PD Spotlight: Transforming HRM in Aotearoa: The tauira perspective

Transforming HRM in Aotearoa: The tauira perspective

Last year, Chris Stewart attended the inaugural Transforming HRM in Aotearoa workshop; the HRNZ workshop aimed at developing culturally responsive and equitable HRM practices. What she learned and the impact she’s had on her workplaces have the potential to last a lifetime. Here she explains more.

He aha te mea nui o te Ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata

What is the most important thing in the world? it is people, it is people, it is people.

As a health and HR professional, I have long been passionate about achieving equitable outcomes for Māori, recognising that to achieve equity you cannot deliver a onesize-fits-all approach. I believe HR practitioners are well positioned through personal behaviour, leadership, policy and practices to lead and influence a move away from ‘traditional’ HR practices, many of which can marginalise

Māori. In the words of Tā Mason Durie, “Diverse realities require diverse solutions”.

As an HR manager in a public sector organisation (Pharmac), I had a personal and professional commitment to do all that I could to ensure HR practices enabled the organisational commitment to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi. To deliver on a wider organisational strategy focused on delivering improved health outcomes for Māori, as is the purpose of Pharmac’s Te Whaioranga – Māori Responsive Strategy, I recognised it is important to start within the workplace and how we support our Māori (and non- Māori) employees to bring a fullness to work.

The experience

My lasting memory of this wānanga was how it made me feel. Not only was I taught the content, but I learned through the experience of all of those things, due to the way Karli Te Aotonga and Bentham Ohia facilitated the course. This was mātauranga Māori ‘by design’. We were also joined by Karli’s koro Timi; as a kaumatua, his presence allowed us to experience what is normal intergenerational contribution, and what a deep and enriching experience that was.

“We learnt about the mātauranga Māori values of:

• mahi tahi – work together as a collective, share and tell stories, greater than one

• whanaungatanga – everyone feeling valued and belonging

• manaakitanga – raise the mana of others

• kaitiakitanga – care and protection, sheltering, responsibility

• tuakana teina – encourage relationships through mentoring

• hūmārie – humility

through experiencing them during the three days.”

By creating the safe space, through whakawhanaungatanga, waiata and karakia, the participants and facilitators built connections and shared experiences and learnings.

We were able to be vulnerable and ask questions that, in other situations, we might not have been able to do. The participants were a mix of Māori and non-Māori, and, as a non-Māori, I felt safe to ask how I could best be an ally to Māori in the workplace. We had healthy and respectful debate, and the content, I believe, was uplifted due to the contribution of all participants who were supported and encouraged to share.

Karli’s technical and contemporary HR expertise, Bentham’s vast leadership experience, and Koro Timi’s life experience, under the korowai (cloak) of their collective Māori knowledge, made for the perfect combination.

As a collective, while guided by the current HRNZ competencies, we worked together to reimagine and rebuild what a truly bicultural approach to HRM practices in Aotearoa may look like. We learned about cultural safety and cultural wellbeing and how they can be applied to people practices in organisations.

Putting it into practice

As with attending any workshop, the challenge is what you do with what you learned: how do you take back the feeling and inspiration and make a difference? The three days did profoundly affect my mindset, and, from day one back at work, I viewed things very differently. I more than ever questioned “why do we do it this way, is this good for Māori?”. I also shared my experience with others, but I wanted to ensure that there was something more, something that would outlast my presence in the organisation.

So I incorporated the principles into an overarching HR policy development and review document to ensure all people policies and practices in the future were guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Through uplifting the heritage, values, culture, knowledge and identity of te ao Māori (the Māori worldview), tikanga Māori (Māori customary practices), te Reo Māori (the Māori language) and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), I am confident we can create people practices that are fit for purpose in an Aotearoa context.

I have since moved on to a new role, recently joining the team at Niche Recruitment, a proudly Māoriowned business with a vision to support more representative and inclusive workplaces. Jane Temel and Carl Church, the kaiwhakahaere (managing directors) at Niche Recruitment, were also on the course. Not only have I experienced first-hand as an employee people practices where everyone is welcomed and supported to bring their whole selves to work, I have also experienced an approach to recruiting where all candidates are treated in a manner where they feel safe, and their experience with us is mana-enhancing.

As a group of learners, we regularly connected after the course and shared our learnings and challenges and the resources we developed to begin the journey of challenging the profession to challenge their mindsets: how could we do this differently and get a better outcome for all.

To quote Bentham, “It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it.”

Chris Stewart is an experienced senior leader with a varied and extensive career working in clinical, sales, human resources, quality, risk and legislative compliance roles within public and private health agencies. Chris is passionate about people and inclusivity and is driven by an underlying purpose of making a difference so people can thrive; something she has been able to bring to the way she approaches recruitment in her new role at Niche Recruiting. Chris is currently enjoying learning te reo Māori and gaining a better understanding of te ao Māori.