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Te Aro Pū Strategic Advice and Practical Workshops
Te Aro Pū Strategic Advice and Practical Workshops
We help executives, decision-makers and organisations build trust with Māori, make better decisions, and deliver outcomes that work for everyone. Our services include Strategy and Critical Analysis, Community Engagement, Executive and Administration Support.
You asked, so we’re doing it. Our cultural wānanga or workshops are now available for everyone. Whether you’re starting your journey with Māori culture, wanting to engage more effectively, or developing specialist skills, there’s a workshop for you. Our aim is to make these affordable, relevant and practical, giving you real-world knowledge you can apply immediately.
We will also host guest facilitators and speakers, so sign up to our newsletter to stay in the loop.
Come Join Us
Come Join Us
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Strategic Advice
Strategic Advice
Rational, informed, and achieving meaningful outcomes
Community Engagement
Community Engagement
Honest, inclusive, and adapted to your communities
Executive Support
Executive Support
Calm, rationale, developing pathways to success
Wānanga Workshops
Wānanga Workshops
Real people, real kōrero, real‑world skills you can apply immediately
Our Point of Difference
Our Point of Difference
Tailored, not templated. Our wānanga are designed around what’s happening, what people want to know, and are purposefully capped at twenty participants. This creates genuine connection and helps everyone feel safe to kōrero.
Whānau-focused and practical, each workshop is designed to give you skills you can use straight away in the real world.
Services That Move the Dial
Services That Move the Dial
Strategic Advice & Critical Analysis
Strategic Advice & Critical Analysis
Real‑world strategy for values‑driven organisations and leaders. We help you make clear decisions, avoid risk, and aim purposefully, with kaupapa Māori embedded where it adds strength. Expect candid conversations, workable plans, and measurable outcomes.
Good for: Boards, Executives, Project Leaders facing Complexity or Change.
Outcomes: Clarity, Prioritisation, Risk Reduction, Strategic Planning, Cultural Intergration, Culture-Aligned Actions.
Community Engagement
Community Engagement
Proven, award winning engagement that earns trust and achieves goals. We review, plan or design engagement models to fit your community, sector and goals, making sure they’re grounded in Pono (honesty), Tika (accuracy) and Aroha (compassion).
Good for: Local Government, Māori Partnerships, Complex Projects or Policy.
Outcomes: Clear Engagement Pathways, Repeatable Practice, Stronger more Meaningful Relationships.
Executive Support
Executive Support
Your quiet “phone‑a‑friend” in the pressure cooker. From cross‑cultural politics to crisis calls, we help leaders see risks and opportunities early and act with integrity. We won’t tell you what you want to hear — we’ll tell you what you need to know.
Good for: Chairs, Chief Executives, GMs, High Performing Teams, Elected Officials and Emerging Leaders.
Outcomes: Better Decisions, Protected Reputation, Steady Execution.
Administration Support
Administration Support
Experienced, bilingual‑capable (Te Reo Māori) administrative support, available to assist you with your finance, meetings/minutes (remote or in‑person), and document upgrades (turn plain Word files into sharp executive docs). Fast, accurate, and shaped to your tools.
Good for: Schools, Trusts, Charities, Local Government, and Projects that need clean systems.
Outcomes: Time Saved, Tidy records, Professional Outputs.
Wānanga Mai - Practical Learning, Real Talk
Wānanga Mai - Practical Learning, Real Talk
Wānanga Mai - real skills for the real world
Wānanga Mai - real skills for the real world
These aren’t cookie-cutter courses. Our wānanga workshops are designed around what participants want to know, and what’s happening in Aotearoa right now. They’re real, relevant, and made to share culture and knowledge so we can all thrive together.
Whether you’re just starting your journey with Māori culture or looking to build specialist skills, there’s a wānanga for every level of experience. Run by qualified and experienced facilitators, each session is purposefully capped at 20 participants to allow meaningful connection and open discussion.
From time to time we also bring in guest speakers and facilitators to share their expertise, so stay connected to hear about what’s coming next.
CultureLINKS
CultureLINKS
Our foundation course, you’ll leave with the understanding and confidence to engage, ask questions, and participate in te ao Māori with respect and ease. We focus on real‑world scenarios and everyday practice so you can show up better at work, in the community, and with whānau.
You’ll learn:
Core Te Ao Maori concepts explained in plain language using real world examples.
How to participate in situations with confidence and respect.
Practical “what would you do if…?” scenarios you’ll meet in real life.
Who is it for? Anyone wanting to boost day‑to‑day cultural confidence, from those new to the country or workforce, through to Executives wanting to better understand the culture.
Format: Held on one of the many beautiful Marae around Tauranga, the Wānanga runs from 8:30am–3:30pm. Includes materials, refreshments and lunch.
Investment: $499.00 Introductory Offer for a limited time $350.00 + GST (+ booking fees if applicable). Code automatically applied at cart.
Numbers are limited to twenty, so booking is essential. If you would like to book for a group, get in touch with our Operations Lead to discuss.
CultureFITS Toolkit
CultureFITS Toolkit
A wānanga workshop developing a deeper understanding of Te Ao Māori values and how to meaningfully apply them in both your professional and personal life. Whether your organisation already works with Te Ao Māori values or is looking to develop them, this wānanga workshop will enhance your understanding and help you identify the values that resonate most for you or your organisation. From there, we map out how to live those values in real-world contexts.
This wānanga is about integrity - not just knowing, but living it.
You’ll learn:
An enhanced understanding of te ao Māori values, beliefs, and behaviors.
How to move beyond generic definitions of concepts like manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, tikanga, and kaitiakitanga, applying them authentically and meaningfully.
How to build a personalised set of cultural competencies that reflect you and/or your organisations own values, responsibilities, and leadership role.
A structured approach to implementing, growing, supporting, and maintaining those competencies over time.
A guided process to map your cultural journey: identifying barriers, milestones, and how to evaluate progress and hold yourself accountable.
How to integrate Māori values into governance, leadership, and decision-making in a way that strengthens both integrity and outcomes.
Real-world case studies of organisations and leaders applying cultural competency successfully.
How to bring others along on the journey - modelling cultural competency in a way that influences your teams and communities.
Who is it for? Individuals and leaders who want genuine cultural competency at home, at work, and when no one’s watching. Well-suited to those who already have some cultural confidence looking for practical ways to embed it.
Who is it not for? Those who are looking for some templated values they can copy/paste.
Format: Small groups (up to 20) run from 9:30am–3:30pm by experienced facilitators. Includes materials, refreshments and lunch.
Investment: $999.00 Introductory Offer for a limited time $850.00 + GST (+ booking fees if applicable) Code automatically applied at cart.
Numbers are limited to twenty, so booking is essential. If you would like to book for a group, get in touch with our Operations Lead to discuss.
Māori Engagement Masterclass
Māori Engagement Masterclass
Our most advanced wānanga workshop, this is a practical, systematic approach to Māori engagement that lifts authenticity and outcomes. Based on decades of real world experience, you will learn our tried, tested, perfected skills and tools across multiple sectors and recognised with national awards. This course is about embedding best practice — from reading the room to resolving impasses, and from planning to evaluation.
You’ll learn:
A repeatable process for Māori engagement that can be embedded into your practice.
How to assess past, current, and future engagement performance with candour and clarity.
How to facilitate safe discussions on awkward or high-stakes issues.
Tools for proactively addressing conflict, compromise, and impasse to reach solution-focused outcomes.
Skills in “reading the room” across cultures and adjusting your approach respectfully.
Case studies of proven engagement processes that delivered enhanced outcomes even under pressure.
How to bring authenticity into engagement so it avoids tokenism and builds long-term trust.
Who is it for? Current and future practitioners of Māori engagement, governors, executives, senior leaders, project managers, and tangata whenua who want a proven process to communicate needs and solutions with agencies.
Format: Small groups (up to 20) run from 9:30am–3:30pm by experienced Māori facilitators. Includes materials, refreshments and lunch.
Investment: $1,499.00 Introductory Offer for a limited time $1,150.00 + GST (+ booking fees if applicable) Code automatically applied at cart.
Numbers are limited to twenty, so booking is essential. If you would like to book for a group, get in touch with our Operations Lead to discuss.
About Us
About Us
Who Are We? Mai Mauao ki Karioi, mai ngā tai whanake o Tauranga tae atu ki ngā tai o te hauauru ki Whaingaroa, ko tētahi whānau hūmārie e tuku atu i ngā mihi kauana ki a kōtou.
Introducing Carlo, Chrissie and Te Puawai, a small family offering up our extensive suite of skills and experience to bring people and communities together in every way we can.
Carlo holds an LLB from Waikato and brings 30 years of practical leadership and management experience extending across Māori entities, corporate and executive positions and into governance and management throughout many industries. You can expect Carlo to lead you through bold conversations and practical proven solutions. He's been known to find a few fish and support any sporting teams in black!
Chrissie is the workhorse of the whānau bringing 20+ years of administration, logistics and procedural experience into the fold. Having worked in education, finance, vocational placement and other industries, with both Māori and non-Māori entities, she brings a wide lens to any mahi. You can expect Chrissie to bring a strong focus on attention to detail, comprehensive process management and a guiding hand of support. Chrissie has a green thumb when she has the opportunity and recharges with her whānau at Motakotako.
Te Puawai is our voice of the future, our insight into intergenerational needs and the inspiration behind our mahi. We strive to create a better future for her and her generation and we love that she gets to be part of shaping that up. As a fluent te reo speaker brought up in and around the marae environment, she brings a modern perspective on Te Ao Māori that helps us shape support services that bring Kiwis together. A world traveller, a passionate kapahaka performer, an expert matcha devourer and part time pipi picker, Te Puawai is still finding her sweet spots in life, and thats how we like it!
How We Work Te Aro Pū is a trusted hub, guiding innovative service development that brings us all together. As such we hear from clients about the issues they face, design authentic solutions and then call upon a network of trusted advisors and practitioners to deliver outcomes. We are avid referrers where we can connect people to great service providers, and we are candid when a desired outcome needs a new or enhanced solution. Mā te kōrero, ka mārama, mā te mārama, ka tipu ake ai.
Why choose Te Aro Pū? There are three main reasons you would utilise Te Aro Pū
We build bridges that bring people and communities together - long ignored and overdue
Straight talk for real solutions - no more expensive consultants pandering to same old same old
Access to unseen networks and solutions - we dont know what we dont know
Check out our services to find out more, hopefully there’s enough character for you to see it’s not all AI 😉
Get in Touch
Get in Touch
Join Wānanga Mai — Real-World Updates
Join Wānanga Mai — Real-World Updates
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