Michael A. Langley

Spirit Mountain Casino opened in 1995 which is over 20 years ago. This brought our tribe economic success that exceeded everyone’s expectations. We became a player in the local and national arena. Luckily for us, we had elders with the wisdom to set aside money for endowments that would fund the programs we valued most. I will forever be grateful for their decisions. Our financial assets and our natural assets will bring us through to the other side as we meet our recent challenges.

I want to note that I work with great employees at the casino. There are many delivering great customer service every single day. My fellow employees have been open and I have learned so much from all of them. Learning that includes many processes that I was unaware of around gambling, slot machines and tables. The process for registering hotel guests, including online, phone, or in person. The process for issuing winning jackpots. The process for collecting the money from slot machines. I have learned the entire process for getting an order to the table and the table cleared for the next guest. The process for gathering all of the transactions that occur each day and how they end up being recorded and reported in the financials. In doing so, you break down every moment into tasks and each time I am amazed how much teamwork and cooperation aids in completing them in an efficient and effective manner.

I also know many of the dedicated staff at the various tribal buildings and offices. People who love their jobs and are dedicated to serving the people. I have recently watched the Health Department step up their game by posting openings in appointments online and through other outreach online via social media. I am certain there are also many, many tasks needed to complete their services to the members that also rely on teamwork. I note this because the following topic isn’t about individuals. It’s about leadership and strategic risk.

Where we find ourselves is nobody’s fault. It’s a natural cycle. So, we as tribal people need to eliminate the hateful comments, the accusatory comments questioning motivations of our leaders as if they are selfish in their pursuits or even criminals. We need discussions that will lead to innovations not walls. We don’t have time to waste on those silly things that don’t change anything or get us any closer to our goals. We have recently finished a much needed renovation of the gaming floor. However, this change alone is not going to recover the projected losses we currently are experiencing in competition from Ilani and others. Ilani isn’t even done with their development which will include a tower hotel, shopping center and more. The competition is not going to get any easier and the impacts will be greater if we do nothing differently or rely on cosmetic changes that while needed don’t really create additional revenues.

Businesses typically go through the life cycle that is represented in the graph below. The range varies however the most commonly accepted range would say it is 20-25 years. Companies form, grow and mature and the management also has to evolve through the cycle. Those things that were successful at start-up may not be successful for a mature company.

There are several attributes that companies in a changing market typically possess. A company approaching the mature phase is at a critical time which is represented at the sustaining phase above. A timely response would be done during the sustaining phase so that the competition which leads to the decline stage (crisis management) is actually after the new growth and new revenue has already occurred. At that point, speaking from a budget perspective, the current levels are at least sustained or raised. We have known for over 10 years that this competition was coming. The only other outcome would have been a casino in the Longview-Kelso area. This was still going to make the Cowlitz casino the closest one to Portland. Awareness of this natural cycle, with healthy engaged conversation, should have led to new endeavors before the decline in revenues hits. Our timing is not optimal, but it is not fatal either.

So let’s discuss attributes. The following are attributes of a business that is in the mature – decline phase and are unsupportive of change:

• Organizational misalignment resulting in ineffective leadership
• External factors are viewed as uncontrollable
• Waste and cost reduction are not emphasized or measured, losses are not aggressively addressed and cash flow is not maximized
• Decisions guided by excessive rules, authority, approvals established by management
• Subjective information used for performance assessment of processes and decision making. Information is disputed, subjective discussions, politics, individual agendas drive decision making
• Mistakes are punished/focus on individual blame; little to no employee involvement in decisions
• People are rewarded, recognized, promoted based on subjective criteria, relationships, historical factors, results independent of core values and metrics
• Organization focused on maintaining revenue, controlling/reducing costs, preserving status quo
• Individuals protecting turf/status quo, others in the organization viewed as competition or threats, back stabbing, politics exist. Formal structure predominates
• Conformity and lack of mistakes are valued
• Employee morale is low and exhibits high turnover

Conversely, attributes of a reinvent – re-growth stage include:

• Work force decisions that are guided by core values and encouraged at all levels
• Metrics, understood and accepted by the organization that measure performance of processes, guide decision making and lead to improvements
• Mistakes are used for learning with a focus on fixing the process through employee involvement
• People are rewarded, recognized, promoted based on metrics and core values
• Organization striving to increase resources, capability, and service customer needs and expanding markets
• Organization works as a team, respect and support others. Individuals are recognized, respected and effectively utilized on teams for their strengths and accomplishments. Title and position are less relevant
• Risk taking (with due diligence) and innovation/creativity are valued
• High employee morale with low turnover

Our casino market is faced with much, much, more competition such as Ilani (Cowlitz Casino), Top Golf, the always expanding Oregon lottery, as well as other entertainment competition. Attitude reflects leadership and our leadership comes from our Tribal Council. They set the tone. We need to keep the above two lists of attributes in mind. For those who work at the casino or the tribe, or have family members who do, which of these attributes are you witnessing? Are we doing enough to Reinvent through New Growth and thus New Revenues? Has the process for due diligence been addressed?

Change is inevitable and the right change is needed. We need to establish core values; those items that we want present as tribal people in every one of our ventures. (See my blog for more discussion.) Our success and ability to re-invent and re-grow is dependent on the effectiveness of leadership in adopting sound values, strategies, and creating an aligned, empowered organization. Learning, innovation and risk taking need to be valued, encouraged and rewarded.  Competitive change requires knowledgeable and experienced leadership as well as the will to make the right changes.

The one thing that we cannot do is what we have always done. This is a sure path through the decline to the decay stage. Our current strategy at the casino has relied mostly on being the closest casino to Portland. A robust approach would include a complete Tribal strategic plan incorporating the Vision Statement of our tribe. Some say that our Tribal government is not a business and can’t be run like one because it only offers services and support. Well, I have worked with non-profits for over 10 years. They also only offer services and support. The successful, most efficient and effective non-profits still have strategic planning with goals and metrics to measure success. Whether an entity is a business, government, or non-profit the same fiduciary responsibility exists with leadership held accountable for performance.

Tribal Council is both our legislative and executive branch of government. Tribal Council cannot merely sit back and tell staff to lead. We need Tribal Council to give staff the vision so that they have direction and can use their talents, their ideas to help us forward, their ideas for efficiency, effectiveness and improvements that a learning environment provides. Once that vision is given, their talents will take over. That Vision and Strategic Plan is not something Tribal Council should be doing alone either. Most of us are not even aware of the 2010 Strategic Plan. It isn’t enough to have a piece of paper to point to as a task completed. That is the easy work. We need measurements of success, objectives, goals and timelines that can be monitored for performance and adjustments and continuous updates that make it a living document. We need it to be the guiding principle in how all of our business interests act in society as well as our government programs serving the same Master Plan.

New efforts to refine the 2010 Strategic Plan need to be collaborative efforts based on community meetings both local and through live internet interaction with feedback from the members. We don’t need all of the answers to come from our leaders; that would be an unrealistic and unfair expectation. We do need them to lead by setting the right tone and the framework of our vision; that vision we all will have a role in deciding. This process cannot afford to be derailed from its destination. The next three generations are depending on us. They will not be so forgiving of how we were sidetracked from the important and urgent conversations that impacted them and chose to focus on character attacks instead of ideas and plans. They will wonder how there was ever a time when despite our investments in education for members, this same education was marginalized – even with experience to go with it. They will no longer care about the existing divisions because they will be blurred beyond recognition by then.

That’s my team. The team rooting for the vision of the complete blurring of political party and only One Tribe, from our existing rolls, moving forward with tweaks to get those split families taken care of. My vision is a Tribe that will be financially sound because we will have true endowments that include defined expenses and a defined corpus. In our future, we will work together to advance new economic opportunities as well as cultural curriculum all the while knowing where we want to be in five, ten, twenty years and beyond. In our future, I see a Tribe working together with urgency and vision. I see a Whole and Healed Tribe. I will continue to work hard to see this vision through.