Inquiry into the Onboarding and Professional Development Programs at the Museum of the Cherokee People: Achieving ᏙᎯ (To-hi) Through Balancing Cultural Sovereignty and Operational Excellence

Abstract

The Museum of the Cherokee People (MOTCP), a 501(c)3 nonprofit and one of the longest-operating tribal museums in the United States, has undergone a fundamental transformation under Executive Director Shana Bushyhead Condill's leadership to serve the Cherokee community first while bringing visitors along, shifting from a tourist-focused facility to a Cherokee-centered cultural hub. The study investigated how effectively MOTCP's onboarding and professional development programs balance Cherokee cultural sovereignty with operational excellence, examining employee perceptions across Cherokee citizen and non-citizen subgroups and identifying ways leadership might better align programs with Cherokee values. Using a mixed-methods approach grounded in the Two-Eyed Seeing framework and the Cherokee concept of ᏙᎯ (To-hi), researchers conducted document analysis, employee surveys (66% response rate), staff interviews, focus groups, and Cherokee Elder consultations to evaluate programs through both Cultural Sovereignty and Operational Excellence lenses. The inquiry revealed a "knowledge-practice gap" where employees demonstrated strong cultural alignment (rating Cherokee values understanding at 4.2/5.0) but felt significantly less prepared for technical job responsibilities (2.89/5.0), with individual employee initiative masking systematic vulnerabilities in institutional knowledge transfer and highlighting the need for differentiated approaches addressing distinct needs of Cherokee citizen versus non-citizen employees.