Maori Leadership in Governance - Unitec

Scoping Paper: 

Maori Leadership in 

Governance 

Professor Hirini Mead 

Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi Council 

Shaan Stevens & John Third 

Guinness Gallagher 

Dr Brad Jackson & Dale Pfeifer 

Centre for the Study of Leadership 

Victoria University of Wellington

Maori Leadership in Governance 

Table of Contents 

Page 

1.0 Background and Setting the Scene 3 

2.0 Traditional Principles of Maori Leadership 4 

3.0 International perspectives on Strategic 12 

Leadership Development and Corporate 

Governance 

4.0 Situational Analysis in New Zealand 24 

5.0 Bridging the Gaps 30 

6.0 Recommendations 34 

Please refer all comments to: 

Dale Pfeifer 

Centre for the Study of Leadership 

Victoria University 

(04) 463 5141 

Dale.Pfeifer@vuw.ac.nz 

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Hui Taumata Leadership in Governance Scoping Paper 2

1.0 Background and setting the scene 

The 2005 Hui Taumata made a strong call for developing effective leadership and 

governance throughout Maoridom. This is echoed in the Summary Report (2005) that 

advocates for: 

“… nurturing leadership potential in everyone, and growing in particular 

the leadership potential of all our Rangatahi.” (page 15) 

“… resourcing a leadership component in vocational education 

pathways.” (page 15) 

“… resources to establish a Maori Leadership institution and leadership 

incubators.” 

“… demystifying governance for whanau, to encourage their participation and 

involvement.” 

A project team was convened by the Hui Taumata Task force to conduct research and 

author a scoping paper that investigated how it might best move forward on these 

objectives. The project team was comprised of Professor Hirini Mead, Chairman of 

the Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi Council; Shaan Stevens and John Third of 

Guiness Gallagher Accounting; and Dr Brad Jackson and Dale Pfeifer from the Centre 

for the Study of Leadership, Victoria University of Wellington. The project team 

took a partnership approach so that expertise could be freely drawn from the 

members’ diverse backgrounds in order to develop “a model that incorporates tikanga 

Maori into leadership in governance training”. 

Over a period of three months the project team met on several occasions. The project 

team was in strong agreement that the scoping paper be grounded in a thorough 

understanding of traditional principles of Maori leadership. Moreover, the relevance 

and validity of these principles should be critically assessed against the current and 

future needs of Maoridom (refer to Section 2 of the report). The project team also 

thought it was important that the paper take account of the key debates regarding 

leadership and governance best practice that are taking place within the international 

realm (refer to Section 3). 

Having considered traditional Maori principles and international governance and 

leadership models, the project team then investigated current generic leadership and 

governance development practices in New Zealand from within the public, private 

and tertiary sectors (refer to Section 4). Based on the understanding gained from 

Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the paper, the project team was then in a position to identify the 

most significant gaps in the provision of leadership and governance training and 

development for Maori in Section 5 of the report. The closing section of the paper 

(section 6) summarises the key recommendations for future action that the project 

team wishes to make for the consideration of the Hui Taumata Task Force. 

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2.0 Traditional principles of Maori leadership 

2.1 Introduction 

Recently the notion of leadership has become very important and is now the subject of 

many conferences around the world. Many conferences are concerned about 

governance issues and so discussions about leadership are allied to concerns about 

governance. Terms such as mandate, accountability and transparency are common 

political issues that inevitably come down to how money is managed. While these are 

also matters of concern to Maori communities the interest in leadership is more 

fundamental and much broader than concerns focussing only on corporate matters. In 

our world we tend not to talk about leaders but rather we focus upon chiefs or 

rangatira. The word ‘rangatira’, meaning ‘chief’ is gender free but when we use the 

English word ‘chief’ most people immediately assume that the word refers to a male. 

It is important to make this point at the outset, namely that in the traditional setting a 

rangatira could be male or female (Williams 1957:323). Most often however rangatira 

were male. Rangatira are leaders but not all leaders are regarded as rangatira. This is 

because the Maori system of leadership is based on cultural criteria such as kinship 

ties, alliances with other kinship groups, appropriate whakapapa (genealogy) and 

upon spiritual assets such as mana and tapu. The cultural criteria are still important 

today, but they are not applied as strictly as used to be the case. 

Survival in the contemporary world requires us now to consider the broad range of 

other ideas about leadership because we are now part of the modern world. Being a 

leader today is much more difficult and complicated. As a response to the different 

cultural, social, political and economic environment in which we live there are now a 

range of leaders rather than one all powerful single leader such as an ariki (paramount 

chief) of traditional times. There are very few of them left today. Nonetheless many of 

the values held to be essential in traditional times are still meaningful today. 

2.2 What are the principles of traditional Maori leadership? 

Maori leaders often did not know how they were regarded by their people until they 

died. Then they are exalted and lauded in song and likened to a waka whakarei, an 

ornamented canoe, as some beautiful object that the people could admire. Or the 

leader might be described as a rata whakaruruhau, that is, as sheltering rata tree, as 

leaders whose contribution was metaphorically described as providing protection and 

sustenance for the people. Such leaders provided stability in their communities and 

while active gave people a feeling of security. There was no doubt that good 

leadership was recognised and appreciated by their communities and their families. 

For example, consider these words of praise for Te Haupa, a high chief of Ngati Paoa 

of Hauraki, in waiata 228 of Nga Moteatea (Ngata and Te Hurinui, Part 3, 1990, 

pp126-129): 

Taku ate hoki ra,taku rata tutahi, taku whakamarumaru, taku whare kii 

tonu, taku tiketike ka riro, unuhia noatia te taniwha i te rua. 

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You were my heart, my solitary rata tree, my sheltering place, my 

house of plenty, my elevated one now departed, withdrawn now is the 

dragon from its lair. 

These are powerful statements that give an indication of the values held about 

leadership and the judgements made about individual leaders. The composer of 

waiata 228, Puakitawhiti, a sister of the chief, specified one particular result of 

admired leadership in these words: 

No korua ra, nana i hora iho ka pai te whenua, ka moe nga patu ki te 

whare. 

It was you two who set about to calm the land and put weapons to 

rest within the house. 

The image of the sheltering rata tree emphasises the great value placed upon service 

to the community that results in providing a sense of security and certainty for the 

people, and allowing families to get on with their lives. Essentially it is about 

engendering good feelings about themselves, having pride in their whanau, hapu and 

iwi and being confident about life and the future. 

Another image often used is that of the much admired and highly valued totara tree. 

In waiata 233 (Ngata and Te Hurinui, Part 3, 1990, pp 158- 163) the great chief 

Tukino Te Heuheu of Ngati Tuwharetoa is likened to a totara tree in this way: 

Ka ngaro ra, e nga totara whakahae o te wao! 

Gone alas are the cherished totara trees of the forest. 

The totara tree was regarded as a strong and beautiful tree that often grew to great 

heights. The tree was favoured for building canoes, both for war and domestic 

transport purposes and for the carvings that were essential for a fully decorated 

meeting house, a whare whakairo. Thus a leader should portray strength and when 

fully costumed should present an awesome sight. Thus Tukino Te Heuheu was 

portrayed in waiata 60 (Ngata 1959, Part 1, pp 190-195): 

Haere ra e te nui, haere ra e te wehi. 

Farewell, oh mighty one; farewell oh feared one. 

When composers wanted to stress the values of steadfastness and commitment the 

image used was that of a rock dashed by the waves of the ocean day in and day out 

but still it stands. It is a striking image. Consider the lines in waiata 60: 

Korero i o tohu, te kura takai puni, 

Te toka tu moana, i te tukutahi whakarere; 

Speak about your accomplishments, is it to be the onward charge, 

The rock that stands in the ocean, against a tumultuous headlong rush; 

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Another image often used in talking about chiefs is that of the canoe. The loss of a 

leader is likened to a canoe floating unevenly, or leaning dangerously to one side. Or 

it is said that canoe is cast upon the beach as its work is done. It may be upended to 

emphasise the point. There are instances where the leaders’ canoe becomes his 

memorial. The canoe is cut in half and inserted into the ground near the grave as a 

reminder to everyone that the tribe has lost a valuable leader. 

In the case of the whare whakairo, the carved house, the notion of the chief being 

regarded as the symbol of the tribe is further emphasised. The chief is the totara tree 

and the chief is also the tribe. The chief is the mountain and the mountain is also the 

tribe. Consistent with this thinking the chief is also the carved house that he lived in 

and the house is also the tribe. Formerly upon the death of the chief the house was 

abandoned and allowed to crumble and die. A truly magnificent chief’s house was 

recorded and painted by the artist-ethnographer G. F. Angas 1847 and he talks about 

one of the houses he painted at Te Kuiti, in Volume 2 of his book Savage Life and 

Scenes, pages 87 -89. These images point to a very dynamic relationship between the 

leader and the people who provided the mandate, the workforce, the army and the 

supporters of the leader. 

Again the language of metaphor in songs and in orations emphasised the importance 

to a group of people such as a whanau, or a hapu, or a tribe or the Maori people in 

general of having dedicated leadership to guide them through the challenges of life. 

The loss of a great leader is a tragedy and composers of songs used very striking 

images to carry the message. The lighting flashes, the thunder resounds and these 

images very clearly signal that the loss of a leader is an earthshaking event that causes 

uncertainty about the future and may plunge the tribe into a period of internal unrest 

during which there is bickering and jockeying for positions. 

The traditional values referred to in traditional songs can be treated as principles. 

These are: 

1. A leader is a sheltering rata tree. This means: 

a) dedicating ones life for the good of all the people 

b) ensuring stability for the people 

c) encouraging confidence about the future 

d) standing tall at all times regardless of the challenges 

e) being a person who cares about people. 

2. A leader is a totara tree standing tall in the forest. This means: 

a) standing tall as a leader 

b) presenting oneself as a leader 

c) dressing up rather than down 

d) being a source of pride for the people because of skills and appearance 

e) never sacrificing the people for personal gain. 

3. A leader is a rock that is dashed by the waves of the sea. This means: 

a) being steadfast and strong 

b) being fully committed 

c) going the extra mile and burning the midnight oil when required 

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d) able to handle difficult situations and endure a fair bit of stress 

4. A leader is a waka. This means: 

a) ensuring essential services are maintained 

b) ensuring that the status of the community is such that the people can 

feel proud to belong 

c) ensuring that the whole whanau, hapu or iwi is functional and able to 

hold their own against or in comparison with others 

d) ensuring that the symbols and icons of the group are respected, 

maintained and enhanced. 

2.2.1 The Pumanawa or Talents 

There are two sources of traditional information about the eight talents required and 

expected of chiefs. One is Te Rangikaheke of Ngati Rangiwewehi, Te Arawa. He 

wrote “Te Tikanga o tenei mea te rangatiratanga o te tangata Maori” (The Principles 

of chieftainship of Maori Society) submitted to Sir George Grey in 1850. The eight 

principles are clearly set out in a Masters thesis submitted by the late Colonel Neil 

Grove to Victoria University of Wellington in 1985. The other source was an article 

entitled “Nga Pumanawa e Waru” written by Himiona Tikitu of Ngati Awa in 1897 

and published by Elsdon Best (1898: 242, 1901: 8). 

Both authors listed eight talents or pumanawa. The number eight has a symbolic 

significance attached to it and the phrase ‘Nga pumanawa e waru” has a ring of 

authority about it. Both authors emphasised that the talents were inherited and came 

from ‘te kopu o tona whaea’ (from the mother’s womb) according to Tikitu, Te 

Rangikaheke attributed the talents to, 

“Na te moenga rangatira ena mea.” 

Those things come out of the chiefly marriage bed”. (Best 1898) 

That is, the talents are inherited from a properly arranged marriage at the chiefly 

level. The talents are not present among commoners. For Te Rangikaheke the 

notion of the “chiefly marriage bed” is all important and is the source of inherited 

talents. 

On the other hand Himiona Tikitu was not so sure about this. He said that four of the 

talents can be found among commoners but he did not say which ones. Children 

coming out of a chiefly marriage bed and out of the mother’s womb are able to inherit 

all eight of the talents. And so while a child born of chiefly parents had the advantage 

of becoming a leader in later life, a commoner inheriting only four of the talents had a 

much more difficult task of becoming a leader. But a commoner could become a 

leader, according to Tikitu although it is fair to say he did not say so in his text. 

The two chiefly writers are in general agreement about some of the listed talents. 

They differ mainly in order of priority and in levels of intensity. In order to 

understand the lists it is preferable to deal with them separately and to provide some 

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ackground to the events affecting the lives of the people at the time the two chiefs 

put their thoughts in writing. 

This is not really the place to elaborate and compare. Instead what is proposed is to 

focus upon Tikitu’s list and make some observations about the items he listed. Both 

lists are presented and it will be noticed that Tikitu’s list is more clearly explained 

than the other and more specific. 

Te Rangikaheke’s List 1850 

1. He toa, bravery 

2. Korero taua, war speeches 

3. Mahi kai, food procurement 

4. Tangohanga, feasts of celebration 

5. Pupuri pahi, restraining the departure of visiting parties 

6. Korero Runanga, council speeches 

7. Korero manuhiri, welcome guests 

8. Atawhai pahi, iti, rahi, looking after visitors small or large. 

Himiona Tikitu’s List 1897 

1. He kaha ki te mahi kai, industrious in obtaining or cultivating food 

2. He kaha ki te whakahaere i nga raruraru, abled in settling disputes, able to 

manage and mediate 

3. He toa, bravery, courage in war 

4. He kaha ki te whakahaere i te riri, good leader in war, good strategist 

5. He mohio ki te whakairo, an expert in the arts especially wood carving 

6. He atawhai tangata, hospitability generous 

7. He mohio ki te hanga whare rimu, waka ranei, clever at building houses, 

fortified sites or canoes 

8. He mohio ki nga rohe whenua, good knowledge of the boundaries of tribal 

lands. 

It will be appreciated that the pumanawa (talents) held to be important are meaningful 

in terms of the prevailing of social, economic and political background. Te 

Rangikaheke for example, gave priority to courage in times of war and the ability to 

persuade others to follow the leader. During the time he wrote his words the country 

was in a state of war over land. Food procurement was listed as number three in his 

list. On the other hand the talents stressed by Tikitu were first, the ability to cultivate 

and obtain food and feed the people. He was writing at a time after the land wars 

when many Maori communities were finding it difficult to get food. Their lands had 

either been sold or confiscated and their sources of food severely curtailed. An 

important point is made here, namely that the priorities are sensitive to the survival 

needs of the people. In other words there is a level of pragmatism evident here. The 

list is not a wish list that bears no relationship to the needs of the people. 

His second priority stressed the need for leaders to manage the people, to settle 

disputes and to mediate where necessary. Again this is a pragmatic response to a felt 

need. Maori communities were struggling to survive and they had begun to squabble 

over land and resources. Many sub-tribes and family groups were decimated by 

disease, demoralised by Government policies and fractionalised by arguments before 

the Native Land Court. A leader needed to keep his or her followers together. 

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His third and fourth talents related to war, to the chief being able to lead in times of 

war, to be courageous and to be a good strategist and win battles. Tikitu’s fifth talent 

requires the leader to be knowledgeable in the arts and to have some ability in this 

field. Chiefs were often wood carvers and tohunga-ta-moko (expert tattooists). The 

important point being made here is that leaders need to know about culture and have a 

broader knowledge than knowing about warfare and food. This is in fact, a very 

important pumanawa even though it is listed as number five. It is expected that the 

leader is an educated person who is able to articulate the aspirations of the people. 

For the sixth talent the chief is required to be hospitable and generous, a requirement 

also listed by Te Rangikaheke. So although leaders are expected to be able to fight 

and if necessary to kill in the context of warfare, when they behave in a domestic 

situation they are required to be hospitable, generous and caring. 

The seventh talent is also about knowledge and the development of skills. The chief 

should be able to manage and complete large-scale undertakings such as building 

meeting houses, building canoes and constructing fighting sites. This stresses the 

ability to rally a work force and of keeping them on the job for both short term and 

long term projects. It also hints at the necessity to learn and acquire skills and 

experience so one would know what to do. 

We now come to Tikitu’s eighth pumanawa. Knowledge is again the issue here; he 

identified the field of knowledge as knowledge of tribal boundaries. But this field is 

but a sub- division of cultural knowledge. A leader should know the history of the 

people, the stories told, the songs sung, the proverbs and even the life stories of 

important men and women of the community. So this talent and the one referring to 

the arts means that a leader is expected to be well versed in matauranga Maori, who 

well educated and well schooled in the branches of knowledge current in their day. 

Neither Te Rangikaheke or Himiona Tikitu wrote about the wider context in which 

leaders must act. They probably regarded as self-evident facts, that leaders act in 

accordance with the norms of their society with the rules and regulations that we call 

tikanga and with the values that are held to be important such as manaakitanga, 

whakapapa, respect for mana and tapu, aroha ki te tangata, caring for people and so 

on. Working within the religious system of Maori society is also a given part of the 

background. 

2.3 In the contemporary context, which principles are the most critical? 

2.3.1 The Pumanawa today 

There are several ways of looking at the traditional list of talents that Tikitu 

identified. The list could be dismissed as being relevant to circumstances and a time 

long passed. It should be discarded and forgotten, like the cast off fishing net left to 

rot on the beach. Another option is to recast the language of each pumanawa in order 

to fit the circumstances of today. A third way is to re-prioritise the list and to 

modernise the language used to describe each pumanawa. 

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The third option is preferred here because what we are dealing with in Tikitu’s list are 

values and principles that are held to be important and valid today. Perhaps they are 

held to be almost in the nature of covenants because our ancestors believed in them 

and used them as guiding principles to plot their way through some challenging and 

treacherous byways. We are here today because of their aspirations, their hopes, their 

beliefs and their values. 

2.3.2 The Eight Talents for Today 

1. The ability to manage, mediate and settle disputes in the community so as to 

uphold the unity of the whanau, hapu, iwi. 

2. The leaders of whanau are able to ensure that every member of the unit is 

provided with food that is geared to their needs and ensures their growth. 

Leaders need to be able to look after their own families and meet this 

obligation as well as leading the community. 

3. Bravery and courage are required to uphold the rights of the hapu and the iwi. 

The current fields of struggle and challenges are the Maori Land Court, the 

High Court, the Waitangi Tribunal, Parliament and relevant divisions of the 

United Nations. (It should be pointed out that there is always a field of 

struggle and challenges because people are always struggling for a better way 

of life, for peace and security.) 

4. Generalship is now a matter of leading the community forward, of improving 

its standing, its economic base and its mana. 

5. Knowledge of the arts stresses the need for a leader to have a wider vision and 

have a more general education than is required for every day matters. 

6. The leader of today is still required to reflect the value of manaakitanga in the 

way they work with the people and relate to others. Hospitability is still 

important, not just for the leader but for the hapu or sub-tribe. These groups 

still feel the stigma of whakama or shame when their hospitality is found to be 

wanting, for example running out of food to feed the people at an important 

hui. 

7. The leader is able to lead the community to undertake and successfully 

complete big projects such as building a marae, a wharekai, a wharenui, or a 

waka ama, or a waka hourua, establish a kohanga reo, or a kura kaupapa. 

8. A leader knows the traditions of their people, their culture, their reo, their 

proverbs and have a good idea of the traditions of other iwi. They are well 

versed in matauranga Maori. 

2.3.3 Matters of Assessment 

These talents as rephrased here have a meaning for us today. They represent values or 

principles in addition to those already described above. Clearly a leader is a person 

who is given the mandate to lead, by the people. The people become the client base 

as it were and the supporters. While it is a great honour to have the support of the 

people and to be ‘called’ by them to be their leader the honour has to be measured 

against the demands of the position. The leader has to work at retaining the support of 

the community. The mandate provided by the people comes with a heavy 

responsibility that has to be carried for many years, and usually for life or when the 

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health of a leader fails. During the term of one’s tenure as a leader, clear signals are 

given when performance fails to meet the needs of the people. 

Accountability is obviously towards the community, to the mandating group. As long 

as the leader is of the people and for the people that person can expect the support of 

the community. Dissatisfaction with performance may be shown by failure to stand 

up to sing a waiata for the leader or the people fail to give their support when 

requested. The community could be tolerant of faults and lack of dedication but only 

up to a point. This was true in traditional times when all the people had to do was fail 

to support their chief in a critical battle. Today dissatisfaction is shown by 

withholding support or by open criticisms at a meeting. Members of the community 

tended to speak up to criticise rather than to praise their leader. This phenomenon is 

often described as ‘crab antics’ as it has been noticed that when crabs are placed in a 

basket or bucket they pull down and the crab that tries to escape and they tend to be 

mean to one another. Crab behaviour is a metaphor for the ways in which some 

groups can be cruel to their leaders and to one another. 

The matter of transparency is not generally an issue about what the group and the 

leader are doing at their marae. Here being seen is an often articulated value. It is 

stated as kanohi-ki-te-kanohi, face to face, kia kite a-kanohi to be seen face to face. 

Most activities at a marae are of this nature. But there are other matters where 

transparency is not so obvious. Dealing with money has been a problem for some 

groups and continues to be an issue in some localities and especially with Trusts of 

various sorts such as Whanau Trusts. 

What this means is that discussions about leadership can be very useful in providing 

clearer goals and in guiding us through the challenges of the modern world. 

Leadership is an ongoing matter and it is ever changing. A proverb makes this point 

when it states mate atu he tetekura ara mai he tetekura, when the leaders die, other 

leaders emerge. So there are always new personalities emerging with their own 

unique styles of leadership. Those who led before are no longer seen and memories 

then fade. The community turns its attention to working with the new leadership in 

addressing the fields of struggle and challenges before them. Life goes on. 

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3.0 International perspectives on leadership and governance 

3.1 Introduction 

Developing leadership is a complex and uncertain process. It’s a phenomenon that 

every one has an opinion on but no one can agree what exactly it really is. Bernard 

Bass (1990) has famously observed that, “there are almost as many different 

definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define it”. Best 

estimates indicate that we can find well over 5,000 different definitions of leadership 

in the burgeoning leadership literature. 

Judging by the number of books on leadership that are currently on the market, there 

has never been greater interest in understanding and acquiring leadership skills. For 

example, Grint (2005) notes that there were 14,139 items relating to ‘Leadership’ on 

Amazon.co.uk on October 29, 2003. On January 17, 2006, just over two years later, 

this had increased to 19,625 items. The hunger and quest for leadership knowledge 

appears to be insatiable. It would appear that the more we learn about leadership the 

more we realise what we have and want to learn. However, for the purpose of this 

report, addressing the entire contents of this large body of literature would not be 

particularly useful. 

This section will scope the international terrain for some of the ripest fruit for 

nurturing successful Maori leadership and corporate governance. While recognising 

its importance to the broader Maori community, this report will only focus on 

developing strategic leadership and corporate governance. This was recognised by 

Materoa Dodd (2004) when she suggested, “strategic leadership is key to creating 

Maori social and economic development success.” As good strategic leaders will 

nurture leadership within others, both within their organisation and the wider 

community, it is envisaged that developing these leaders will lead to enhanced 

leadership throughout Maoridom. 

In this section you will find some of the current key debates on strategic leadership 

and corporate governance and will explore: 

• leadership and strategic leadership; 

• strategic leadership development; 

• corporate governance; 

• strategies to integrate leadership and governance. 

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3.2 Leadership and strategic leadership 

3.2.1 Leadership 

A widely used definition amongst leadership scholars is that leadership is “the process 

of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting 

and goal achievement” (Elkin et al, 2004). There are three key components of this 

definition that are worth emphasising: it is an interpersonal process between one 

person and a group; you cannot have ‘leaders’ without ‘followers’; and the criterion 

for effective leadership is goal achievement. 

It is especially important to see leadership as something that is produced and jointly 

created by leaders and followers. Leaders obviously play a central role in initiating 

and fostering this relationship, but we should not lose sight of the important role that 

followers need to play in creating leadership. 

Grint (2005) suggests that leadership has traditionally been understood in four quite 

different ways: 

• Leadership as Person: is it WHO ‘leaders’ are that makes them leaders? 

• Leadership as Results: is it WHAT ‘leaders’ achieve that makes them leaders? 

• Leadership as Position: is it WHERE ‘leaders’ operate that makes them 

leaders? 

• Leadership as Process: is it HOW ‘leaders’ get things done that makes them 

leaders? 

In his view, each of these ways of thinking about leadership is valid and potentially 

useful. However, the fact that we look at leadership in these different ways goes some 

way towards explaining why we have so much trouble explaining leadership, trying to 

understand it and trying to teach or reward it. 

Paradoxically, the importance of leadership tends to be both over-estimated as well as 

under-estimated (Jackson & Parry, 2001). On the one hand, we tend to exaggerate the 

importance of a leader’s interventions at either end of the success or failure spectrum. 

When things are going either very well or when they are going very badly we look to 

leaders for the causes when perhaps extenuating circumstances beyond the leader’s 

control might have been more significant. This attributional process has been dubbed 

the ‘Romance of Leadership’ by Meindl et al (1985). 

One school of thought suggests that we over-emphasis the importance of individual 

leaders and an individual might step up and display leadership characteristics or step 

back and let someone else take the lead depending on the moment. In this way, 

leadership is broadly distributed amongst organisational members who gain their 

platform to lead due to their unique perspectives, capabilities, and knowledge (Pearce 

and Conger, 2002). 

Additionally, the constantly evolving organisational context impacts significantly on 

leadership. In fact, Perrow (1970) put forward that ‘leadership style is a dependent 

variable… the setting or task is the independent variable’. This suggests that 

leadership will be extensively shaped by organisational characteristics. 

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While the importance of the role of individual leaders tends to be over-estimated the 

significance of leadership itself should never be underestimated. Grint (2005) 

believes we have become overly pre-occupied with individual leaders when, in fact, 

we should have been focusing more on leadership. As a result he urges us to “put the 

ship back into leadership”. 

An important means of doing this is to recognize that leadership is a dynamic 

relationship between leaders and followers that is constantly being negotiated, 

maintained, challenged, threatened and dissipated. It is not something that, once it 

has been created, has been achieved. Leadership can be both a very fragile and a 

highly durable thing. Much depends on the followers. As a result, the influence of a 

leader can be felt both before they assume the role and long after they have left it. 

This tendency has been graphically displayed on a global basis with the recent passing 

of Pope John Paul II. 

3.2.2 The changing nature of leadership 

As our environment, both locally and globally, is constantly in a state of flux leaders 

require a diverse range of competencies to successfully negotiate their way. Leaders 

are required that are able to walk in many worlds, constructively engaging with 

diverse stakeholders that hold quite different cultural values and norms without 

compromising their cultural philosophies. Graen and Hui (1999) argue that the 

perceptions of what it means to be a ‘global leader’ are changing. No longer are 

‘geocentric globetrotters’ who are transferred from country to country to manage 

foreign operations seen as being the exemplar of the global leader. Instead, they 

argue that the new global leader will need to be what they describe as a ‘transcultural 

creative leader’. 

In societies such as New Zealand which have become increasingly culturally diverse 

it is important that this new generation of leader be developed to not only work 

internationally but also within their own national contexts (Thomas, 2001). 

Transcultural creative leaders are people who can learn how to transcend their 

childhood acculturation and respect very different cultures; they can build crosscultural 

partnerships of mutual trust, respect, and obligation; they actively engage in 

cross-cultural problem-solving conflicts; and they help to construct new cultures in 

various operations. 

Maori leaders have the added challenge of negotiating the dynamically interacting 

influences of traditional Maori values and leadership principles and those of 

mainstream contemporary society. With the benefit of a lifetime negotiating a plural 

existence in NZ, Maori may have built considerable capacity in the area. Anecdotal 

evidence suggests that Maori exporters for example have gained traction more quickly 

due to their transcultural creative leadership capabilities. Whatever the case, Maori 

that lead through traditional principles while managing this interface may be the mark 

of leadership success. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


3.2.3 Traditional principles in contemporary leadership 

If we are going to consider international leadership models to help develop Maori 

leaders, it is important to access these models to see where they fall short along these 

principles. Possibly the most impressive contemporary international leadership model 

was developed by the GLOBE Project (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 

2004). It attempts to develop a truly international theory of leadership, measuring 

culture (along nine dimensions) and its impact on leadership (which is measured 

along with six major dimensions and 21 sub-scales). A representation of the GLOBE 

model can be seen below 1 . 

Figure 1. The GLOBE leadership model 

Although not a direct fit, some of the GLOBE’s dimension and sub-scales may have 

some affinity to the Pumanawa model as described in section 2.0. Some aspects of the 

Pumanawa model have not been considered by the GLOBE model, which indicates a 

possible contribution that Maori leadership thinking can make to international 

leadership theory. 

1 The Charismatic III (self sacrificial) sub-scale is not included in this diagram. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Comparison between the Pumanawa model and the GLOBE model 

The Pumanawa model 

The GLOBE model 

1 Manage, mediate and settle disputes to 

uphold unity of the group 

2 Ensure every member of the group is 

provided base needs and ensures their 

growth 

3 Bravery and courage to uphold the 

rights of hapu and iwi 

4 Leading the community forward, 

improving its economic base and its 

mana 

5 Need for a wider vision and a more 

general education than is required for 

every day matters 

Diplomatic: Win/win problem solver 

and mediator. 

Collaborative team orientation: Grouporientated, 

collaborative, consultative 

and mediator 

Visionary: Foresight, future orientation, 

prepared, anticipatory, plans ahead, 

able to anticipate 

Visionary: Foresight, future orientation, 

prepared, anticipatory, plans ahead, 

able to anticipate 

6 Hospitality Humane orientation: Generous 

7 Led and successfully complete Administratively competent 

community projects 

8 Know the traditions and culture of their Team integrator: Informed 

people, and the wider community 

Peter Cammock, a New Zealand scholar captures the essence of leadership that future 

leaders will need to recognise and master when he states, “Leadership is a dance, in 

which leaders and followers jointly respond to the rhythm and call for a particular 

social context, within which leaders draw from deep wells of collective experience 

and energy, to engage followers around transforming visions of change and lead them 

in the collective creation of compelling futures” (2002). 

3.2.4 Strategic leadership 

Strategic leaders are those situated at the organisational apex, with overall 

responsibility for the organisation, its members, and its relationship with the wider 

community. This includes the CEO, directors, top-level managers and board 

members. Only a small proportion of the leadership research (less than 5%) explores 

executive-level leadership - most focus on leadership at lower organisational levels 

assuming the process of leadership is the same at both levels (Zaccaro and Horn, 

2003). However, what it suggests is that strategic leadership is distinct and needs to be 

approached differently. 

One key difference is that the strategic leadership process is usually carried out by a 

team, not a single leader (Story, 2005). Driven by the realisation that one person may 

not possess all the required knowledge, this team leads collectively. Different team 

members take the lead depending on the moment and their areas of expertise. In this 

__________________________________________________________________ 


way, the leadership practices of the whole leadership team supports the figurehead of 

the organisation. 

This concept of leadership as a collective process brings to the forefront a new set of 

issues for leadership effectiveness. Paramount is the leader’s fit, both formally and 

informally within the collective. Fit includes both complementary areas of expertise 

and the interpersonal relationships between team members. This is made more 

difficult as due to an organisation’s ambiguous environment, the high stakes that are 

played for these relationships are typically contentious and conflict often arises. 

Handling conflict in a healthy, open manner by facilitating appropriate debate is an 

essential for leadership effectiveness. 

Healthy relationships between members of the leadership team are also pivotal to the 

strategic leadership process. This is particularly important as the need for strategic 

leadership is often discussed in terms of status and character a leader can bring to an 

organisation. Story (2005) refers to this as reputation capital and suggests that how 

stakeholders perceive an organisation’s figurehead can have a marked effect on 

organisation performance. In this respect leadership’s significance is difficult to 

overstate. The social construction of these leaders through role-modelling and 

distance leadership (symbolic behaviour, stories, myths and rhetorical skills) is 

critical, and the leadership team plays an essential role by engaging in distance 

leadership and image building. 

3.3 Strategic leadership development 

‘Are leaders born or made?’ This fundamental question still stimulates debate within 

the leadership community, and the jury is still out. However, exploring this question 

doesn’t help us move forward on the issue at hand: namely, how to go about 

developing the next generation of leaders? 

With respect to the ways in which leadership is developed, it is widely acknowledged 

that leadership is something that can be learned, primarily through experience. While 

often unobserved, past leadership tasks and relationship experiences mould leadership 

capacity, knowledge acquisition and the way leaders engage in the leadership process. 

Unfortunately, there are no short cuts when it comes to experience, although it’s clear 

that some experiences can be managed in such a way that leaders can gain more 

insight and knowledge. 

Leadership development has become a multi-billion global industry, with estimates of 

between $36 and $60 billion US dollars expended annually on management and 

leadership development (Burgoyne, 2004). However only a small proportion of this 

seems to be directed at strategic-level managers who are much less likely to undertake 

leadership development than their more junior colleagues (Zaccaro and Horn, 2003). 

The evaluation of the impact of this training is scant, and the research that has 

attempted to do just this has by no means been definitive in its evaluation of the 

effectiveness of leadership development or able to isolate what types of leadership 

development are most effective. What’s more, no general models for the 

development of leadership skills exist. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Leadership development within organisations has tended to take two major 

approaches: (1) formal intervention (2) informal activities. 

3.3.1 Formal interventions 

Formal leadership development strategies take two approaches. 

1. Behavioural skills and awareness training that often incorporates behavioural 

psychology and includes developing effective communication, interpersonal 

behaviour, decision-making and attitude. 

2. Management development education that includes courses such as MBAs, 

executive programmes, short courses, coaching, mentoring, 360-degree 

appraisal mentoring, experiential development, action learning and 

organisational development. 

It’s important to recognize that you cannot train leaders. You can, however, help to 

develop certain behaviours and skills that can assist individuals in leading others. 

Training in interpersonal communication skills, presentations skills, decision-making 

skills and facilitation skills can be very helpful. But these are merely means to an end. 

Many leaders have got by without fully (or even partially!) developing these skills. 

What’s really important is the ability to continually learn from ones experiences. 

Education can play a part here in that it can provide us with new and challenging 

ways of looking and conceptualising our and other’s experiences. But, like training, 

it’s better treated as a means not an end to leadership development. It also needs to be 

situated in a planned and integrated model of leadership development (Cacioppe, 

1998). 

There has been a move towards leadership development that focuses on interpersonal 

development within organisations, particularly that which fosters frequent activity and 

interaction (Day, 2000). Such development emphasises an ‘anywhere-any time’ 

approach (James & Burgoyne, 2001), and includes processes that ensure that learning 

is organisationally focused and aligned with corporate strategy (Fulmer & Wagner, 

1999; Fulmer et al. 2000) such as: action learning, coaching and mentoring. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Key formal leadership development interventions 

Mentoring Mentoring involves leaders receiving support, either formally or 

informally, from someone who has more experience or knowledge 

within the organisation or community. Research indicates that those 

who are mentored subsequently gain in competency (Wales, 2003) and 

get more promotions (Darwin, 2000). Ways that mentors pave the way 

for their protégés’ success include: providing them with opportunities, 

suggesting strategies to achieve work objectives, helping them avoid 

situations that might be risky for their careers, offering emotional 

support and building their confidence. 

Coaching Coaching involves custom-tailored one-on-one leadership development. 

This may be aimed at addressing a specific issue or as an on-going 

continuous process. It usually involves an assessment of the leader’s 

strengths and weaknesses along with a comprehensive plan for 

improvement. Research suggests that following up a standardised 

training programme with customised one-on-one coaching is highly 

beneficial (Olivero, Bane & Chapman, Best). 

Action Action learning is a continuous process of learning and reflection that is 

Learning supported by organisational stakeholders. Its emphasis is on getting 

things done by focusing leadership learning on real organisational 

scenarios (Marquardt). Its underlying assumption is that leaders 

develop most effectively when they are working on real organisational 

problems. Action learning involves a leader coming together with a 

group of colleagues and working on a real problem facing the 

organisation. After a solution is agreed upon, the leader puts it into 

action. A coach often facilitates this process. 

3.3.2 Informal activities 

Much of the skills essential for effective leadership are learned from experience rather 

than formal training programes (McCall et al, 1988). This on-the-job leadership 

learning may be through experiences encountered due to leadership roles, 

responsibilities and tasks, or naturalist learning through emergent or unintended 

events. Several studies have shown that learning from experience is affected by the 

amount of challenge, variety of task or assignments, and the quality of feedback that 

is received by the participants. Organisations that facilitate diverse experiences, 

people to observe, and roles to enact excel provide a good backdrop for informal 

leadership learning (Conger, 2004). 

Three major activities that facilitate leadership learning experiences have been 

identified by McCall, Morrison and Lombardo (1988): job assignments (60% of 

lessons), notable people (20% of lessons) and hardship (20% of lessons). 

Contextualising informal leadership learning with formal interventions such as 

mentoring or coaching is likely to result in effective leadership development and to 

enhance learning (James & Burgoyne, 2001). 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Informal activities that facilitate leadership learning 

Job 

assignments 

Notable 

people 

Hardship 

Leadership development often occurs when leaders are given tasks 

beyond their current capabilities (Smith and Morphey). Receiving 

challenging job assignments requires leaders to learn and extend their 

current knowledge or skill base to meet the requirements of the 

assignment. The more challenging the job assignment, the more likely 

the leader will develop, moving beyond their existing skills and 

knowledge (McCauley, 1986). This may be due to new circumstances, 

lack of current knowledge or skills, pressure or interpersonal conflict. 

Challenges may include: being challenged to fix a problem, managing a 

task force, having a change in scope of job responsibilities, building 

something from nothing, switching from a line to a staff position and 

job rotation. 

Observing and interacting with notable people assist with leadership 

development as they may develop a greater understanding of key 

leadership competencies, values and politics. 

Leadership development can occur when leaders face hardship. 

Learning occurs when a leader confronts these adverse circumstances 

by being reflective, which may result in a heightened awareness of their 

shortcomings, a clearer view of themselves, compassion and tolerance 

of others’ shortcomings, and an effort to redirect oneself. Hardships 

may include: personal trauma, career setbacks, changing jobs, business 

mistakes and subordinate performance problems. 

3.4 Corporate governance 

Like leadership, corporate governance has also experienced a recent boom. It is the 

subject of wide academic pursuit culminating in numerous books, journals, 

conference papers, encyclopedias, and degrees. Also a hot topic in business, it has 

generated many consultancies, and at a national level, the OECD (2003) advises that 

almost all of its member nations are currently revising their corporate governance 

practices or have recently done so. All of this activity, at many levels and spanning 

over many fields, has blurred exactly what the term corporate governance entails. 

The huge array of definitions of corporate governance definitions, each influenced by 

the authors various perspective and discipline demonstrates this. One broad definition 

often seen in the literature suggests corporate governance is “a set of relationships 

between a company’s management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. 

Corporate governance also provides the structure through which the objectives of the 

company are set, and the means of attaining those objectives, and monitoring 

performance are determined” (OECD, 1999). Components of this definition that are 

worth emphasising are: corporate governance is relational; it exists between a broad 

group of organisational stakeholders; and the criterion for effective corporate 

governance is effective goal setting, implementation, and monitoring for compliance 

and accountability. 

One important area this definition does not touch on is an organisation’s ethic and the 

culture promoted by the leadership team. Good corporate governance will provide a 

__________________________________________________________________ 


structure that encourages open and honest communication between those within the 

system. Fostering a climate of social responsibility can be an effective tool for 

ensuring the success of a corporate governance system, however there is no assurance 

of this. Corporate governance structures only act as a safety net, aligning stakeholder 

activities with organisational objectives and ensuring compliance. 

As current business trends and the focus for Maori economic development look 

increasingly to the international market, it seems appropriate to consider international 

governance systems for Maori organisations. However, governance must be attuned to 

cultural factors and these models do not take into account the unique set of operating 

factors facing Maori in governance such as institutional/circumstance-related 

idiosyncrasies that change the landscape for Maori, e.g. Maori land regimes. 

International models are likely to be in discord with these factors that must be 

successfully negotiated and incorporated within corporate governance structures. As 

Kevin Keasey, Steve Thompson, and Mike Wright’s (2005) note, “good 

governance… is an abstraction that commands near-universal respect but diverse 

interpretation”. Considering the different types of corporate governance 

internationally may be useful benchmarking activity for identifying what type of the 

structure will best meet the unique requirement for Maori governance. 

In the past, one distinct characteristic of North American organisations’ corporate 

governance structures was the conflation of the leadership positions of a board’s Chair 

and CEO. Those advocating this governance structure suggest that effective 

organisations lodge ultimate leadership and accountability in a single place, and that 

any reduction in the power of the CEO may result in risk adversity. Financial fraud 

and asset misappropriation at companies such as Enron have caused the re-evaluation 

of this system. Along with a range of financial reporting checks and balances, new 

requirements imposed on public companies include increasing the number of 

independent board members. As Maori organisations embark down an increasingly 

corporate track, exploring the various forms of corporate governance structures is of 

direct importance to the Maori experience, now and in the future. 

Another governance structure, also spawned by corporate collapse and scandals, 

public companies in the UK are required to have clear divisions of responsibilities at 

the top of their organisations. By and large their boards include a balance of executive 

and non-executive directors and an independent audit committee is required. This 

aims to stop an individual from becoming too dominant, safeguarding the organisation 

from potential opportunism. However, there is no evidence confirming that separating 

these leadership roles ensures a more effective organisation overall. 

In the Harvard Business Review, William T. Allen and William R. Berkley argue that 

boards can enhance CEOs accountability without diminishing their role. They suggest 

“separating the roles of chief executive and chairman of the board may harm the very 

stakeholders advocates hope to protect” (p. 24). This is because it views corporate 

governance only as a performance monitoring system. It neglects to consider it as a 

wider system embodying a wide range of activities including setting organisational 

objectives and the means to attain those objectives. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


International organisations 2 have carried out benchmarking exercises reconciling the 

internationally these type of internationally diverse opinions. Instead of exploring 

each of these principles, they are synthesized and presented in the following table. 

Guiding corporate governance principles 

Organisational transparency – ensuring the timely and accurate disclosure of all 

organisational concerns including financial situation, performance, ownership 

and governance. 

Protection and enforceability of all shareholders’ rights, equitable treatment and 

prerogatives. 

Recognising the rights of stakeholders established by law or through mutual 

agreements and encouraging active co-operation between corporations and 

stakeholders in creating wealth, jobs and the sustainability of financially sound 

enterprises. 

Directors capable of independently approving the corporation's strategy and 

major business plans and decisions. 

The independent hiring of management, monitoring of management's 

performance and integrity, and replacing management when necessary. 

Ensuring the company’s strategic guidance, the board’s effective monitoring of 

management, and accountability to the company and the shareholders by the 

board. 

3.4.1 A basic corporate governance framework 

The OECD offers a basic framework for effective corporate governance developed by 

its member nations. This framework provides some useful guidelines for developing 

corporate governance structures. 

The corporate governance framework should be developed with a view to its 

impact on overall economic performance, market integrity and the incentives it 

creates for market participants and the promotion of transparent and efficient 

markets. 

The legal and regulatory requirements that affect corporate governance practices 

in a jurisdiction should be consistent with the rule of law, transparent and 

enforceable. 

The division of responsibilities among different authorities in a jurisdiction 

should be clearly articulated and ensure that the public interest is served. 

Supervisory, regulatory and enforcement authorities should have the authority, 

integrity and resources to fulfil their duties in a professional and objective 

manner. Moreover, their rulings should be timely, transparent and fully explained. 

(OECD, 2004, p. 17). 

2 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), ECGI (European Corporate 

Governance Institute) and the World Bank are presented in the table below. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


3.5 Strategies to integrate leadership and governance 

So what exactly is the difference between leadership and governance? The lines can 

seem blurred but they are distinct. 

Corporate governance is the organisational framework that leadership exists within. 

While leadership influences a group’s activities towards achieving certain goals, a 

governance structure moulds these activities, prescribing the rules, responsibilities 

and procedures by which leaders must abide. A useful analogy is the human body: 

governance is the body’s bones and organs providing the essential structure and 

directing the flow; leadership is the blood or the life force within this structure that 

provides the spark and keeps the body moving. They are complementary and both 

essential for organisational effectiveness. 

Very little information exists on how one might effectively integrate leadership and 

governance, or how the two can exist in a good state of equilibrium. However, the 

information that exists gives us a steer on several issues addressed in this report. 

CEO duality 

This body of literature suggests that although some benefits may be afforded, such as 

clear lines of reporting authority and having a central organised spokesperson (Daily & 

Dalton, 1993), overall, the literature indicates it is problematic. Therefore, it is 

recommended that governance structures in Maori organisations do not allow one 

person to carry out these distinct roles. 

Top Management Teams (TMT) 

Research suggests the advantage of well functioning leadership teams is due to having 

access to a greater diversity of resources and skills. Therefore, where appropriate, it 

may be advantageous for Maori organisations’ governance structures to accommodate 

leadership teams instead of single leaders. 

Boards of Directors 

The size and composition of boards of directors are likely to be important for Maori 

organisations. Research suggests that board independence has a positive correlation 

with firm performance (Daily & Dalton, 1993). Additionally, it may be advantageous 

for organisations with greater needs for effective linkages to the external environment 

to have larger boards (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), which would provide a more diverse 

skill-bank for the organisation to draw from. 

This report section contains some debate and guidelines to be considered in the quest 

for building effective leadership in governance within Maori organisations. The 

expansive international literature shows the advantage of Maori selectively borrowing 

from what proves useful and finding their own unique path, as culturally attuned 

leadership and governance will have the best chance of success. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


4.0 Situational analysis in New Zealand 

The first section of this report has been grounded (and rightly so) in the traditional 

principles of Maori leadership. This provided the backdrop or framework for our 

discussion on leadership and governance internal best practice and provides us with 

the ability to better understand the types of models and practices that may well be 

suited to contemporary Maori leadership and governance. 

This section of the report examines the current generic practices in New Zealand from 

within the Public sector, private sector and academia. 

4.1 Contemporary training in leadership in governance 

4.1.1 Public and private sector 

4.1.1.1 Introduction 

In undertaking a review of contemporary leadership and governance training within 

the public and private sector, the project team focus has been on organisations that 

were large enough to offer such support to their staff. For the interests of economy 

and ease of access to the report writers, public sector and private sector companies in 

Wellington were the focus of our review. 

This is particularly appropriate for public sector organisations, given the central 

location of all of the public sector head offices. For the private sector, AXA and 

Telecom were chosen as representative organisations. 

The following is a distillation of the results of interviews with training providers in 

the organisations as a snapshot of the current provision of “Leadership and 

Governance” training and the consciousness and understanding we detected. 

4.1.1.2 Key issues 

(i) 

Leadership as a focus 

Leadership was generally recognised as a real need for the organisation. However, in 

some organisations leadership was undifferentiated from management training. 

In the organisations sampled, programmes have been developed to foster leadership in 

staff and there were a number of well documented, and well-designed initiatives. 

However, leadership training initiatives tended to run up against some different issues 

with respect to other training initiatives that were developed and delivered by the HR 

departments within the organisations, including the size of the cohort, as discussed 

below. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


(ii) 

Small cohorts 

Almost by definition leaders are a much smaller cohort than followers. Therefore, the 

nature of leadership training (and support) is more of an individual tailored 

programme, including access to experiential opportunities. 

This has been recognised by the public service who have collaborated together to 

form the Leadership Development Centre (“LDC”), which collects the individuals 

from all departments and brings together the opportunities on a central basis. This 

allows the specialist and unique skill base and programme development to be shared 

across a wider cohort. 

The LDC was held in high regard by the contributing departments and was very 

helpful in distilling and describing the core issues for leadership development (at least 

in the public sector sense). 

(iii) 

Leadership as a dwindling resource 

This is a concern for Maori and one recognised by the Hui Taumata in its 

identification of a growing need for “leadership” within Maoridom. Further, the 

Treasury paper to the Hui Taumata highlighted the need for leadership and 

Governance for New Zealand productive business and for Maori within that 

framework. 

The LDC and Treasury highlighted that there are two forces operating in New 

Zealand that reduce the opportunity for managers or leaders to expand their 

knowledge and experience base: - 

a) A narrowing of opportunity in the public services; and 

b) A reduction in the number of private sector businesses with a head office in 

New Zealand 

Public Sector opportunities for Maori 

There are two drivers facing Maori in the Public Sector: - 

a) Flattening of management structures 

Within the Public Service the flattening of management structures has reduced 

the number and range of management opportunities and the adversity to risk of 

managers has limited the opportunities for managers to expand their 

experience. 

This largely derived from the “flattening of corporate structures in the 80s and 

90s resulting in a more technically task orientated public service. The 

concurrent separation of policy from operations has further impacted in that 

career pathways have been significantly narrowed. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


As a result, a public service manager may reach senior management with only 

a very narrow experience. For example, a senior manager in the Justice 

Department may only have experience in that department, further that may be 

only in the courts and within courts only in the family court. In addition, their 

only experience may have been analysing and developing policy. They may 

never have had operational experience or team leadership or staff 

management. Thus many public service managers may well have a very 

narrow career experience prior to ascending to senior management positions. 

b) Under-representation of Maori in Public Sector head offices 

Many Maori get their career starts and the beginnings of their management, if 

not leadership, training within the Public Service. 

However, Maori are under represented in Wellington where 85% of senior 

Public Service managers are deployed and where the candidates for leadership 

training are predominantly selected. In contrast, Maori are over represented in 

the regions at lower levels in the regional offices. 

Many of these Maori in lower to middle management positions exit from these 

roles to take up positions within Maori business and other Maori 

organisations. Thus they exit the public service prior to receiving the upper 

level management and leadership training. 

Private Sector opportunities for Maori 

There are similar challenges in the Private Sector opportunities. The Treasury paper 

to the Hui Taumata pointed to the growing trend for business to relocate head offices 

overseas as a result of corporate takeovers and restructuring in New Zealand. As a 

result: - 

a) The corporate functions of HR development in the private sector has tended to 

exit New Zealand and thereby deprive New Zealanders of opportunities in the 

cutting edge of development and delivery of those programmes; and 

b) There is less likelihood of Maori and “New Zealand cultural “flavour” within 

these International generic programmes. 

Therefore, at the time that Maoridom is recognising an increasing need for leadership 

there are decreasing opportunities in both Public and Private Sector. 

(iv) 

Governance not well connected to leadership 

Our research found much lower focus on governance than leadership in New Zealand, 

predominantly in the Public Service. 

This may well be because the well structured and audited disciplines of the “Public 

Service” rules and regulations are well established and therefore in less need of 

specific focus. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Much of the discussion with the predominantly HR personnel we met was vague on 

the concept of leadership IN governance. This was not foremost issue discussed with 

regard to the leadership programmes. 

However, the two are intrinsically linked. The concept we have used to describe the 

relationship is that Governance forms the skeleton and muscles while leadership is the 

life force blood and breath. 

Governance provides the structure, rules and accountability while leadership finds the 

ways and means to progress within the rules and where necessary and appropriate by 

modifying the rules. 

Both are required together for the strength and health of the organisation. 

The ownership and responsibility of Governance and Leadership is often somewhat 

different. Governance is owned by the owners/shareholders/ or beneficiaries of the 

organisation and the rules and constraints they collectively put upon its leaders to curb 

the extreme adventures by the leaders on the people’s behalf. 

The leaders who develop their skills and talents (pumanawa) to assist the group as a 

whole to go through a process to set and then to obtain goals within the cultural social 

and economic boundaries. These leaders own the leadership element. 

4.2 Situational analysis: Academic 

So do New Zealand’s academic institutions offer programmes and courses appropriate 

for developing Maori leadership? A survey of the academic institutions - from 

Universities - to Polytechnics - to Whangana - show a broad range of initiatives. 

All Universities offer a broad range business programmes, including courses at the 

post-graduate (e.g. Ph.D, MBA, MMgt, PGDipBus) under-graduate (e.g. BBus, BA, 

BCA), diploma (e.g. NZDipBus) and certificate (e.g. NZCertBus) level. Maori 

educational institutions such as the various Wananga and Whiterea Polytechnic also 

offer a range of business programmes. Some of these programmes specialise 

specifically in Maori Business. Particularly interesting are Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa 

courses which offer Maori specific courses in Administration and Management which 

teach methods of managing both Maori and mainstream organisations. Victoria 

University’s Certificate in Maori Business is noteworthy. A Certificate in Local 

Governance is offered by Te Whare Wananga o te Awanuiarangi. 

One degree offered at all New Zealand Universities and popular within the business 

community is the MBA. These programmes provide business skill development, 

offering a toolbox of business models and techniques that will give strategic leaders 

increased knowledge and decision-making capacity in each core business function. 

Given the Hui Taumata’s call for internationalisation, one MBA course that might be 

of particular interest is the University of Waikato’s International MBA. Also of note 

are Massey University’s Leadership papers at both under-graduate and post-graduate 

__________________________________________________________________ 


level that examine the theory and practice of leadership, relevant to leaders across all 

areas of society. 

The Matauranga Maori programmes cover another important area of Maori leadership 

development. These are offered across the broad range of New Zealand academic 

institutions. They offer skill development for leadership in numerous areas including 

courses in Te Reo Maori and Tikanga Maori. 

A range of leadership short courses designed specifically for strategic leadership 

developments are offered by some Universities and some Management Institutes (e.g. 

the Institute for Strategic leadership, the New Zealand Institute of Management 

(NZIM), and Team Management Services). A strength of these courses is that they are 

attended by individuals from a wide range of New Zealand organisations so in 

addition to acquiring new skills and knowledge, they provide excellent opportunities 

to network share experiences, and learn from other leaders. The Institute for Strategic 

Leadership’s Tailored Solution’s course is interesting as it designs, implements and 

measures a specific leadership development plan that is aligned to an organisations’ 

strategic agenda. 

The table below outlines some course offered by academic institutions that would 

assist with Maori leadership development. Please note that this is not a complete 

guide to programmes and courses that develop leadership, but if gives a general idea 

about what is available form some of the key players 3 . 

3 The information in this table was gained largely from the institution’s websites. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Programmes offering Maori leadership development 

Business Business Matauranga Maori 

Prgms: Prgms: Maori Business 

Under + Cert & Prgms: prgms 

Post-grad Dip Under + 

Post-grad 

Akld Uni. of 

Tech 

Inst. Strategic 

Leadership 

Leadership 

Short 

Courses 

Region 

X X X X Akld 

X 

Akld 

Wn 

Chch 

Dn 

Lincoln Uni X X X Chch 

Massey X X X X NZ wide 

University 

NZIM X Akld 

Te Wānangao-Aotearoa 

locations 

X X X X Multiple 

Te Wānangao-Raukawa 

X X X X Otaki 

Te Wānanga- 

X X X Whkn 

o- 

Wn 

Awanuiarangi 

Hmtn 

UNITEC X X X 4 X 5 Akld 

Uni. of Akld X X X X Akld 

Uni. of X X X X Chch 

Canterbury 

Uni. of Otago X X X Dn 

Uni. of X X X Hmltn 

Waikato 

Victoria Uni. X X X X X Wn 

of Wn 

Whiterea 

X X 6 Wn 

Polytechnic 

Key: NZ = New Zealand 

Akld = Auckland 

Hmtn = Hamilton 

Whkn = Whakatane 

Wn = Wellington 

Chch = Christchurch 

Dn = Dunedin 

Prgms = Programmes 

Post-grad = Postgraduate 

Under-grad = Undergraduate 

4 Certificate level only 

5 Deferred in 2006 

6 Diploma and Certificate level only 

__________________________________________________________________ 


5.0 Bridging the gaps 

A bridge: A structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier 

Currently, leadership and governance are important issues for Maoridom. This is 

reflected by Hui Taumata’s strong call for developing effective leadership and 

governance with the aim of facilitating the social, economic and political 

advancement of Maoridom. Effective leadership is the key for initiating 

advancements and driving them forward. Good governance will ensure solid structure 

to hold them together. However, there is currently a broad a range of individuals in 

leadership and governance roles who are not well equipped for these positions, failing 

to provide effective leadership or to create adequate governance structures. This leads 

to a variety of problems for Maoridom, ranging from the under-utilisation of their 

existing economic resources to issues as to their readiness to receive settlement assets. 

With some urgency, these issues must be addressed by being tackled head on. 

Earlier in this report, traditional Maori leadership principles, international 

perspectives, and the contemporary application of leadership and governance within 

New Zealand were considered. Now, to create some synergy between this knowledge 

and the perspectives of the authors, we will explore possible alternatives for building 

bridges to ensure excellence in leadership and governance practices throughout 

Maoridom. 

5.1 Broad-based awareness and education 

Gap: A lack of awareness and understanding of the roles, responsibilities, and 

guiding principles of effective leadership and governance across all levels of 


Bridge: Develop programmes to raise awareness and educate a broad-spectrum of 

Maori on the guiding principle of effective leadership and governance. 

As leadership is a process in which leaders and followers both play critically 

important roles, it is important to raise awareness and educate all of those that take 

part in this process. Both leaders and followers must be informed and take 

responsibility for successful leadership and governance and as such, the first-base 

ethical principles of successful leadership, followership, and governance would be 

important components of this programme. 

Multiple programmes should be developed to be targeted the broad-spectrum of 

Maoridom. These programmes should focus on developing leadership and 

followership competencies that are particularly important for Maoridom. For 

example, programmes may include general values-based (e.g. tikanga) education. The 

programmes should raise awareness of leadership and followership expectations and 

set out clear goals and measure for success. 

Programmes should have multiple delivery mechanisms, and should travel to the 

people as well as providing in-house delivery. They should have follow up 

mechanisms and assist with the programmes implementation by providing case 

__________________________________________________________________ 


studies and mentoring. Taking part in the programmes should be a “two-way-street” 

and come at the cost of service, e.g. promoting or raising awareness of the 

programmes, becoming a programme trainer (cascade model) and becoming an agent 

of change via some other vehicle. 

The programmes should have strong marketing, focusing on the initiatives’ benefits. 

This could include: improvement in the way they conduct their affairs; able to move 

forward with greater ease; improvement in economic asset base; improvement in 

service to their own people; and to make a big contribution to their iwi/New Zealand. 

5.2 Advanced leadership and governance development programmes 

Gap: There is a need to develop a small elite group of leaders with a more advanced 

set of competencies and experiences to fulfil specific functional positions within 


Bridge: Develop advanced leadership programmes to facilitate leadership 

development in a multitude of specific areas. 

Recruits to these programmes will either self select or be talent spotted due to 

demonstrating in abundance the essential critical attributes 7 including: agile mind; 

emotional intelligence; integrity; and a learning orientation. They should also show 

commitment to becoming a leader within Maoridom and becoming an agent of 

change. 

Currently, no programmes exist that would lead to the development of all the distinct 

attributes necessary for Maori leadership. Elements of leadership training and support 

are provided by a wide range of providers including kaumatua, universities, 

employers and informal networking. 

This advanced leadership and governance development programme should: 

a) Monitor and coordinate the opportunities for potential Maori leaders to gain 

their necessary leadership skills and attributes; and 

b) Develop and promote an Advanced Leadership Training (Alter) programme 

for (potential) Maori leaders. 

We suggest a small specialist team, which does not deliver, but provides programme 

development that allows aspiring Maori leaders to access the opportunities (places) 

within the wide range of programmes being operated across the public and private 

sector. 

This would be a virtual institute that would work with identified leader candidates to 

prepare a leadership development programme for those individuals. Then in light of 

the individual’s identified needs, find opportunities and placements to meet these 

needs. 

7 

Essential pre entry requirements according to the Leadership Development Centre 

__________________________________________________________________ 


Because quite large organisations, such as Ministry of Education and Ministry of 

Health, cannot maintain leadership development within their organisations and have 

collaborated with all other public service organisations to form the LDC it is 

infeasible for Maori organisations to seek to do this individually. 

We believe that places would be made available within existing training programmes 

for Maori nominees both within the public service and private sector programmes. 

Apart from the technical content of the particular programme there is a very important 

role in developing the widest range of personal networks and experiences for the 

leadership candidate that will build or boost their “knowledge and understanding” 

when working for their organisation later. 

To this end we would propose a concept of “advanced leadership training 

programme.” 

We would propose the development of an advanced leadership programme designed 

to provide leadership candidates who had exhibited the critical attributes above with 

experiential opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in the full range of cultural 

and functional skills for organisations. 

Cadre review approach 

To this end we would propose a model of Cardre review by functional managers. 

For example the generic functions of any business or organisation could be 

characterised as Planning, (to determine what the organisation is what structure it 

takes and what it exists for), Marketing (to determine how big the organisation needs 

to be to meet the portion of the market it is targeting), Operations (to determine what 

it does to produce enough goods and services to meet its market), HR (to determine 

what people with what skills where and when are needed to maintain the operation), 

Finance (to determine where funding is to come from and what it is applied to in order 

to maintain the organisation), Research and Development (to determine what gaps 

there are in knowledge or products and services and what needs to be done to fill 

those gaps). 

These generic functional elements of a business work within and take cognisance of a 

range of legal regulatory and social (tikanga) rules and lores which overlays the 

generic functions of an organisation. 

If a leader is to lead or be a “general manager” they need to understand all functions 

or needs of the organisation and cordinate all in concert. Failure in any function will 

lead to failure of the organisation as a whole. 

The cadre system is based upon using a team of functional managers one level down 

in the organisation, conducting a performance audit of a business unit or organisation 

under the control of a general manager. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


This review thoroughly examines all of the functions of the organisation planning 

operations etc and the group reports back to the GM on what they found and what 

should be done to improve the performance of the organisation. 

Further more this report back to the GM is in the presence of the GM’s boss. The GM 

can accept or reject any advice received from the group but must know that his boss 

has heard the same advice. 

The other learning based element is that the review team are required to review and 

report back on a function that is not their own. Eg the HR specialist must report on 

finance etc although they have access to the financial specialist on their team to test 

technical matters. 

The result is a dramatic widening of the experience base of participants to report in 

detail on a function within a real operating business. 

Clearly this could include tikanga compliance within Maori businesses. 

If this concept could be promoted the team could be drawn from a mixture of Maori 

public and private sector organisations and review business units in Maori public and 

private sectors. 

The mixture of Maori and non-Maori and the range of businesses reviewed would 

provide a means of exposing a wider cohort to Maori and providing a wide 

networking opportunity for participants. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


6.0 Key Recommendations 

1) The establishment of a Maori Leadership and Governance Development Centre. 

i) The Centre should cater for all Maori but specifically all people who 

sit on Maori committees, trusts, and boards. 

ii) 

The Centre should provide: (1) broad-based leadership and governance 

education for a broad spectrum of Maoridom and; (2) advanced 

education and development for those identified as having high 

potential for assuming top-tier positions. 

iii) The Centre should be multi-functional and its roles should include: 

(a) Developing, co-ordinating, and administering a broad spectrum of 

leadership and governance programmes targeted at diverse groups; 

(b) Acting as a clearinghouse for external programmes that are already 

being provided; 

(c) Providing facilitation, mentoring and case studies to guide 

implementation for broad-based programmes; 

(d) Identifying talent for advanced specialist leadership development; 

(e) Organising mentors and a cadre system for identified talent; 

(f) Fostering leadership pathways and identifying career building 

opportunities; 

(g) Assisting with the development of succession plans; 

(h) Developing a database so talent can be easily identified; 

(i) Providing a referral point for leadership and governance issues; 

(j) Marketing and communications (focusing on the Centre’s benefits). 

iv) 

The Centre should provide multiple delivery mechanisms: mobile 

delivery (i.e. taking the programmes to the community in person); 

virtual delivery (i.e. on-line training and resources as well as through 

the media); in-house delivery (i.e. providing a small training facility); 

and extension delivery (i.e. utilising the facilities of providers with 

whom the Centre collaborates, e.g. tertiary institutions, whananga, the 

LDC). 

v) The high potential leaders who are identified would be expected to be 

partially engaged in the teaching and facilitation of the broad-based 

leadership and governance education programmes. In this way they 

would be become agents of change in the promotion of good 

leadership and governance practices. 

vi) 

vii) 

viii) 

The Centre should employ a cascade or train-the-trainer model. 

The Centre’s timeframe should be on-going with at least a ten-year 

planning timeframe. 

The Centre should be given a Maori name. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


2) The Hui Taumata Taskforce should appoint a small establishment board to 

spearhead the Centre’s development; identify and secure financial resources, 

create an establishment group and provide strategic guidance to it. The Centre 

should be politically independent. The project team believes that a Public Private 

Partnership might well prove to be the best form of governance for the Centre. 

3) The establishment group would be responsible for initiating, operating and 

promoting the Centre. 

4) The Hui Taumata Taskforce should decide how this report gets distributed and 

who it should be distributed to. The project team recommends that the iwi 

authorities would be an ideal target group for this report. 

5) Related to point 4, the project team recognises that it has represents a relatively 

narrow constituency and is, therefore, anxious that the report be open to a much 

wider consultation. Perhaps this is something that might be considered as part of 

a wider consultation process that the Hui Taumata Task Force might be 

considering for this and the other reports it has sponsored. 

__________________________________________________________________ 


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