AUTHENTIC LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Adapting the 5R® Approach
We all struggle to make Land Acknowledgement more meaningful and inclusive. If you’re like many professionals, your efforts must navigate complex cultural and historical factors, and may be criticized by surprise—so we must often change our approach to align with evolving best-practices. GOOD NEWS: Multi-Tribal perspectives and real-world examples highlight an adaptable approach to transform this process. The rewards of more authentic, relationship-based Land Acknowledgement will be unique for everyone, but often go far beyond simply drafting a ‘correct’ statement.
“[Our agency] previously drafted language to revise and disseminate a formal land acknowledgement,” wrote a 2023 participant. “The course helped us re-engineer that initial process. We now see this as a relationship, and not just a statement. It’s led us in a different and better direction, one in which we hope to build a broader ongoing interaction with Tribes individually.”
Course Content: We’ll revisit the challenging process of Land Acknowledgement by adapting the 5R® approach to your unique work. These hands-on efforts begin with a location significant to your work and relationships with Tribes. We’ll progress through a three-phase process harnessing free, open-source research tools enriched by a variety of multi-Tribal perspectives. Through interactive lecture and progressive research and reflection, we’ll expand our awareness of Tribal and Ancestral connections to place and space. Along the way, we’ll hear common criticisms from Tribal advocates as well as Indigenous views on evolving best practices to better understand what Land Acknowledgement should and should not look like. This will evolve our approach. It will help us identify and address special sensitivities in collaboration with Tribal partners. By day’s end, we’ll transform our draft Land Acknowledgements into a broader, organic platform of relationship-development unique to each person and Tribe. (Online course includes optional live Q&A session.) Instructor: Robert Harper, JD, MA, MA. (BIO)
Regional Workshop: Mar 11 (Sacramento *FULL*); June 3 (Phoenix); Oct. 21 (Seattle) (9am - 5pm Local Time)
Live Online Workshops: Mar. 25-26; May 6-7; Jul. 15-16; Sep. 16-17 9 AM - NOON (Mountain Time); *Nov. 12, and *Jan. 21 10AM-4PM*
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CULTURAL AWARENESS:
Tribe-Specific Understanding, Insight, and Communication
You may be overwhelmed at all there is to learn about a specific Tribe you’re working with. It’s a common challenge! Our efforts to better understand a Tribe’s history and identity should change how we learn, listen, and communicate. A simple, adaptive process will focus and transform your efforts, laying the foundations for more meaningful, authentic relationships with Tribes.
“I deeply appreciated learning to think from a totally different perspective about these issues,” wrote a 2020 participant. "I would highly recommend the class to any colleague interested in learning more about the nuances associated with tribal communities.”
“The training was really great. I learned a lot, I liked the pace very much. There was a lot to learn—all of it was valuable to me. I took 12 pages of notes,” wrote a 2022 participant.
Course Content: Our challenge: Build a body of Tribally-sourced, systematically-researched understandings and insights to enrich your engagement with a specific Tribe—all in a day! These efforts begin by discovering a framework of understanding that is both universal, and adaptable to the distinctive histories, identities, and perspectives of specific Tribes. Through interactive lecture and a progressive series of easy, hands-on research, you’ll evolve your awareness of a specific Tribe (of your choice). You’ll apply and adapt a qualitative formula resulting in a completely different experience for everyone in the Course. We’ll then begin relational transformation, discussing how to harness your growing insights and understandings within your real-time relationships with Tribal Counterparts. (Online course includes optional live follow-up Q&A session.) Instructor: Robert Harper, JD, MA, MA. (BIO)
Regional Workshop: Mar 12 (Sacramento *FULL*); June 4 (Phoenix); Oct. 22 (Seattle) (9am - 5pm Local Time)
Live Online Workshop: Mar. 27-28; May 8-9; Jul. 17-18; Sep. 18-19; Nov. 13-14, and Jan. 22-23 (2025) 9 AM - NOON (Mountain Time)
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TRIBAL ENGAGEMENT 101:
Transforming Relationships with Tribes
We all try to cultivate meaningful interactions with Tribes, often challenged by unique interpersonal and group dynamics. GREAT NEWS: Our efforts toward more authentic communication can rely on a proven, adaptable approach responsive to our unique personalities and cross-cultural circumstances. Over time, this transformative process enriches our interactions, resulting in trust and reciprocity—the halmarks of quality collaboration.
"This training gave me confidence that I can improve my interactions with the Tribes and some specific skills to do it,” wrote a 2022 participant.
“This gave me language and a framework for the things I’ve been trying to articulate to my co-workers about how to engage with Tribes,” wrote a 2022 participant.
Course Content: The most common Tribal Engagement challenges arise in interpersonal and organizational interactions. So, our efforts start there. BAD NEWS: There is no checklist or cookie-cutter approach to Tribal Engagement (although we will cover general dos and don’ts). GREAT NEWS: There are universal principles to transform this process in a positive way. A variety of multi-Tribal perspectives and real-world examples point us to specific communication principles that change our interactions. You’ll discover great potential, or realize and build upon great things you’re already doing! We’ll adapt the qualitative AIET® formula to give you insights and tools to cultivate more authentic, mutually-enriching interactions with Tribes. You’ll then shift focus to actual relationships, and apply an accelerating approach to expand quality relationships with Tribal counterparts. (Online course includes optional live follow-up Q&A session.) Instructor: Robert Harper, JD, MA, MA. (BIO)
Regional Workshop: Mar 13 (Sacramento *FULL*); June 5 (Phoenix); Oct. 23 (Seattle) (9am - 5pm Local Time)
Live Online Workshop: Mar. 29 & Apr.1; May 10 & 13; Jul. 19 & 22; Sep. 20 & 23; Nov. 15 & 18, and Jan. 24 & 27 (‘25) 9 AM - NOON (MDT)
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TRIBAL CONSULTATION:
The Relational Approach for Rules & Regs
If you struggle to build quality relationships with Tribes while navigating complex consultation laws, you are not alone. BAD NEWS: Consultation rules naturally create barriers to our collaborative efforts, and this is unlikely to change. GOOD NEWS: Three proven communication strategies transform this dynamic. Easy changes help build quality partnerships with Tribes that go above and beyond mandated requirements.
"Excellent training opportunity that I would highly recommend,” wrote a 2020 participant. “I liked the focus of the course--how to work with Tribes rather than why we are required to do it. Very helpful insights into what is important.”
“A broad range of insights, concrete examples of situations, and frameworks for thinking about relationship-building,” wrote a 2022 participant.
Course Content: Your biggest consultation challenge is getting beyond the law. That’s where we start. It’s so easy for our efforts to get bogged-down in mechanical details of rules and regulations that we lose sight of what matters most: Relationships with Tribes. You’ll observe how these rules shape and constrain the very relationships they require. GREAT NEWS: You’ll rise from the mire of legalese to place yourself within three broad categories of consultation, and an expanded awareness of the specific relational barriers they create. But we don’t stop there. These barriers—and Tribal responses to them, point us to easy, flexible, and adaptable solutions grounded in communication. We’ll adapt the qualitative INOIN® formula, using three essential dimensions of relational approaches to transform the consultation process. A variety of multi-Tribal perspectives, real-world examples, and live tools will give you invaluable insights and options to transform your relationships. (Online course includes optional live follow-up Q&A session.) Instructor: Robert Harper, JD, MA, MA. (BIO)
Regional Workshop: Mar 14 (Sacramento *FULL*); June 6 (Phoenix); Oct. 24 (Seattle) (9am - 5pm Local Time)
Live Online Workshop: Apr. 2-3; May 14-15; Jul. 23-24; Sep. 24-25; Nov. 19-20, and Jan. 28-29 (2025) 9 AM - NOON (Mountain Time)
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NEGOTIATING WITH TRIBES -
Sovereignty Interests & the Nation-Based Approach
Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or brand-new to negotiating with Tribes, we all struggle with factors arising from our own style, the circumstances of our work, and the cultural environment unique to each Tribe. Our efforts must evolve beyond a positional mindset, and redefine how we view the negotiation process—a big challenge! GREAT NEWS: We can transform the negotiation process using a proven, adaptable system. The results go far beyond achieving a ‘win,’ and toward multi-faceted, mutually-beneficial partnerships with Tribes.
"A rare opportunity,” wrote a 2019 participant. “An incredible amount of experiential knowledge and encouragement.”
“I have been on negotiation teams for 10 years. I often feel like I'm not getting it right. It was good to be reminded my approach is good and to be given more tools to keep moving forward.” wrote a 2022 participant.
Course Content: Your biggest negotiation challenges with Tribes arise from style and circumstance. So we begin our efforts acknowledging there is neither an ideal negotiation style, nor a standard set of circumstances we find negotiating with Tribes. This uncomfortable, but exciting reality frees us from conventional, competitive, linear approaches to positional bargaining. Instead, our efforts evolve by adapting the interest-based approach, emphasizing a multi-dimensional view of Tribal Sovereignty (sounds fancy, but it’s not!). We change how we see the negotiation process, and realize a world of tools to enhance our negotiation interactions through rapport, trust, and mutual understanding. We arrive at this realization through interactive lecture, reflective and research execises, and a variety of multi-Tribal perspectives and real-world examples (as well as some helpful do’s and don’ts). This fundamental shift unlocks expansive possibilities, creates unexpected options, and lays the groundwork for multi-faceted negotiated relationships. Whether you’re resolving conflict, formalizing partnerships, or somewhere in-between, you’ll find these tools transformative. (Online course includes optional live follow-up Q&A session.) Instructor: Robert Harper, JD, MA, MA. (BIO)
Regional Workshop: Mar 15 (Sacramento *FULL*); June 7 (Phoenix); Oct. 25 (Seattle) (9am - 5pm Local Time)
Live Online Workshop: Apr. 4-5; May 16-17; Jul. 25-26; Sep. 26-27; Nov. 21-22, and Jan. 20-31 (2025) 9 AM - NOON (Mountain Time)
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COST, DISCOUNTS & REGISTRATION
REGIONAL RATES SINGLE COURSE = $446
ONLINE RATES SINGLE COURSE = $223.
DISCOUNTS: Groups taking more than 5 courses receive 10% discount; more than 10 courses receive 15% discount. Students receive special rate. Please email B.B. at training@seventhsovereign.com for more info.