Māori, Pacific, Diversity, Privilege & Fragility.. We wrote a programme..

Several months back, a group of a brave, passionate group of Māori and Pacific TRC staff meet to discuss Māori and Pacific Leadership and what that meant to us. With Fleur Rabanal Afoa Tevita Malolo Shelley Katae Daphne Amosa Peter Lauina Caroline Kolomatangi and many others, we designed a programme. Why brave?

Brave because these are hard and diverse conversations both as a roopu and as a kōrero. Brave because experience tells us that these types of conversations don't have great outcomes for us as Maori and Pacific staff. Brave because when the world tells you something else, we want to change the system to get greater outcomes and opportunities not only for our Māori and Pacific staff but all of our team and equally important our Tāmaki community. Brave because we don't know where we are going, but it feels like the right direction. Brave because it gets harder before it gets easier and that's if it gets easier, right?

Collective in our kaupapa, we wanted to not only write the "content" of the programme but also the purpose and tikanga in which it would be delivered. It couldn't be distant from us an organisation, and we knew it didn't need technical/hard skills but in fact be built around mana, wairua, aroha and whanaungatanga. And all of that requires soft skills.

These are important and enduring part of the programme in our journey together. There are many elements to it including

• Whānau Day Out A day out with Māori & Pacific staff to let them know about the kaupapa and then to talk about our aspirations within our own definitions of our collective leadership (ps it was amazing af) Oct 2019
• Kainga Kōrero talking with each of the home teams to introduce the kaupapa (Oct/ Nov 19)
• Whakapai Whenua, SLT setting the groundwork for the kaupapa (Feb 2020)
• Kotahitanga each of the combined homes teams establishing their own tikanga/ ways of working knowing that there is lots of work to be done and it will be hard (Mar/ Apr 2020)
• Tapa Toru setting up triads for teams to talk with (Mar 2020)
• Pou Tuatahi Privilege (May/ June)
• Pou Tuarua Te Tiriti O Waitangi (Jul/ Aug) 
• Pou Tuatoru Te Ao Māori (Aug/ Sept)
• Pou Tuawha Te Ao Pacific (Oct/ Nov)
• Aro ki te ha/ Aro ki te va Support sessions available individually or in a group with the anchor facilitator (given the korero the for that may come up in the POU sessions) EAP and another exciting partnership that we will be releasing soon to support our staff (ongoing)
• He waka eke noa // Acknowledge of the journey, presentations of what teams and individuals in their roles commit too, a celebration and next steps ( Dec)

But wait for there's more..... Outside of this, last night, we had bookclub with our Senior Leadership team. Was excited! Always wanted to be in a book club lol. Challenge set by our CEO John Holyoake, read the first two chapters and lets come back to talk about it as a team. Ok so maybe more of a Chapter Club lol. What book did we commit to reading? White Fragility.. Not even joking....

Hell, if that blew your mind, then you wouldn't be still standing if you heard the kōrero! Seriously blown away. Privileged to lead the conversation on this night and can't wait for the next bookclub.

There's is a lot more to share, but for tonight this is a reflection of the journey taken.

#leadership #bookclub #trc #indigenous #diversity #inclusion #mana #manaakitanga #braveaf #realaf #hardaf #inclusion