IBN Review Update

Earlier this year, I advised of your Board commissioning an independent review of our performance as trustee, which you can read about here; IBN Performance Review – A Message from the CEO – IBN Group

IBN awarded Indigenous Management Group WA (IMGWA) through a competitive tendering process, to review IBN’s performance of managing your Trust.

This process has been extremely beneficial for you, the Member, the IBN Board, Staff and Stakeholders. From this review, we learned that IBN is effectively managing your trust in its current format.

From the recommendations, we learned about the areas we need to improve in and the areas we can examine to possibly modernise your Trust. 

Some of the recommendations will be easy to implement as your IBN Board have already been discussing these and are already advanced in the process. Other recommendations will take a little more consideration as we determine changes and how we impact the charitable allowance. 

We have published the full IMGWA report to the website, and you read the report here. 

The following are the closing comments and a summary of the IMGWA recommendations.

IMGWA Summary

SCOPE
The scope of this assessment included the following areas:

1. Corporate Governance

IBN has a proactive approach towards creating and establishing thorough governance structures. The assessment of the documents referred in section 2, further supports this statement. There is room for improvement on the organisational structure and strategic plan.

2. Finance and investments

IBN complied to the Trust Deed, including budgets meeting the expectations of the guiding principles. Actual spend compared to the budget for programs was significantly lower, however, leaving surplus funds available. Operating expenses trended to be more efficient from 2017 through to 2021.

3. Social Impact

IBN’s overall investment into programs for members is strong. IBN Program Allowances tended to be at the higher end of the spectrum, when compared to other Pilbara-based trusts. Survey results demonstrate support for the overall programs offered by IBN. There is an acknowledgement and opportunity to improve member support and grievance handling, through a variety of training courses, and better utilisation of the personnel within the organisation.

4. Cultural appropriateness of IBN

IBN has maintained a 50% Aboriginal staffing, supporting a culturally safe workplace. The cultural responsiveness of IBN’s services could be improved, however, understanding the inherent challenges with having three (3) different language groups representing the organisation. Having a stronger working relationship with the Rep Corps may allow for more culturally appropriate services and programs to be designed for members

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
The performance evaluation of each section, and overall, is summarised below.

• Corporate Governance: 4 out of 5
• Finance: 4 out of 5
• Social Impact: 4 out of 5
• Cultural Appropriateness: 3.5 out of 5

IMGWA assessed IBN’s overall performance as 3.95 out of 5 (79%).

RECOMMENDATIONS
IMGWA have consolidated the assessment, identifying key recommendations to further IBN and its members:

• Consult with the Community as to their requirements for a review of the Trust Deed, and which areas are to be addressed. Members should be provided information on what changes can be made, and the processes involved in implementing the change.
• Conduct a review of the Trust Deed in consultation with Representative Corporations, to consider the modernisation of the Deed to better reflect the goals and aspirations.
• Prepare a simple to read document for all IBN Members and representatives of the Aboriginal Corporations to better understand the Trust Deed, IBN Constitution, and IBN Service Agreement, as well as the process to adjust these documents to reflect their needs/wants.
• Reinvestment of annual program budget surplus funds directly into member wealth creation through various pathways, including housing, or business development.
• Consideration for a Perth Support Office, where 31% of members reside, would significantly increase the in-person support to an estimated 67% of the total membership. The inclusion of a Perth office may also contribute to improved CEO retention rates, an acknowledged challenge over the previous five (5) years.
  Reintroduction of Member Liaisons across the Head Office and Support Offices.
• Development and implementation of a Cultural Awareness Training Program for the IBN Board and all Employees, with the intention of improving cultural understanding when liaising with IBN members.
• Undertaking Customer Delivery training for the IBN Board and all Employees, with the intention of improving service delivery, handling of difficult situations, and deescalating erratic behaviour.
• Creation of progression pathways, inclusive of mentoring and development, for Aboriginal employees, who strive for future leadership positions including CEO and Chief Finance Officer (CFO), whether it be for IBN or other entities.
• Development and implementation of an online member portal to streamline the program application process. It is acknowledged that development has commenced.
• Undertake independent reviews, including member surveys, on a minimum annual basis to enable concerns to be addressed in a timely manner.

IMGWA believe that by undertaking the above key recommendations, IBN will strengthen its capability and capacity to meet the various objectives of the three key pillars by which it represents.

The IBN Board acknowledges these recommendations and thanks IMGWA and are currently working through each of them to determine what is the best outcome for the members.