SKYCITY Maori leadership programme wins Deloitte Top 200 award

A bespoke Maori leadership development programme created for SKYCITY has won the Deloitte Top 200 Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Award for 2018.

The Tahuna Te Ahi programme, developed by New Zealand company Indigenous Growth Limited, connects people to indigenous values and culture while at the same time giving them the tools to incorporate their culture into a business environment.

It came top in the diversity and inclusion category of the Deloitte Top 200 Awards held at Spark Arena in Auckland last night. The evening acknowledges business excellence and noteworthy leadership across ten categories.

SKYCITY’s Group General Manager Human Resources Claire Walker says the award is recognition for a programme that has achieved powerful results.

 “While nine per cent of our workforce identifies as Maori, we don’t see this represented in our senior management.  We want to change this by accelerating leadership development for Maori employees and implementing initiatives which lift the standing of Maori at SKYCITY more broadly,’’ Mrs Walker says.

“Our graduates say that the programme has encouraged them to connect indigenous values with business in a practical way.  Learning to draw on their cultural core and bring their whole-selves to work has a powerful impact on their own development, and on how they lead and engage with others around them,” says Walker

SKYCITY partnered with Indigenous Growth in 2017 to develop a programme that would support the pipeline of Maori employees through to managerial roles, and focus on delivering inclusion, not just diversity, to the business.

Michael Moka, founder of Indigenous Growth, says he is delighted to be a part of the award-winning team.

“When people are connected to their values and know how to be themselves in and outside of work, it gives people the mana, the power, the permission, to play their roles to the very best of their ability – to achieve their goals,” says Mr Moka.

Mrs Walker says SKYCITY’s diversity and inclusion programme is built on working with partners like Indigenous Growth who deliver best practice programmes.

“At SKYCITY our focus on diversity and inclusion is not only about doing what’s right, but also about reflecting the diversity of our customers and community; and a recognition that diversity is a sustainable competitive advantage in the long term,” says Mrs Walker.

The Tahuna Te Ahi programme takes place over six months and includes five two-day workshops, a (rōpū) project, and personal coaching. The programme covers indigenous power and authority in business, decision making and mental toughness, leadership style and executive skills, authentic presentation style, and personal goals and development. The programme also recognises the special standing of Maori as tangata whenua and the indigenous people of Aotearoa.

Over the past year, two groups have completed the course, with 16 graduating in March and a further 14 in October at Te Puea Memorial Marae, all supported by their whanau, supporting managers and SKYCITY leadership.

The Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Award recognises organisations for their policies or strategies in place to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.