06/04/2017
Kia Ora Whanau, I had a very cool week in wellington last week at the Maori Leaders Forum. I've just written an article for a local magazine here in Tauranga. Have a read if you're interested - enjoy....Review of Maori Leadership Forum at Wellington
This forum was held on 29 & 30 March 2017 at the Wharewaka centre in Wellington which is owned and operated by local Iwi. The list of speakers was impressive and because of this I arrived in Whanga nui a Tara confident that I would find the answer to my burning question, what does Maori Leadership look like? As is wont to happen at events like this, I left with more questions than answers! However because I believe very strongly in the development of community leaders I am happy to share my thoughts on the forum through this article. I invite you to take what you want and use it to develop your own journey of leadership.
From a Leadership perspective the common traits that leaders need to demonstrate were again reinforced, these included:
Be active – challenge the status quo – under promise and over deliver – be passionate – delegate – be inclusive – network – set bold goals – be flexible – take risks – be a problem finder – be humble – stay the path (be resilient) – be flexible – be observant – have high emotional intelligence.
However leadership through a Maori lens has other factors to consider, and again I reinforce that I want you to reflect these potentials back on yourself regardless of your ethnicity.
My three favourite speakers were: Pouroto Ngaropo, Wiremu Manaia and Lil Anderson who respectively spoke on Traditional Leadership, Technological advancement and its effect on young people and innovative leadership.
What really hit home for me listening to these three speakers were the very different groups that they represented. Pouroto spoke about a ‘time and space’ of my parents generation where to achieve success as a Maori leader required traits such as deferment – patience and life long commitment. On the other end of the scale Wiremu spoke of the ‘screens and teens’ age of our young people, meaning in essence ‘they won’t wait’ and why should they?, technological advancement now and into the future has meant we can have it all now e.g. online shopping, information, career options etc. Finally Lil’s talk framed for me what I call ‘contemporary’ leadership. As Maori it is always reinforced to us to keep your connections with your Turangawaewae (place to stand) strong, yet of all the attendees there, none of us actually lived on our turangawaewae – how does this affect our roles as Maori leaders? – Or does this ‘absence’ even do that? The big question is this: These three groups are inextricably linked, so as leaders how do we facilitate and accommodate the needs and ambitions of these respective groups to lead our people forward?
These are thoughts for you to consider and I invite you to contact me if you wish to, and as a koha to you I leave you with this equation:
Servanthood + Followship = Leadership
Ellis Te Arahi Bryers
Mihi Engagement
www.ellisbryers.com
Consultant - Speaker Celebrant Services Te Arahi Bryers Ltd +64 212457600 Learn More
