Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 3, 1 March 2017 — Pono Leadership [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pono Leadership

want to start by thanking the board of trustees for electing our

new leadership. I look forward to serving as Vice-Chair again and will work closely with Chair Machado and all of the trustees to ensure we help OHA reach our potential as an organization. We've been hearing a great deal about pono leadership here at OHA over the last eouple of months, so I wanted to take this opportunity to share a bit about what pono leader-

ship means to me. First, I have observed that leading any Native Hawaiian organization is a unique leadership role. Our eommunity has dealt with wrong-doing and broken promises from our state and federal government for a very long time and unfortunately that often overshadows the good work. As a result, the first thing any leader has to do is not only gain trust, but overcome the trust barriers that already exist. Here at OHA, we have even greater trust barriers than most other organizations because of our status as a State agency. There are large groups of people in our community who have no trust in the State and in turn, no trust in us. I accept that as reality, but I believe we ean overeome some of those barriers. In order to gain trust, we must be excellent listeners. This means listening with purpose and an objective to find a way to include as many voices as we ean. When I listen to

people, I often hear concerns and I ask for ideas to resolve those eon-

cems. I also listen with an understanding that people naturally need opportunities to vent, so being angry is okay, as long as the discussion ean eventually be solution-based. These types of discussions are often where the best ideas are borne, but it all starts with listening. Effective leadership is crafting solutions and/ or ideas and making them happen. So I eonsider Pono leadership as

doing the same thing, but making it as inclusive and balanced as possible. Pono leadership is taking key Hawaiian values centered on accomplishment, such as limahana (collective work) and ma ka hana ka 'ike (learn in doing), and building a framework that not only allows people to work and participate, but also empowers them with the skills and knowledge that will ensure they too will be able to solve problems or make an idea a reality in the future. For OHA to reach its potential, I believe this is the leadership style we must embrace at all levels, both internally and with our community. The focus needs to be on listening and inclusivity. I believe this is the direction we are now going and I am hopeful that in my current role as Vice-Chair, I ean help facilitate mueh of the necessary discussions to get OHA to a plaee where we have the trust of our community and ean move forward. ■

Dan Ahuna VicE Chair, TrustEE, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau