Leadership Experiences
Contemporary journeys into the ancient
Reclaiming ancestral intelligence
Reflection, Digestion and Integrating
Winner of Pacific Service Excellence 2022 at the Sunpix Pacific Peoples' Awards.
For over five years Mana Moana has grown and thrived within the organisation Leadership New Zealand. Under this arrangement with Leadership New Zealand, exceptional people have been brought together to incubate and prototype ancestral knowledge in their personal and professional lives. Mana Moana Leadership experiences are unique curated journeys that restore and vitalise connections to the ancestral intelligence and indigenous knowledge repository of Te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa in transformative ways. This is a retreat-based year-long leadership programme that seeks critically reflective answers to questions about what leadership might look like when it is understood and framed within Pacific indigenous knowledge paradigms. There are two distinct leadership experiences, the Mana Moana Experience and Tū Mau Mana Moana. A bespoke shorter retreat-based experience was run for Tupu Tai
The Mana Moana Experience
Over 120 Pacific leaders have taken part in year-long Mana Moana Experiences. There have been four cohorts of the original Mana Moana programme (2018-2021) targeted at mid-career Pacific leaders. This was funded primarily by Foundation North, with additional sponsorship and support from Creative New Zealand, JR MacKenzie Trust, MBIE, Tāmaki Regeneration, Southland Trust and other privately paying workplaces.
A Mana Moana leadership journey activates and engages with a repository of seventy power words. It is a guided journey that introduces participants to the knowledge held in the waters and tides, the shores, bush, deep forest, mountains, rivers, villages, seas, stars and skies of the Pacific. Most retreats map to a significant metaphor cluster, tupuna (ancestors): moana (ocean), fenua / fanua / fonua / enua / whenua (land), hala, ala, ara (the journey) and finally mokopuna (grandchildren and the generations to come.
Participants are provided with ‘Taula’, the Mana Moana Reference book, the research-based compendium of generative concepts. Each of the seventy power words is carefully researched, integrating ancestral wisdom, research-based scholarship, mythic narratives, proverbial knowledge, translations and philosophical implications. Participants are also provided with six practical guidebooks for each retreat. The journeys are informed by an intervention logic that is drawn from traditional healing understandings across the Moana that prioritise relationships. Relationality - or the vā - is the site of all leadership.
What people are saying about the Mana Moana Experience
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"I describe my Mana Moana journey as an awakening."
Susana Guttenbeil, GM Content, Pacific Media Network
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"I found my people and medicine through Mana Moana."
Penina Ifopo, Founder of Falelalaga
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"The impact of Mana Moana on my aiga, my community and myself has been profound."
Siaosi Gavet, Founder and Managing Director Pro-Pare Youth Development Trust
Tū Mau Mana Moana
The Tū Mau Mana Moana Programme is similar in essence and approach, but is designed specifically for the public sector. It is taking more than 40 Pacific leaders on a journey designed to deepen Pacific aspirations, personal growth, professional excellence, cultural strength and collective mobilisation.
Tū Mau is funded by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to accelerate the leadership journey of exceptional public service leaders in Aotearoa from diverse Pacific backgrounds. Tū Mana Moana is housed within, and supported by, Leadership New Zealand.
What people are saying about Tū Mau Mana Moana
“I feel like I am being gifted the knowledge, the understanding, and the language to describe what I believe, how I feel and who I want to be.”
— Keawe Woodmore - Manager, FTA Implementation Unit, Trade Policy Engagement and Implementation Division, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade
"There aren't enough words to describe how transformational Tū Mau Mana Moana has been for me."
— Johnathon Moauala Tuisa’ula Hopgood, Manager Refugee and Migrant Support, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
“The impact of this kaupapa is profound and it will continue to be invaluable now and into the future."
- Malama Mahe, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Senior Solicitor at Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Heritage
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"It was a massive life changing event for me to be on this course and it is something I will always be grateful for."
— James Mose, Manager Forecasting and Planning, Department of Internal Affairs
Tupu Tai
Mini Mana Moana Experiences
The Tupu Tai programme is a paid summer internship offered to Pacific tertiary students and recent graduates interested in a career in the public sector. The programme is managed by MBIE’s Langa Le Vā (Pacific Policy) team and placements are offered at MBIE and in a range of Government agencies.
In 2020 and 2021 the Mana Moana team created a bespoke mini Mana Moana experience for the Tupu Tai interns. These were in the form of three short retreats. Due to Covid-19 regulations some of these were online and others in-person.
