Leading the Waka – Above and Below Deck

In the last 24 hours I have had two experiences which while seemingly worlds apart have somehow coalesced in my mind as being intimately connected. Processing both, as I am wont to do, whilst traipsing around the Port Hills on a Saturday morning it struck me that both experiences spoke to the intrinsic value of management skills to effective and impactful leadership.

The first experience was yesterday when I was privileged to secure a place on Waka Hourua Hinemoana as it jaunted around the Lyttleton Harbour. Hinemoana is one of 7 twin hulled replica waka built to showcase the story of the waka and to help New Zealanders learn about our indigenous navigation and wayfinding history.

I am not sure what I was expecting but I hadn’t counted on the feelings I had when onboard, in full sail when I imagined what it must have been like for our tupuna to set off from Hawaiki with nothing but the moon, sun, stars, wind and wave patterns to guide them. Even standing on the bow of the waka, in the safe surrounds of ōhinehou, it was easy to feel what it must have been like to set off for months on the open sea. The fear, the trepidation, the excitement, the curiosity and the hope for something better.

By stark contrast, the second experience was listening to a podcast, recommended to me by one of my people, Boss Class from the Economist. Episode 1 titled Weed it and Reap had a lot of gold in it but what struck me the most was how important it is for Leaders to also be good Managers. When we deliver leadership workshops we often have participants distinguish between what leadership is versus what management is.

I am slightly embarrassed to say that for most of my career I believed that you were either one or the other and that some roles called for good managers and some roles called for strong leaders. The truth in fact (which maybe everyone but me knew) is that strong leaders have to also be strong managers in order for the requisite ‘systems’ to be in place for them to be successful.

I have also fallen into the trap of believing that a successful leader is charismatic, enthusiastic, outwardly visionary and emits a strong positive energy that draws others in and makes them want to follow. To some extent I still believe that but I now know that those characteristics can play out very differently in different leadership personalities and its not always that easy to identify from the get go. As this podcast points out, successful leaders have to have all of those traits but just as importantly have to have the management skills to ensure cadence of delivery, management of performance and all those good things. One of these skill sets without the other, leaves a lot of room for improvement.

So how are these two experiences connected? Our tour of Hinemoana included going ‘down the hatch’ to where the sleeping quarters, galley and head were located. An incredibly tight space, where crew sleep, eat and ablute. The lack of space was claustrophobia-inducing and like any ‘tiny home’ had to make the most of the space to optimise efficiency and reduce clutter.

And it made me think a lot about the twin roles of leadership and management.

Above deck, a leader would have to ensure they had the right people in the waka in the first place, be visionary, set clear targets, make sure everyone shared their vision, use all of tools available to them (moon, star, wind, tides, clouds, birds etc.), show courage in the face of extreme adversity, show curiosity and have the mana to have those people all aligned on the common purpose of crossing vast oceans - as one tima.

Below deck, they would have to make sure that supplies were in place, rationed, shared equitably, that any squabbles were resolved quickly and without long term animosity, that people had places, and opportunities, to sleep, that everything remained clean and hygienic.

Without those twin skills of leadership and management I do not believe that our tupuna would have made it here they way they did and I am in awe of the technology, astronomy, science, wayfinding, engineering skills that they must have possessed to get here.

My key takeout? Be an intentional leader but do not forget the importance of managing as it is the managing that puts the wind in the sails ?of our waka.