2016 Le Tautua Matua Mana Moana: results

This year, Le Va offered the Le Tautua Matau Mana Moana (Le Tautua M3) Programme to our most senior leaders from the Pasifika mental health and addictions sector. An intake of 15 senior Pasifika mental health and addictions leaders were selected to undergo the three-workshop programme, in different locations throughout Auckland between January and May 2016.

The programme aimed to accelerate the leadership journey of Pasifika leaders, organisations and communities through the delivery of a Pasifika-centred leadership programme providing the skills, knowledge and tools for transformation. It is an adaptation of Mana Moana, an innovative research-based indigenous Pasifika intervention. Already piloted as a leadership and wellbeing programme with Pasifika youth and tested for acceptability and feasibility with considerable success, Mana Moana was adapted for a Pasifika leadership context, in conjunction with leadership specialist and Leadership New Zealand Programme Lead, Louise Marra and Dr Karlo Mila, the original developer of Mana Moana.

The programme drew upon previous Le Tautua leadership expertise and experience, ensuring an aligned, yet evolved new alumni programme designed to meet the real time needs of the Pasifika mental health and addictions sector.   

The programme ran over three workshops, focusing on six intended outcomes: 

• strengthen authenticity as Pasifika leaders 
• increase cultural knowledge relevant to leadership and management
• improve strategies for self-awareness, self-care and resilience
• strengthen positive relationships required for leadership 
• enhance purpose and career pathways
• increasing awareness of leading with compassion, wisdom and empathy.

Participants were evaluated at the beginning and end of each workshop. High level highlights from the programme evaluation included:

• 100% of participants described the programme as “very useful” or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being not at all useful)
• 100% of participants would recommend the programme to others 
• 100% believed it would appeal to other Pasifika leaders
• resources and presentations were ranked 10 out of 10 by all participants.

Using a numbered ranking system, the features that participants liked best about the leadership programme were:

• a successful group dynamic 
• the Pasifika focus 
• the opportunity to interact with leadership peers 

Direct feedback included: 

What was very good was the space to discuss and drive towards integration of Pasifika concepts into our leadership.

The freedom to explore meanings in the group setting – words and actions are powerful.

The general fellowship and company of others.  

The connection to land and place flexibility over timeframes.  It’s fun, informative and passionate. 

Loved the reflections, the invitation to try new things such as relaxation/mindfulness, journaling.  Meeting other great leaders. The setting was awesome.

The learning of new concepts/insights- from facilitators and other participants.

The safety of the programme stood out.  That is, being able to express myself freely without any judgement or criticism.  Also being away from the distractions of work, and taking time out to reflect.

A customised leadership scale called the “Mana Monitor” was developed for the programme, capturing pre- and post- measures at each of the three workshops.  The data collected showed there was a positive increase in every indicator, after every retreat.  This had a cumulative effective of increased positive outcomes across all of the measures over the course of the leadership programme.

While a very successful programme, there are clear learnings and room for improvement. There was consistent feedback in the final evaluation about the quantity of the content given the limited time constraints. Future iterations would need to consider it being more stream-lined or alternatively being held over a longer duration.  An additional evaluation will be conducted before the end of the year to record further outcomes as a result of this programme.

Le Va would like to acknowledge all the Le Tautua 2016 participants for their enthusiasm in undertaking this years’ alumni programme, as well as particular thanks to Dr Karlo Mila and Louise Marra for their commitment and support in adapting and implementing the programme.