Iwi-empowered governance
Article | By Noel Prentice, IoD Editor 30 Jun 2023 published in the Winter Boardroom Magazine
Ngāti Whakaue, a Rotorua-based iwi extending to the coastal township of Maketū, has taken a trip back in time to see how its tūpuna (ancestors) governed, as it sets about creating a pathway for elevating its aspiring directors.
The initiative is being led out by Ngāti Whakaue Assets Trust and supported by the Pukeroa Ōruawhata Trust, the Ngāti Whakaue Education Endowment Trust and an advisory group made of Ngāti Whakaue people with expertise in areas such as history, whakapapa, tikanga (customs) and governance.
A pillar of the initiative is whakapapa – knowing who you are, where you come from, how you are connected to other aspiring directors and the Ngāti Whakaue facilitators, and acknowledging you represent your tūpuna.
Assets Trust chair Hemi Rolleston MInstD says this belief will ground the aspiring directors and help guide them in decision making when they enter the boardroom, as well as give them inner strength.
Last year a first workshop for the aspiring directors was held, as part of a larger Ngāti Whakaue Future Governors’ Programme that is being developed. The two-day workshop in Tamatekapua, the central wharenui of Ngāti Whakaue, started with mihimihi and then a session on the history of the iwi by a Ngāti Whakaue historian. The IoD also delivered its Governance Essentials course.
On the second day, Ngāti Whakaue facilitated sessions discussing governance principles, approaches and methods used by their iwi historically, and compared this against mainstream models.
Taurua Grant MInstD, a former CEO of the Assets Trust who was instrumental in the design and development of the workshop and the larger Future Governors’ Programme, said “the aim of discussing and comparing both mainstream governance models and ‘Ngāti Whakaue models’ is to provide the aspiring directors with a balanced perspective on ‘best practice governance’, taking the ‘best’ from both models”.
Grant believes that a rounded perspective and thought process is very powerful and ultimately beneficial to boardrooms. “At the same time,” he says, “we want our directors to feel empowered to be proudly Ngāti Whakaue when they enter the boardroom – whether that’s a Ngāti Whakaue boardroom or wherever.
“They don’t have to leave their Ngāti Whakauetanga at the door when they go in becasue it actually enhances what they have to offer. That’s why we deliberately started and ended the two-day workshop with kōrero led out by Ngāti Whakaue. Firstly, this is our tikanga on our marae – that as the tangata whenua we have the first and last voice, and secondly, it was a subtle way of telling them there is value in bringing their Ngāti Whakauetanga to the governance space.”
“We wanted to learn from our tūpuna by exploring how we as an iwi have governed over time, from when we left Hawaiki- tapu to now. How was our iwi structured and governed? Did we have a single leader? Did we have a group of advisors, like a governance board? What was the strategic rationale in gifting land to establish the Rotorua township?”
The aspiring directors analysed and critiqued the decisions of their ancestors through a governance lens, gaining insights into their principles over the centuries, including the Rotorua Township Agreement (or Fenton Agreement) where Ngāti Whakaue gifted land to the Crown to help form the Rotorua township.
“We wanted to learn from our tūpuna by exploring how we as an iwi have governed over time, from when we left Hawaiki-tapu to now,” Grant said. “How was our iwi structured and governed? Did we have a single leader?
Did we have a group of advisors, like a governance board? What was the strategic rationale in gifting land to establish the Rotorua township?”
And what was learnt?
“A lot of the principles used by our leaders and governors back then, as well as their key attributes, can be related to today,” says Grant. “They just operated in a different environment. There was a very strong community-driven, forward- looking focus.”
In some instances, it was revealed, when making big decisions the leaders would lock themselves in meetings and stay until there was 100 per cent agreement.
Rolleston says Assets Trust is determined to break down barriers, and build networks and support for its people. “We want to build more capability within our tribe at governance level. We want to harness our talent and have succession plans for our current and future Ngāti Whakaue entities, as well as other boards of importance. This programme supports this.”
Grant added: “Our approach in this programme, and in all initiatives at Assets Trust, is around creating a safe and comfortable learning environment. We hold it in our marae, surrounded by our tūpuna, sitting alongside our whanaunga (relations). We try to take away the barriers to learning – sometimes this is the location or the learning cohort, other times its things like providing childcare.”
“Our initiative has sparked a lot of interest from other iwi who are looking at us. We will happily share our knowledge and learnings – that’s a given in the world of te ao Māori.”
Rolleston, the first Māori chair of the MacDiarmid Institute, is a “big advocate” of diversity and speaks from experience.
“Diversity is no longer nice to have, it’s a must have,” he says. “Otherwise, you are going to be left behind. There is no longer a shortage of talent to pick from which may have been a challenge in the past.
“Don’t do it to meet a quota, do it because it makes sense to have diversity on the board and it’s good for the organisation. You need those diverse perspectives at the table. There’s a well-known saying, ‘if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu’. Those days are well and truly over.”
Rolleston, who is the general manager of Te Ao Māori and Science Services at Scion, says Ngāti Whakaue has a lot of talent and huge potential. “In the past we have tended to recycle the same people in our board roles. I was astounded by the level of capability at our inaugural Ngāti Whakaue workshop. It really helped to identify that.
“We have since had several participants take on director opportunities, with our entities and outside. I am sure this will be much the same across other iwi. What is also important is there are more roles now available other than only in our own iwi governance.
“Our initiative has sparked a lot of interest from other iwi who are looking at us. We will happily share our knowledge and learnings – that’s a given in the world of te ao Māori,” says Rolleston.
Grant says the younger generation are living in a different world – obviously from their ancestors, but even from their parents and grandparents. However, he says they are strongly versed in who they are and the values they have.
“These are our leaders of the future, so how do we support them? Things are changing so quickly and it’s our younger ones that are more in touch with, and closer to, the future. When I speak to our aspiring directors they are here to make Rotorua and Aotearoa a better place for all of us to live, not just Ngāti Whakaue. We need to support their development and open up opportunities for them.
“We’re not saying that our workshop is a better model than other mainstream models, but we wanted to explore whether there were better models for Ngāti Whakaue, models that resonated more with our people by incorporating our kōrero and our whakapapa. I know other iwi will relate to this. As Hemi said, we definitely encourage the sharing of learnings with other iwi.”
A more comprehensive associate governance-like programme is being developed, which will emphasise peer networks, coaching and formal training modules. Only those who have attended the initial two-day workshop will be eligible to apply.
Grant says Assets Trust puts a lot of emphasis on building peer networks, as a source of support and learning. This will be especially useful for the intensive training modules, where the aspiring directors will focus on critical thinking and analysis, and ensuring a ‘governance’ lens is applied.
“For example, we don’t just want you to be able to simply read a set of financial accounts, as your accountant can do that if needed. We want you to be able to read the financial accounts and then look at the information and consider what it means from a strategic point of view.”
Grant said while the iwi would love to be able to offer governance roles to all its aspiring directors, there are only so many roles across its entities.
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he says, “because there are benefits for the iwi in our aspiring directors picking up governance roles elsewhere. That expands the reach, representation and influence of our iwi. We need to ensure the people who take outside roles feel adequately supported by the Ngāti Whakaue.”