When we bring new people into the team, we usually have three main goals:
- We want our new people to be engaged with the organisation, which includes being connected with their team.
- We want them to be able to contribute in their role as soon as possible.
- And we want to set them up for lasting success.
Using inspiration from tikanga Māori (Māori customs and practices) can help us to create onboarding experiences that are set new staff up for lasting success in the organisation.
Tikanga-based approaches can be effectively applied to people from all cultures, as they promote universal values of respect, inclusivity, and relationship-building.
MBIE’ s researchers for the 2024 ‘Inclusive workplaces for kaimahi Māori’ report found that inclusion and alignment with Māori cultural values “creates a workplace climate that attracts a diverse workforce,” and Haar et al. found in 2024 that this provides better workplace experiences for Pākehā as well as minorities.
As you bring someone new into a team, it can be helpful to focus on concepts such as kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, and whakawhanaungatanga. Kaitiakitanga means to act as a guardian – a kaitiaki. Manaakitanga is supporting and upholding someone’s mana. And whakawhanaungatanga means establishing relationships.
At Synapsys, as we plan induction programmes, we find that explicitly addressing how the onboarding activities will reflect these concepts enables us to plan programmes that support the mana of the new employees, their teammates, and the organisation.
Similar concepts exist in most cultures. It’s not necessarily about needing to embed Māori language and concepts explicitly in the experience, it’s about ensuring these concepts underpin onboarding in a way that is right for your organisation. It helps us to make sure that new employees are actively building relationships right from the first day, and leaders understand how their care for the new employees can make meaningful differences.