What happens when the person who seems to know everything suddenly leaves?
Maybe they’re your long-time Finance Manager, Band Administrator, HR Manager or department lead. Over the years, they’ve accumulated knowledge that isn’t necessarily written down: how processes work, who needs to be involved, what’s been tried before, and how to navigate the unexpected.
When that person retires, moves into another role or leaves the organization, it can quickly become apparent just how much knowledge and organizational capacity was tied to one individual.
For Nation governments and Indigenous organizations, people are at the heart of service delivery and advancing community priorities. Employees may be responsible for everything from finance and administration to housing, health, education, economic development and community programs.
That is why human resources should be viewed as more than hiring, payroll, policies or addressing workplace issues.
Investing in people is an investment in organizational capacity.
What does investing in people look like in practice? It doesn’t necessarily require a major new HR initiative. Leadership teams can start by focusing on four areas that can meaningfully impact both employees and the organization.
1. Give People Clarity
One of the simplest ways to support employees is to make sure they understand what is expected of them and how their work contributes to the organization’s broader priorities.
Clear job descriptions, reporting relationships and organizational structures help employees understand their responsibilities, where decisions are made and what success looks like in their role.
This becomes particularly important as organizations grow and responsibilities evolve. A position that made sense five years ago may look very different today. Employees can gradually take on additional responsibilities, departments may begin to overlap, and important functions can become dependent on one person.
Periodically reviewing roles and responsibilities can help leadership identify these gaps before they become problems.
2. Develop the People You Already Have
Recruiting specialized skills can be challenging for any organization, but Nation governments and Indigenous organizations may face additional considerations, particularly in smaller or remote communities.
Investing in existing employees can help build skills internally while creating opportunities for people who already understand the community, its priorities and ways of working. Professional development might mean formal training, but it can also include mentorship, job shadowing, cross-training or giving an employee an opportunity to take on a new responsibility with support.
Rather than asking only, “What training should we offer this year?” leadership teams can consider a bigger question:
What skills will our organization need in the next three to five years, and are we developing those skills now?
Taking a longer-term view can help identify where professional development will have the greatest impact. That may mean strengthening financial management skills, preparing emerging leaders for greater responsibility, building governance and administrative capacity, or developing specialized knowledge in areas such as human resources.
We can see this approach in practice here in B.C.; Westbank First Nation identifies employee development as important to both individual and organizational success and provides employees with in-person, online and self-paced education and professional development opportunities. Its Human Resources function also creates career and training pathways for WFN Members and staff.
WFN’s student career program provides another example of developing talent from within the community. The program focuses on placing youth and students where they can thrive, learn and build on their natural abilities. Through real workplace experience, mentorship, learning opportunities, and new challenges, students explore their interests while developing personally and professionally.
The lesson isn’t that every organization needs to follow the same model. It’s that developing people can be approached intentionally, connecting learning and experience today with the skills and capacity an organization will need tomorrow.
AFOA BC’s education and professional development opportunities support this same broader goal by giving Indigenous professionals opportunities to strengthen practical skills, build professional knowledge and learn alongside others working in similar roles and environments.
The goal isn’t simply to send employees to training. It’s to connect professional development to where the organization is going and give people opportunities to grow with it.
3. Plan for Knowledge Transfer and Succession
Every organization has people who become the go-to source for important information. Their knowledge is tremendously valuable, but it can also create organizational risk if that knowledge stays primarily with one individual.
Consider a long-serving employee who manages a critical function and has gradually become the person everyone turns to for answers. Having that employee mentor someone newer, document important processes or cross-train colleagues doesn’t diminish their value. It helps turn individual knowledge into organizational knowledge.
Succession planning is not only about replacing senior leaders. It is also about maintaining continuity and creating opportunities for the next generation of employees to learn, grow and take on greater responsibility.
4. Create a Workplace Where People Want to Stay
Competitive compensation matters, but people also pay attention to how it feels to work somewhere.
Do employees feel respected and supported? Do managers communicate clearly? Is good work recognized? Are there opportunities to learn and advance? Can employees raise concerns safely?
For Indigenous organizations, workplace culture can have additional dimensions. Creating space for community values and cultural knowledge, while supporting both Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees to understand how the organization works and whom it serves, can contribute to a workplace where people feel connected to a larger purpose.
Regular conversations with employees can also help leadership understand what people need before valuable employees begin looking elsewhere. Performance discussions shouldn’t simply evaluate what happened over the past year. They can be an opportunity to talk about goals, development and where an employee would like to grow
Investing in People Builds Organizational Capacity
Investing in people doesn’t happen through one policy, workshop or annual performance review. It happens through everyday decisions about how people are supported, developed, included and prepared for what’s next.
When organizations create opportunities for employees to learn, contribute and grow, they aren’t only investing in individual careers. They’re building knowledge, continuity and capacity that can benefit the organization and community for years to come.
At AFOA BC, we support Indigenous professionals working across finance, administration, governance, human resources and operations through education, professional development and opportunities to learn from one another.
Because an organization’s ability to move its priorities forward ultimately depends on the people doing the work.