• If we carry parts of the past forward,
they should be what is best about the
past
• It is important to value difference
• The language we use creates our
reality
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59. Appreciative Inquiry process
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60. Amplification
Stories
• Quality of stories told
- new telling, new insight
•
Recording of stories told
- rich in detail, own voice
•
Sharing of stories told
- thematic feedback, documents, video
Propositions – capturing the elements
• Surveys
• Feedback on surveys
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61. Appreciative Inquiry involves a shift
“ No problem can be solved from the same level of
consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the
world anew.”
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though
nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a
miracle.”
- Albert Einstein
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62. How does this connect with
what I am doing?
You should be:
•
thinking
•
hoping
•
planning
•
dreaming
Feedback – transition points of connection
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63. Appreciative Inquiry summary
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The task of management is meaning making and creating possibilities
•
Communities are networks of
conversation
•
Affect action through communication
•
Communication contains moral order
•
Managing change by managing the
communication
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64. We can support you;
• By understanding your community’s past history, present
situation and future plans
• By coordinating “the team” of advisors for Trust
management
• By providing Investment Advisory, Communication and
Financial Education consulting services to your
leadership and members
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65. Summary
•
Our integrated, multi-disciplinary Wealth Management approach
•
Capacity building through knowledge transfer
•
Customized implementation
•
Genuine long term relationships
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66. “One can live magnificently in this
world
if one knows how to love and work;
to love one’s work
and to work for one’s love.”
- Leo Tolstoy
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67. Contact information
Ismo Heikkila, CFP
National Director,
Financial Education & Communication
Aboriginal Services
26 Wellington Street East, Suite 710
Toronto, ON M5E 1S2
Direct: (416) 640-8572
Cell: (647) 520-3879
iheikkila@tewealth.com
www.tewealth.com
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68. THANK YOU!
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