Kia ora, this week, whānau, school students, community groups, and organisations across the motu are celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Aotearoa New Zealand’s annual celebration of te reo Māori.
Many organisations in Aotearoa are taking steps to improve their cultural competency and reaping the benefits of building greater understanding and positively identifying with Māori culture. In 2021, AskYourTeam developed its Te ara ki tua survey after noticing several customers were starting to build their own questions within the (AskYourTeam) system to measure their cultural competency. Fast forward more than 12 months, and we can now share the aggregated findings of the community of 30 organisations who are the early adopters of Te ara ki tua, to help others contemplating taking their first steps towards developing cultural competency.
Many organisations in Aotearoa are taking steps to improve their cultural competency and reaping the benefits of building greater understanding and positively identifying with Māori culture.
AskYourTeam is sharing some key findings of its Te ara ki tua insights paper during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, with the completed insights paper available later in September.
Across the board, employees desire to improve their Māori cultural capabilities, but confidence levels are low. These low confidence levels provide organisations with a baseline from which to build. Learning te reo Māori is top of the agenda for employees, with the potential for this to function as a gateway into learning about Te Ao Māori – the Māori world view.
On ideas to build cultural capability, employees were favourable towards the ideas of te reo Māori lessons, signage at work in both te reo Māori and te reo English, and having a buddy system, to help build te reo Māori capability. Concerning Te Tiriti o Waitangi, employees were in agreement that Te Tiriti workshops would be of assistance.
Organisations should also consider how they can provide opportunities for employees to engage more closely with te ao Māori; specific examples (from the survey) being how to embed tikanga (customs) at work, as well as opportunities to work in partnership with Māori.
If you would like to explore these concepts in more detail, you can pre-register for a copy of our Te ara ki tua insights paper by emailing marketing@askyourteam.com , or if you would like to get started on your cultural competency journey, contact us here for a kōrero. Noho ora mai rā.
