indigenous philosophies for team and leadership development
The millions of models, the thousands of theories, the many, many, many blog entries titled '5 Ways to Teams Success' and '9 Ways to Team Success' etc, got me thinking, how can I make sense of all this information and data, just what are all these articles trying to say? How can I simplfy this for my clients? And this is what I have come to, what it boils down to is three key factors - Skills, Resources and Relational.
Team identification is a 'flash' word for pride; to be proud of one's group. The indigenous Maori have a superior ability to create groups with strong identities. Workplace groups and corporate teams can learn some valuable lessons and insights from Maori on creating strong team identities.
The indigenous Maori have a rich and colourful weaving culture that creates beautiful artforms, baskets, clothing etc. When weaving, the most important phase is always the begining, the strands are loose and easily come away if the technique is wrong. As the initial foundations are laid down the piece is fragile and if incorrect, is likely to end up off balance and out of shape. Teams often work in this manner, relying on strong foundations to meet their objectives and accomplish its goals.
In New Zealand there is a native bush plant called 'Kawakawa'. I'ts glossy heart shaped leaves have been serving the indigenous Maori for centuries as a healing plant. When picking leaves as a child, I would avoid the leaves hacked with holes, eaten by insects and instead choose the clean, shiny wholesome ones. As fas as I was concerned, the 'hole-y' leaves were ugly and there must be something wrong with them.
The event was described by the Hollywood reporter as a “...a neon-Native American powwow theme. Glow-in-the-dark war-painted employees in feather headbands and bow and arrows invited guests to be photographed on a mini-runway holding prop tomahawks.”
Tracking the rise in Google’s search engine statistics over the last decade, it is evident, just how 'haka hungry' the world is becoming. What is this fascination with the haka and why does it have such a strong link with sporting activities? Traditionally the haka was used before warriors went off to fight in battle, therefore, a lot of modern day parallels exist between the two. But does it work? Does it actually work? Does it really assist in creating better athletes and better teams? The answer is yes. The following 7 reasons explain why.
They have a great spirit and sense of humour, and can always laugh at themselves. They seem to be open to other cultures and their ideas. I guess this is why they have such a reputation and technology leaders, due to their flexibility in taking up new concepts.
A fad is something that is temporaily fashionable and this blog takes a strut down the teambuilding catwalk and looks at what is fashionable/unfashionable teambuilding. The teambuilding industry is quick to jump on the next gimmick and turn it into a teambuilding exercise, so in no particular order, here are my top 5 teambuilding fads...
1. Support the Empowerment of Indigenous People