Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 8, 1 August 1988 — Waiaha's Goal is to Draw Upon a Kulike [ARTICLE]

Waiaha's Goal is to Draw Upon a Kulike

Workshop Tackles Hawaiian Leadership Development

By Deborah Lee Ward, Assistant Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA "We believe that the needs of the people of Hawaii ean be best achieved through an appreciation and application of Hawaiian values; that the ualues of Hawai'i must be preserued for eaeh generation; that eaeh generation must provide leaders who are willing to serve to help meet the needs and to help preserve the values of the people of Hawai'i. " The above is taken from the leadership creed of the Waiaha Foundation. What are Hawaiian values for leadership? Can they be used to develop leaders in a Hawaiian mode today? And what role ean Hawaiian leaders play in preserving the unique cultural values of Hawaii? These were some of the questions raised in the course of a Hawaiian leadership development workshop sponsored by the Waiaha Foundation in June. The Foundation is a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to the affirmation of Hawaiian values, as raised in the seminal book Ku Kanaka Stand Tall: A Search for Hawaiian Values, by Dr. George Sanford Hu'eu Kanahele. At the recent preview workshop led by David Heaukulani, a Waiaha director, a small group of interested persons from different Hawaiian organizations and public agencies participated in the day-long discussion at Roosevelt High School. Heaukulani is Assistant Chief of Poliee, Honolulu Poliee Department, Special Field Operations Bureau. He has taught the leadership segment ofa management course at Chaminade University. Heaukulani and Kanahele, also a Waiaha director are working to refine and test their model of a two-part workshop that will examine traditional Hawaiian leadership concepts and apply them to a training program. While the program is oriented to Hawaiian values, they say, "It is not designed to be elitist or exclusively for Hawaiians. It is intended to be shared with all who appreciate the values of the people of Hawaii . . . it is our belief that other cultures may be able to adopt and share variations of the Hawaiian value system." Nevertheless, Hawaiians may stand to gain the most from a leadership training style that builds on our own culture. Heaukulani asserts, "Leadership is needed — not only for society in general, but for Hawaiians in particular . . . to ensure that (their)

identity, or culture, is preserved . . . In their zeal to assimilate into the American culture, the Hawaiians have nearly lost their homeogeneity as a people . . . There is no Hawaiian imperative or general agenda that is clearly articulated . . . Hawaiians continue to experience what appear to be obstacles toward a group concensus." However, he continues, "The situation in Hawaii is not irreversible. Leadership in terms of group action ean make the difference." Being positioned to make a difference is "Ke Kula Alaka'ina o Waiaha," the Leadership School of Waiaha, whieh Kanahele and Heaukulani envision as a training resource for community groups, schools, businesses and institutions. Future testing of their theories is planned with other workshop groups. While Heaukulani and Kanahele say it is still in an experimental stage, the process to date represents hundreds of hours of work. They are putting the insights of "Ku Kanaka" together with brainstorming ideas from seminars and conferences. These include the foundation's 1987 conference on Hawaiian values, and last year's Hawaiian Leadership Development conference at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, a plaee Kanahele calls "a critical mass of Hawaiian leadership development". The school's goal is "to draw upon a kulike, or synthesis of Hawaiian and western values, to promote Hawaiian leadership values, to present dimensions of Hawaiian leadership, and to assist individuals in recognizing and developing their leadership ability." "Ku Kanaka" defines traditional Hawaiian leadership as deriving from mana, pono, expertise, aloha and loyalty. In addition, Kanahele says Hawaiian leaders display optimum levels of these exemplary qualities: "malama (caring), ha'aha'a (humility), kupono (integrity), na'auao (intelligence), koa (courage), ho'okuku (competitiveness), lokomaika'i (generosity), ho'okipa (hospitality), aloha (in terms of spirituality), and 'olu'olu (courtesy). Can these values be learned? Heaukulani explains that while cultural values are not inherent, certain abilities ean be learned through self-exam-ination and personal growth as well as through cultural upbringing. The Waiaha model takes the view that leadership is an art or skill that ean be

applied and developed to a high level by anyone who appreciates Hawaiian values. This differs from other current theories whieh say leaders are born, or whieh view leadership as an automatic right of position. The Waiaha group defines a Hawaiian leader as "any person who has the ability (mana), and uses that ability to obtain cooperation (laulima) from others with a reciprocal obligation of responsibility (pana'i) for a unified purpose (lokahi)." To understand leadership among ka po'e kahiko, Heaukulani and other Waiaha leaders studied legends, historical reports and oral literature. Yet they did not aim to reconstruct a 100 percent accurate ancient leadership model, since cultural reproduction ean never be totally aeeurate when so mueh has already been lost. In the same way that the Hokule'a voyaging eanoe combined modern fiberglass construction with traditional Polynesian design, and that artist Rocky Jensen uses modern tools to recapture the ancient traditions of Hawaiian art, the Waiaha leadership model is a synthesis of "the best of the past with the needs of the present . . . distinctly Hawaiian in nature, but applicable to the eontemporary setting." Eaeh case illustrates the Hawaiian belief in "imua," or progress. Synthesis of values does not invalidate Hawaiian achievements, says Heaukulani. The test of the Waiaha model will be whether modern Hawaiians ean use it to meet their needs and be successful as Hawaiians. They believe that using these tools, Hawaiians today ean bring about a powerful, positive change in Hawaiian society. Heaukulani presents this challenge, "We expect all Hawaiians to develop their individual ability for leadership potential and to apply leadership in accordance with the set of values that is part of the Hawaiian heritage, (whieh is) unique in the United States. "Japan was able to recover from devastation because the people could reach deep down into their reservoir of cultural values. If in the past, ancient Hawaiians could form four kingdoms with a sophisticated hierarchy of leadership, then the present and future complement of leaders have no excuse for not developing their ability and potential given the present technology and knowledge. The challenge is there; the need is there . . . It is time to take that challenge."