Risk Strategy: Business Planning for Tribes and Tribal Entities

Property & Casualty, Risk, Tribal Nations

A good business plan provides countless benefits, from defining objectives and managing priorities to reaching key milestones and establishing next steps. A crucial aspect of this plan is to address the current and future insurance and risk management needs of the organization.

Tribes have unique risks, and as they continue to expand into new endeavors, it can be challenging to juggle current initiatives with new exposures. It’s important to have a long-term strategy in place. A comprehensive business plan with a strong focus on risk management and insurance can ensure that tribal assets are protected now and into the future.

Advantages of Business Plans

Building a plan with a trusted insurance broker offers a variety of advantages. First and foremost, the plan provides a mutual understanding between the tribe and broker partner. It ensures that both parties are engaged in the insurance placement and risk strategy and are aware of future goals and past accomplishments. The broker should have strong knowledge of the tribe’s entire operation so an accurate gap analysis can be done, and exposures are identified.

Key Stakeholders

Tribal Leadership

A tribe’s leadership relies on their risk management manager to keep them abreast of current efforts, progress, accomplishments and gaps to be addressed. With the help of a comprehensive business plan, leaders can stay on track and understand the status of current efforts. The plan will keep tribal leaders “in the know” at a high-level, but not overwhelmed with the specific risk strategy details.

New Employees & Partnerships

When new partnerships are established or new employees join your tribal risk team, a risk management business plan can act as a quick tool to bring them up to speed on previous matters, active work, and future timelines for resource deployment.

Across Different Departments

The working plan can also help establish connections between “siloed” departments. For example, a plan can be used to track the progression of cyber security initiatives between IT, risk management, and casino operations. A plan can also be part of a discussion with finance, public works, and risk management when addressing resource allocations.

Between Tribes and Brokers

Finally, a business plan focused on risk management can be a tool to keep both tribes and brokers mutually accountable for timelines and common goals. When you meet with your broker, having a plan will help grow the relationship and provide a level of additional accountability and transparency.

Our business plan acts as a project management document that helps our risk team track our goals and timelines on a continuous basis.

— Patrick Garrison
Tribal Treasurer | Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

Key Takeaways

M3 has made a concerted effort to support tribes and tribal entities through insurance and risk management solutions. Tribes and tribal entities should leverage the support M3 provides when developing a risk management business plan to ensure long-term risk mitigation. Having a plan also covers achievements in risk mitigation along the way.

Reach out to Ryan Pulvermacher for more information on how M3 can help your tribe or tribal entity develop a business plan/road map for insurance placement and risk management strategies.

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