GRADUANDS’ SPEECH
Aimee Bourke, Otene Hopa and Andreas Åström
on behalf of the Class of 2020, The NZ Leadership Programme
Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu, it is with feathers a bird is able to take flight.
Leadership is not a defined skill that you learn, a title or a position. It’s a lifelong journey of self-discovery, a quest into the unknown - synonymous with finding out who you really are.
From Northland to Canterbury, 35 leaders came together in Auckland for Retreat One of The NZ Leadership Programme and the start of our year with Leadership NZ.
We set out to develop our leadership styles and perspectives, challenge ourselves to effect positive societal change, and look introspectively to discover greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
After just one retreat, COVID-19 hit. And we were confronted with circumstances never before experienced. We learnt, alongside this nation, to work where we live, exist online and lead from afar. We became schoolteachers to our children, counsellors to those left jobless, experts in viruses and of course social distancing.
We longed for physical contact and we grappled with fostering our mental health and wellbeing - all while doing our jobs and trying our best to maintain ‘normality’ in lockdown.
These were times of uncertainty when people wanted to wake up to a COVID-19-free world. Many felt acute pressure, and that we were hugging trees and meditating while the ‘house was on fire.’
Inevitably, there was contemplation around ending the Programme. The Leadership NZ team had other plans though. They made a strong commitment to continue and support us though the Programme.
Facilitated by Louise, flanked by Nicola and Donna (with nimble logistics from Petrina), we opened our minds, reimagined, replanned and restarted as a supportive online community, au fait with Zoom.
We also received collective support from Leadership NZ Alumni, particularly the frontline workers.
Through remote learning, we cultivated the art of listening, holding space, being vulnerable and intimate with personal connection.
We also explored issues of world and local significance – from food security to the Treaty of Waitangi.
White privilege was a standout. Particularly as this was at the very time ‘Black Lives Matter’ formed a political and social movement worldwide. Highlighting the contrasting extremes of our own backgrounds shone an uncomfortable light on our differences, our unconscious bias and where our responsibilities as leaders lie.
At the same time, the vulnerability of sharing the raw details of our life stories levelled us as one, creating deep connections and strong bonds.
Through our duos, trios and syndicates we fostered personal growth, had confronting conversations, challenged conventional thinking and leaned into a Programme not envisaged twelve months earlier.
Louise taught us about our essential and regressive selves, and how to tell our Super Ego to F#$& Off. Through her design thinking methodologies and tools for increasing resilience under stress, she coached (or coaxed) us to develop broader insights, confidence and self-awareness.
When we finally escaped the fatigued confines of lockdown, there was palpable joy in coming together in Wellington. Like online dating – it’s even better in person.
Leaving the confines of our homes meant we could put the burden of duty behind and be present, open minded – and, of course, anxious for what the Leadership NZ team would put us through. We explored our childhoods, our singing voices and strong personality traits – though Nicola had a talent for making them all sound positive!
We came together to learn about our essential selves, our ventral vagal, and what makes us, and others, tick.
Hit by another period of lockdown, we cancelled the Christchurch Retreat, but bounced back when afforded the privilege to spend time in Raglan and Waiheke.
These semi-rural environments provided the perfect backdrops for us to connect with nature and our origins of being - water, earth, air and fire. Our left-brain thinking was accommodated with facts and figures. Which expertly led our right brains to understand the concept that humans and nature are one.
We explored the overwhelming topic of environmental solutions and debated the needs of our world from different ecological perspectives.
More importantly, we stood back and took time to distil and identify what, for us, are the broad issues we currently face - food security, social justice, colonialism, cultural identity and the destruction of our environment.
We have worked together as a group to identify specific changes required in the coming decades, and how we can step up to address the pressing needs New Zealand faces.
At the end of every retreat we were left with processing. Though always self-reflection – it ranged from what triggers behaviours (and how we could better ourselves) to how we can improve our leadership or lower our voices to be taken more seriously.
We used a myriad of mediums to facilitate growth and inspiration - art, poetry, debating, a kava ceremony, improv theatre, storytelling, voice training and hugging pillows. We learnt that we are all inherently people pleasers who feel we have never quite achieved enough – but that’s ok – because it’s normal and it’s what continually drives us to self-improvement.
Through all of this, we learnt to become authentic leaders with resiliency, creativity and diversity of thought.
With COVID-19, we also learnt that 2020 is not a year that can be compared to any other gone before.
2020 was the year we personally invested in becoming great leaders, for the world that is coming, and despite the world that is.
Ko te pae tawhiti whāia kia tata, ko te pae tata whakamaua kia tīna!
💡 Are you a mid-level, senior executive or community leader in a New Zealand organisation who cares for the future of our nation? Do you know someone who is?
APPLY NOW for our 2021 Programmes!
THE NZ LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME
https://www.leadershipnz.co.nz/nz-leadership-programme-applications-faqs
THE MANA MOANA EXPERIENCE
https://www.leadershipnz.co.nz/mana-moana-applications-faqs