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Career Assessment and Planning ? A Maori Version

Israel Hawkins - Director / Consultant, WERA Consultants

Israel has 12 years experience within the public sector specialising in Training and Development. He eventually moved into Training Management where he was partly responsible for the recruitment, induction, training and performance appraisal of staff.  Israel then moved into a business advisory and management role focusing on Maori issues, staff and stakeholders. This required development of a National Maori strategy aimed at enhancing the achievement of business outcomes for services to Maori.  Further information can be found at www.weraconsultants.co.nz

Introduction

Career Assessment and Planning carries with it a varied and mixed level of understanding dependent on whom you are talking to.  For those in the careers industry it is defined as the process of planning your career choice in the most effective and strategic manner ensuring it is economical on your time and resources without compromising quality of learning and development.

For those not in the industry, it can mean something totally different which in part explains the misunderstanding and therefore lack of commitment to the career assessment and planning process. In fact to some, career assessment and planning can be the result of a decision made for them resulting in what we call ?secondary motivation?. The pursuit of a career apart from ones own choice or aspiration

This is certainly the case with the Maori families and communities we have worked with. The conventional style of delivery of career assessment and planning does not incorporate the cultural considerations that need to be included in any interaction with our Maori families and communities.

We have found also that the conventional career assessment process is based on an American Business model foreign to indigenous cultures and practices.

No surprise then that the current practice of career assessment and planning is more aligned to these foreign concepts and not necessarily related or conducive to indigenous cultures more specifically our Maori communities   

Cultural Considerations

There are a number of ?cultural considerations? that need to be incorporated into any Career assessment and planning when working with Maori families and communities.  At WERA Consultants Ltd (WCL) we have incorporated these ?considerations?  in the development of our Maori model of career assessment and planning which has seen excellent results over the last 2-3 years that we have provided this service.

Following are our responses to these considerations which have seen an increase in Maori participating, developing and following their career plans progressively achieving both their life and career goals.

The first of these cultural considerations are the variances within Maori communities and culture requiring a more fine tuned and relative approach when working with Maori.

Urban / Rural Maori is a phenomenon commonly understood however not necessarily responded to in the most effective way. I have witnessed and observed numerous attempts by both public and private sector organisations to work with Maori in a generic way aiming to meet the needs of all Maori with a ?one size fits all mentality?. History repeatedly demonstrates this as not only ineffective but to some extent an offence of both lack of understanding and inappropriate service.

Urban / Rural Maori in my observation is defined as ?Maori determined by environment? which brings with it a requirement to service Maori according to the environment they choose to live their lives, raise their children and exist by. This does not require the ?tarnishing with the same brush? attitude but rather a need to understand the environment and values Maori place themselves in and communicate and service according to this. To this point, urban and rural Maori have very different needs and preferences which must be demonstrated in the way we work with Maori.

Servicing Maori who have lived most of their lives in the cities through the use of traditional Maori concepts and mythology may be as foreign to them as it is to Non-Maori, because of the environment they have been brought up in. This is also the case with servicing rural Maori where Career Practitioners have tried to develop career plans that focus on academic courses and occupations, not realising the rural values systems Maori live in which could be more in tune to practical, hands on career pathways. As mentioned previously, we determine Urban / Rural Maori as ?Maori determined by environment?, so also should any type of service be ?career assessment determined by environment?

Iwi to iwi is another variance that needs to be considered when working with Maori. Iwi have very strict and clear preferences, identity and practices which are different and individual to each Iwi. Operating outside of these structures and protocols can not only be seen as offensive but also demonstrates a lack of understanding and preparation when servicing Iwi Maori. Similar to that of the urban / rural Maori variance understanding the environment and practices Iwi Maori live by will put you in good steed when working with and servicing Iwi. The way things are done for those from Ngati Kahungunu ki Heretaunga (an iwi located Hastings) is very different compared to those from Ngati Tuwharetoa (an iwi located in the Turangi / Taupo region).  Due to this, preparation and research is required before servicing Maori, whether it is Urban / Rural or Iwi Maori.

Generational variance is another important factor that needs to be considered when working with Maori as the level of understanding on things Maori can differ between generations. We have witnessed this in many Maori families we have worked with and, indeed, experienced it within my own family. The understanding of things Maori certainly differs from that of my father and grandfather largely due to the legislation and laws past in their respective eras deterring them from things Maori.

The urge to find work and ?pay the bills? also dominated decisions away from learning and practicing both Maori customs and language as this usually entailed working in the cities in entry level occupations.  Because of this, their enthusiasm and understanding of things Maori is vastly different to mine and my siblings who were brought up in the post kohanga reo period encouraging the learning and application of Te Reo me nga Tikanga Maori.

To whom you talk will affect how you approach these generational variances as your communication will have to be in line with their view and upbringing on things Maori. Often, people approach this variance with great enthusiasm in Te Reo Maori or with Maori practices to Maori who do not share or understand the Maori concepts and language that is being used. The result of this is embarrassment for the client who may feel inadequate due to their lack of understanding.

The Career Practitioner will also seem out of touch as the as they are communicating to what they perceive Maori prefer rather than understanding these generational variances and communicating accordingly so.

Cultural Expectation is another factor that must be considered when working with Maori. This is no more evident than in Tangihanga (funeral).  Tangihanga carries with it one of the strongest expectations for Maori within Maori culture. There are unwritten, non verbal expectations to participate or take on your ?role? when tangihanga occurs.

This is particularly evident if the person who has passed away is an immediate or extended family member. Maori have very strict expectations of either families and or individuals to carry out their roles when the need arises.  For some it is the art of whaikorero (speech making), for some karanga (calling) for some ringawera (food preparation).  The absence of these roles or those who fulfill these roles not only disrupts proceedings but can be seen as an offence to the whanau, hapu and iwi.

This explains to some degree Maori obligation to these expectations over-riding employment or training, resulting in Maori being classed as ?tangihoppers? by their colleagues or fellow students.  In light of these expectations, these comments seem unfair and, indeed, void of the cultural understanding that balances the picture somewhat.  For most of the families we have worked with, including my own, when you get the call to go home for a tangi and that message is sent by your parents, grandparents or rangatira of your iwi?you go!

Roles also play a part in the ?cultural considerations? one must be mindful of when working with Maori.  Tuakana (older brother) Teina (younger brother) roles form the basis of sibling structure within Maori families, whether adhered to loosely or not the tuakana / teina structure is evident in most Maori families we have worked with and my own. The role of tuakana is to lead and mentor younger siblings in all tikanga and kawa relevant to that family. This is an imperative role as it also continues the understanding of iwi and hapu structure amongst whanau for them to pass on to their children and their children?s children.  We have witnessed this in many Maori families we have worked with and found differences within these roles, dependent on whether they are urban or rural Maori.

The tuakana role in urban settings seems to take on more of a caregiving capacity rather than one of mentoring and teaching younger siblings.  As a result, we have found that Maori in lower socio economic communities tend to be absent more from employment or training partly because of the expectations put on them as the oldest siblings in their families.

Location vs Vocation is a phenomenon we have identified as the choosing of occupation and training based on what keeps you close to home or whanau not necessarily conscious career or life decision making.  We have identified many examples of Maori making career decisions based on what keeps them close to those who have cared for or raised them, particularly in whanau that are close.  The thought of progressing ones self away from whanau is not an idea that is as appealing as it sounds for some. In fact for some Maori families we have worked with, self development is not as important as whanau and, therefore, decisions are made to keep close to whanau.

As a result, decisions are made to ?do whatever it takes? to stay home. If this includes looking for work or courses to achieve this then so be it. This can result in high absenteeism, as the driver for these choices is not necessarily career progression but whanau and staying close to whanau. This also explains the ?just get a job? attitude usually resulting in Maori securing entry level occupations and staying in them for as long as possible.  Again the aim is not necessarily career progression, therefore the result of this is lack of enthusiasm to progress themselves in whatever occupation they place themselves in. Career in this instance does not have the same meaning for Maori as it does for the Career counsellor, therefore any attempt to pathway Maori under these circumstances is a foreign concept unless it incorporates those things which they view as important and in this case it is whanau.

Relativity is another factor that must be considered when working with Maori.  I remember visiting a young Maori boy who was illiterate and hadn?t attended school for sometime.  I accompanied a work colleague who had planned to meet with him to discuss his career and future with the aim of getting him back to school.  When we got to the place we were meeting him, my colleague enthusiastically explained the organisation we came from, the website we have and the fabulous services we provide. This led to the question, what he wanted to do for his career.

He responded in Maori saying that he didn?t know.

My colleague then explained the process you needed to go through to become a lawyer or doctor or builder which puzzled him some what and drew his reply to us in Maori saying he had no idea what she was saying or how it related to what he was doing.  I knew this required a good understanding of the boy, his family and his community to ensure the careers advice we gave fitted into the values they operated by.

His purpose within his whanau and hapu was to ensure kai was provided especially for special occasions at his marae (tangi, weddings etc).  His main activity to ensure this happened was hunting, as a result he would often not attend class because of his preference to hunt and ?put kai on the table?.  This was more important, as if he did not do this then there would not be any food not only for him but also for his whanau and koro who was living with him.

Therefore explaining the process to becoming a lawyer, mechanic or doctor had no weight, relativity or reflection on how he lives, the expectations on him and the roles he must play within his whanau.  In fact what was more effective was when I explained how a career can improve his hunting skills which will in turn increase his catchment of food.

We call this ?values based relativity?, a term not uncommon in the careers industry, however rarely applied correctly due to lack of understanding in areas and environments not commonly understood.  Career assessment and planning to Maori is not just about one to one assessment, but one to a collective of people who have influence of the person being assessed.  This does not mean they have decision making responsibilities in the career assessment process, rather incorporating their input and feedback making the career assessment more reflective and supportive of the client.  

Presenting these ?cultural considerations? will no doubt have created more questions than answers to Career Assessment and Planning to Maori and if you are a first time reader of such considerations perhaps also anxiety.  There is no question that incorporation of these considerations will drastically improve your outcomes and results when delivering career assessment and planning with Maori as we have found over the past 3 years.  We at WCL have evolved our understanding of these considerations to counter the misunderstandings and inappropriateness of "normal" service delivery to form our own version of Career Assessment and Planning.

We call it Career Assessment and Planning ? The WERA way. This is our response to not only the ?cultural considerations? presented but also best practice service delivery models to Maori families and their communities.

 

Educating Maori families is the first step to effective Career Planning as we often find their understanding of Careers is very different when talking to Maori and indeed most people.  The understanding of occupation and career is most commonly mistakenly understood to be the same, which in part explains the lack of interest in career. Nearly every Maori family we have worked with, over 99.9% of families have this understanding.

It is not uncommon for parents to encourage their children to secure full time work and stay in this job as long as they can to ensure they have financial independence.  Often these jobs are entry level and the qualifications of young Maori in particular are usually quite low as education takes a back seat to employment (as it takes too long to get into work if they stay in school).

For us in Rotorua, it usually means young Maori men end up in forestry jobs with little or no experience or qualifications in the forestry industry, work 10-12 hours a day sometimes 6-7 days a week.  With this type of timeframe no wonder there is no time to think about anything else.  Unfortunately, what is not explained or marketed to these young Maori men and indeed Maori families is that career is about finding out what you love doing, your passion, your drive and doing it well.

Time after time we have gone through this process with mums and dads educating them on career and encouraging not only their children but also themselves to find out their true life passion and going for it.  Often we get responses like ?I don?t want to go to university though? or ?I can?t do that? demonstrating yet again their understanding on career.

This brings us to another misunderstanding we have come across, when we mention the word occupation or job people equate it to work; however, when we mention career a large percentage of the Maori families we have worked with equate it to university.

This is not only limiting and a barrier to pursuing a career (especially if they have worked in the bush all their life) but also minimizes the true meaning of career to end once you finish university.  Those in the careers industry know this to be incorrect as career is a process not a destination.  Therefore we find ourselves spending a large percentage of our time unwinding this understanding and re-explaining the true meaning of career which is far more exciting and motivating.

My father was a perfect example of this.  Dad was a hard working Maori man, 62 years of age.  45 of these years were invested in working jobs that were predominantly entry level, factory, forklift driver and wool spinning. I have fond memories of Watties, Heinz, the UEB, fruit picking, tomato picking, and boysenberry picking at Gordons (as you can see by the jobs our family was from the Hawkes Bay).  Dad had the ?old school? mentality, work hard and don?t moan about it, if you did you got a clip around the ears for it.

Often we would go back to Hastings and catch up with him, have what I would call "courtesy conversations" (conversations that didn?t require long answers), for example:

Dad: How?s work boy?

Me: Good Dad

Dad: How?s the family, Teresa and the kids

Me: Yep they?re good to

Me: How?s work Dad?

Dad: Beauty

Me: How you been?

Dad: Beauty boy

 

These were precious times for us as although our conversations were brief at best, I knew that this was Dad's attempt to be Dad and that was more than enough for me.  One day I challenged the process and the conversation went as follows:

      

Dad: How?s work boy?

Me: Good Dad

Dad: How?s the family, Teresa and the kids

Me: Yep they?re good to

Me: How you been?

Dad: Beauty boy

Me: How?s work Dad?

Dad: Beauty

Me: Why?

 

This threw a big spanner in the works because now my poor Dad had to think of an answer!!!

What became apparent was that he could not answer my question; why work was good; in fact the more we talked about it the more he realized that his work was just that? work!  In Dad?s era you worked 12 hours a day 5 sometimes 6 and on the odd occasion 7 days a week.  Even at his age, he still worked those hours.

I asked him, why he was still doing those hours, his response??I?ve got to pay the bills boy?.  This puzzled me as when you work for 45 years most if not all the bills should be paid.

I then asked him who he was working for, Dad?s response??gotta pay for the kids and moko?s?.  When I looked around no-one lived at home anymore and we had all moved away and lived our own lives.  I was the last to leave home out of the kids and I left 21 years ago!

The point here is my dad knew no other and no doubt many dads are like this, still working like you have lots of bills and many kids to feed. I then changed my questions and I asked my father ?Dad, what do you really love doing?? His answer ?Fishing?  My response, then buy a boat and provide fishing charters, or work in a fishing shop or something, anything to do with whatever it is you love and make a career of it.

This is the message we send to Maori families, mums and dads, their children, nephews, nieces, uncles and aunties, grandfathers, grandmothers is that you don?t have to always work in entry level occupations. In fact the issue is not the occupations but the thinking that this is all it is.  My father deserved better, his thinking deserved better, his aspirations of fishing deserved better.

The thinking that career and job are the same can be no further from the truth and the more this is explained to those we service, particularly those with similar thinking to my father, the more you will get buy in to pursue a career.

Thanks dad for being the hard working, providing father you were, hope your enjoying the fishing in heaven, love you heaps

Service by relationship, is a communication preference rarely applied within public and private sector due to the limitations of both policy and procedure.

For us at WCL it means service to Maori by relationship which usually requires going past one conversation or one career assessment .  It also requires the ?personalizing? of your purpose before anything is discussed. This means that we go through a process of explaining who we are, where we are from and what we are doing from a personal perspective before we discuss our business or organization.

We have found more success working with Maori families if ?Israel? talks with us not initially ?WCL?.  There is a commonly used Maori proverb known as ?kanohi ki te kanohi? face to face, this implies that when you meet and talk with Maori it is your face that is talking not your business, in fact talking too much about your business sends a message that you are too ?top heavy? or organizationally focused with no personal approachability in your service delivery.  Much like mihimihi (a form of introduction amongst Maori when you meet for the first time focusing on where you are from, iwi, hapu, whanau, maunga etc) communication and indeed service by relationship requires the same approach, talk to me about who you are before you talk about what you are about.

Service by relationship also requires time to foster and develop a trusting relationship that is backed up by action.  This is imperative as words without action remain only words. Therefore once a relationship is developed action must follow, otherwise this is reflective of the relationship which will therefore loose its value.

?Marketing by Mum? is a term we have created to explain the decision making processes commonly used in Maori families.  To be more accurate it is the process of gaining buy in from the decision makers first before we even engage with the client or youth.  More relative to younger people, this practice is aimed at ensuring any interaction or decision making is supported by those who make the decisions for their family.

It is an interesting predicament this, as true career counselling focuses on just the client and their decisions alone.  Not the case in many Maori families, therefore an adaptation of this careers philosophy has to be made to ensure whanau are involved but the decision for career direction remains the client's.

To achieve this, we focus on engaging with the parents / caregivers of the youth to identify and respond to the values they live by.  Once this is done we can then link whatever career direction eventuates to support these values.  This ensures that when decisions are made the influencers provide the support and backing required.

To demonstrate this point in more detail, I go back to an example where we worked with a private training provider who enrolled a student who was identified as ?youth at risk?.  The provider asked me to assist them in progressing both his attitude and training in the fishing industry.  Prior to my arrival the provider had already spent an extensive amount of time and money working with the youth motivating and supporting him in his training.  They even managed to secure a full scholarship for him to attend training and work experience in Kaikohe. This excited both the provider and the youth as these scholarships were contestable and many students and organizations applied for them.  The scholarship included travel, payment of his training, accommodation and even an allowance.

The day he was to leave for Kaikohe, just before he was to set foot on the bus, his mother cancelled the trip and withdrew him off the course.  After the initial shock was gone and the disappointment of the provider and his tutors subsided, we reflected on the situation and analysed what went wrong.  Even before the meeting started I pretty much summed up where things went wrong.

No-one had engaged with his mother, kept her updated, included her in the plans or incorporated her views and opinions.  Had this been done then the provider would have known what approach to take to make this a successful venture.  The mother was a mother of eight children of which her oldest was the one who had been referred to the provider.  The usual routine for the youth was to go to course, return home once course had finished which was the same time his mother left for work meaning he cared for his younger siblings while mum worked at night. For his mum (who was a solo mother), her day would start with organizing her kids for school and kohanga reo, care for her 1 and 2 year old children during the day, prepare dinner and activities for her kids when they returned home and then organize herself for work at night.

Hard enough to be a full time mum and then in full time employment being on her own, even more hard when you have eight kids to feed and provide for!!!

This is a good example of why engagement with the influencers and environment of the youth is imperative to achieve successful outcomes.  What would have been better is if the provider had engaged with the mother initially and more often to include her in the planning of her son?s development which could have resulted in her organizing care giving for her children while she worked.

More importantly, the outcome of her son?s development, training and potential employment could also contribute to the financial commitments his mother had and benefited more in the long run.

This for some is a realistic picture of how things are, therefore any interaction, discussion or planning needs to be inclusive of influencers of the client / youth as more often than not the picture as we see it is not the full picture at all.  Career counseling and planning therefore needs to be inclusive of the whole picture as in this case the responsibilities of care giving for this youth weighed far more heavily than his career development.  It is a reality and as some have found even the best intentions can sometime fall short of reality.  What is the aim here?speak to those we need to speak to and in this case it was his also his mum

Conclusion

?Career Assessment and Planning ? The WERA way? is our version of delivering a true Maori version of career assessment.  The model we have developed requires a fusion of both cultural practices and career concept ensuring the intention and meaning of careers is maintained but delivered in a way that is relative and aligned with cultural preferences, practices and communication.

After working in the careers industry, we have found that there is no other career assessment process currently used in New Zealand that is delivered according to the model we have developed in response to the findings I have presented in this article.  It is important to note that this is a ?work in progress? and as everything that is developed, time will continually evolve and improve the process to ensure an effective and relative career assessment process is delivered to Maori families and their communities.

In closing, if the aim is to reveal to people their true life and career direction, then any improvement is welcome.  The motivating aspect of our work, as I?m sure it is with other career counselors, is seeing the excitement and enthusiasm gained from career counseling.  My privilege is seeing this excitement and enthusiasm being shared also with Maori families and their communities.  This is the driver for us and the reason we do what we do at WCL, our catch phrase explains it perfectly??Maximizing Potential Our Business?.  The process of identifying, realizing and developing your potential, that alone is exciting in itself.

As my father would say in his extremely detailed, philosophical way as only a true Tui drinking, fruit picking, forklift driving, 12 hour a day, 6-7 day a week working man would say?Beauty!!!