This past weekend we held a noho with Pakiwaitara 2023 creative leadership practitioners and there were many gems! They are embarking on their project work as we head into the last leg of our learning journey together.
The word 'project' can bring forward different ideas in people.
Some warm up to 'getting it right'
...'there are so many how do I choose?'
... 'what will people think of me?' and the overwhelm of thinking in this way blocks our creativity and flow with ourselves.
We fashioned a space where people could dream, interact, and take up roles of the whare in regard to the pou they hold. Through gentle yet firm commitment to coaching a lot of clarity was gained as they were able to feel into their experience of themselves speaking-their ideas into life.
It is not easy to put yourself and your ideas forward but this is the work we have been preparing for over the year. We first lean into the frameworks of the whare and the kawa sequence and now it is time to apply and test.
What was said by the end by participants was
...'I feel settled in myself, I don't know all my steps yet but I feel really settled about what I am going forward to do and why'
...'I notice how much I have grown since the last time we met and how easeful I am in expressing myself, I wasn't this easeful before'
...'I feel the waters that were stagnant are now in movement again'
...'I'm ready to step out and explore...'
Now, they are stepping through the next four weeks where they must collect, gather and make small but tangible offerrings.
They will show up to our weekly Pakiwaitara sessions as 'Leaderful makers' as they have been given the role of taking responsibility for their own work and their shaping of their questions each week.
They are to step into their own leadership more and be guides for their fellow leaders in the group.
They will practice their own kawa and shape how others engage with their whare. They will form their question in their work for that week.
This is where they have to prepare and warm up this muscle to practice it with the group.
They will rehearse taking up the roles of 'independent creator' and 'curious guide' all in line with a mana-ki-te-mana practice where their whare is active and engaged as they engage.
This is very different to 'rootlessly asking for help' and not being mana enhancing in their own practice towards themselves and others.
That dependency on others to validate our mahi is what we are moving away from.
We are moving towards ourselves validating ourselves and our own questions. We are doing the work of selecting & being discerning about what we are asking for.
This is the muscle that is being worked in the gym of Pakiwaitara! Bring on the next seven weeks of testing, then designing then making.
Creative leadership and learning our own process of leading out of our own whare. Mauri ora!
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