Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 10, 1 October 2015 — Maximizing the Mission through Motivation [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Maximizing the Mission through Motivation

As ourWarrior brother, Ku Ching, describes it, "I think I see some incrementaī changes in

certain individual trustees and some evolution overall ... into OHA getting more interested and playing a more active role 011 Mauna Kea i.ssues." Keep the Faith! As I write this article, it is late September and the Board of Trustees has just approved the Ad Hoe Committee of Mauna Kea and the Ad Hoe Committee on Eeonomie Innovations. Our caring and kind Chair Robert

Lindsey has appointed me as Chair of the Ad Hoe Eeonomie Innovations Committee and as Chair, my committee and I intend to maximize our trust funds. Our "mission" and purpose will be to provide funds and to grow them in perpetuity so our generations to eome will not go without. Our members will spend time in deliberation, intentional listening, and making decisions that will move OHA forward in its overall mission of carrying out our fiduciary duties. Choices ean be driven from the inside, or from the outside. The impetus to action ean arise extrinsically, from sources outside of an individual, to gain a reward or avoid a punishment. Or, it ean arise from within (intrinsically), related to (a) authentic needs or as (b) reaction to imposed control. An attempt to impose control may work for a time, but later backfire when the reward or punishment is no longer supplied. Edward Deci, a humanistic psychologist whose work is quoted in Kohn, makes a

strong case that self-determination trumps control when teachers, parents or managers

are trying to promote responsible decision-making. The most authentic power driving choices, he believes, arises when you understand your needs and act in ways that serve those needs. Find details in his book "Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation (Penguin Books, 1996) As a former teacher, I want to share with you what I would tell my students: Some of you will find my class materials and topics

more difficult than others. Indeed, some of you will struggle. Butknow this: it is myjob to support your struggle; and every one of you will exit my class more knowledgeable about the content, better able to navigate it, and a more competent navigator of academics in general, than when you first walked in that door. And I leave you with one of my favorites: "Hardly anything important happens that doesn't have to do with relationships. It's getting to know people, being interested in them. Life is built on genuine relationships, where trust and integrity are without question. When that is there, there are no limits!" — G.T. Buck, president of Davis and Elkins College, on the roots of motivation (the lead article in online Chronicle of Higher Education, 11-17-09 A hui hou, Trustee Lei ■

j LEO 'ELELE ^ > TRUSTEE MESSSAGES f

Leina'ala Ahu lsa, Ph.D. TrustEE, At-largE

At left, Trustee Lei Ahu lsa and former trustee Clarence Ku Ching on Mauna Kea. Above, Lanakila Mangauil and Ching at the Hawai'i lsland meetings. - Photos courtesy īrustee LeiAhu lsa