Helen Te Hira, Director – Māori Outcomes
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited

In brief: “Manawataki takes great care to understand and respond to our needs. They provide expert, timely and sound advice and training. Our staff consistently report that interactions with Manawataki are uplifting and build an individual or team’s confidence. They are responsive to our short time frames and tight turnarounds. Manawataki has an open, friendly and humorous approach that makes working with the organisation easy and encourages learning.”

Manawataki services engaged:

• Development and integration of a framework for organisational values from a Te Ao Māori view for our Security-Pou Tiaki Teams

• Development and review of content for our Tāki app

• Strategic Advice: Development of a cultural framework to guide engagement with Māori for a major international event (FIFA)

• Te Reo me ona tikanga: Training for staff and international delegations on kawa and tikanga. Facilitation of pōwhiri and mihi whakatau for staff and events.

• Translation and copy reviews for websites and publications, translation services, creating mihi for written publications, and more.

• In-person and online tailored courses for teams and individuals (Te Reo Māori)

• Coaching and mentoring: Coaching of senior management in preparation for board meetings and key engagements with Mana Whenua
  

Organisational needs:

Cultural expertise that would take time to understand our business needs, was guided by adult learning principles, tertiary qualified and experienced in working biculturally with a commitment to excellence.

Outcomes:

It has made us better communicators and has helped us avoid – or learn from – ignorant mistakes. Our Mana Whenua partners recognise Manawataki’s work and the impact the delivery of their services is having on our ability to work with them.

What impressed you?

Manawataki are friendly, inclusive and operate in a manner that gives our staff confidence to ask questions without fear of judgment. They encourage our people to learn from mistakes and to keep improving in our engagement with Māori and to embrace more te reo Māori in our interactions and communications.

Highlights:

The personal insights and experiences the Manawataki team shared were really engaging and helped to remind us why what we were learning was important, and how much of a difference it makes when we get it right.