GOVERNANCE AROMATAWAI DASHBOARD [EXAMPLE]
Ngāti Tauira Trust
Prepared by Te Whare Hukahuka – May 2026
-
Tēnā koe. Nau mai haere mai ki te mata o te Aromatawai.
He papa tirohanga tēnei e whakarāpopoto ana i ngā kitenga me ngā taunaki kua kohia mai i ngā kōrero me te poari, hei whakapai ake i ngā ahuatanga huhua o ngā mahi a te poari.
Welcome to this Governance Aromatawai dashboard example.
Below you will see the components of the dashboard and how we present it to make it easy for a board to see how its governance is doing, the critical areas to work on and the top recommendations for the upcoming seasons.
-
The three main actions to take in when viewing this dashboard are:
1️⃣ Scroll down through the sections of the dashboard
2️⃣ Expand each section to dive deeper into the detail – by clicking the ▼ buttons.
3️⃣ Zoom the text size in or out by going to your browser settings and changing the text or Zoom size.
Shay Wright
Te Rarawa, Te Māhurehure (Ngāpuhi), Ngāruahine
Pou Tokomanawa | Facilitator & Executive Director, Te Whare Hukahuka
shay@twh.co.nz +64 27 523 1560
This Governance Aromatawai dashboard sets out:
SUMMARY
Snapshot of your governance
RECOMMENDATIONS
Our top ten recommendations
DEEP DIVE
Unpacking each dimension
DOCUMENT REVIEW
Checklist & full review of five docs
Te Āhua o te Whare | Visual Snapshot
Our Whare Tupuna are alive with meaning and mātauranga. The Whare Tupuna governance framework looks at your governance across eight dimensions of Mana – reflecting that governance is more than oversight and compliance – it stewards the mana of the kaupapa and the organisation.
The eight dimensions of the Whare Tupuna are set out below. Each is colour coded to its overall assessment rating. Click on each dimension to see more information about it.
Te Tukanga Aromatawai | The Assessment Process
This Aromatawai is a kaupapa-Māori governance assessment that clarifies for your board what is working, what is not, and what to do next to elevate the mana and effectiveness of your board.
It draws on hundreds of data points and perspectives – assessing not just your governance structures and processes, but also the relationships, the leadership dynamics, cultural integration and lived experience of your board members.
We hope this visual dashboard helps your board to easily navigate these key messages to strengthen your governance.
Te Tirohanga Whānui | Governance Snapshot
Your board is building strongly – and the structure is almost ready to catch up to the mahi.
- Kaupapa commitment is universal and genuinely held across the board
- Organisational credibility has lifted measurably in recent reporting
- Board pack quality is substantially stronger than 12 months ago
- Financial oversight and reporting is a real strength
- A direct, robust discussion culture is present, supported by IOD directorship training
- The board has named most of its own gaps during this aromatawai – the self-awareness is already in the room
- Role clarity across Chair, Manager delegations, and Board Secretary needs a coordinated refresh
- Financial sustainability and income diversification carry real strategic risk that warrants board-level attention
- Kaupapa frameworks (Tika-Pono-Aroha, kaumātua function) are present but thinly operationalised
- No KPI framework or governance dashboard – the single largest governance gap
- Marae and iwi member voice does not yet reach the board through any structural mechanism
- The Manager-board accountability approach needs to be redesigned – rather than relationship repair
- Succession and wider-board composition is an open question without a current plan
Kupu Tohutohu | Top Ten Recommendations
Click any recommendation below to expand the full detail. We have also noted the governance dimension that it relates to.
Restore Manager presence in the full board meeting. The current pattern – Manager attending only briefly – produces a
Repeated signals across the engagement that the board has its own independent conversations once the Manager leaves the room, and that both sides feel they are missing each other's perspective. The board's cohesion as a group is genuinely strong (Pou Tokomanawa is green); this is about extending that cohesion to include the Manager at the right moments rather than fixing how the board functions internally.
- Default to Manager attending the full board meeting, with a clearly agreed handful of in-camera moments where the Manager is excused.
- Agree explicit principles for which agenda items always include the Manager (strategy, accountability, kaupapa, anything the Manager is materially accountable for).
- Build a brief board-only kōrero into the agenda structure if needed – bookended cleanly so it does not become the de facto main meeting.
- Pair this with an explicit Chair–Manager 1-on-1 cadence outside meetings so the relational layer has its own process.
- The dynamic neither side wants keeps reproducing itself.
- The board's strategic conversation continues to be informed by partial Manager context.
- The Manager continues to receive board outcomes second-hand, weakening alignment between governance decisions and operational delivery.
Resolve the structural ambiguity around the Board Secretary role. A formal position description, a clear reporting line, and an agreed process for filling the role would lift the role from contested-and-implied to defined-and-accountable.
Across the document reviews and interviews the Board Secretary role was repeatedly flagged as under-specified – the manual references the role only briefly, the reporting line is unclear (independent of the Manager? sitting under the Manager?), and there is no agreed recruitment process. Several trustees raised differing models during this engagement.
- Draft a formal Board Secretary position description covering meeting support, minute-taking, compliance filings, records management, and trustee induction support.
- Resolve the reporting line – agree whether the role reports independently to the board, sits under the Manager, or operates as a hybrid.
- Decide whether a formal recruitment process is needed (open advertisement, position re-tendered) or whether the role is filled by appointment from the existing pool.
- Update the Governance Manual to reflect the agreed shape of the role.
- The role stays structurally ambiguous; the next dispute over its scope or accountabilities has no strucural strength to lean on.
- Compliance and records discipline depends on an under-specified role, which is a quiet operational risk.
- Wider-board induction quality varies depending on who is currently holding the role.
Build out a Maramataka / Annual Calendar that maps the key governance milestones across the year – strategy review, AGM, audit cycle, KPI review checkpoints, kaupapa moments. Gives the board a single shared rhythm to plan against and reduces the year-end scramble.
A maramataka has been begun (a real strength) but is not yet fully populated. Survey signal: an Annual Calendar was the most-named governance support that trustees said they were missing. Document reviews flagged the absence of a visible policy review schedule and the lack of a mapped year-of-governance rhythm.
- Map the full year of governance commitments – strategy, financial, audit, kaupapa milestones, statutory dates.
- Layer the policy review cycle into the maramataka (which policies refresh in which quarter).
- Surface the KPI dashboard refresh cadence (Rec
- Make the maramataka visible to the wider organisation, not just the board, so operational rhythms can sync to it.
- The board continues to react to milestones rather than plan against them.
- Policy review continues to be ad hoc.
- The KPI framework when built (Rec #1) has nowhere structural to land for refresh cadence.
Translate the kaupapa vision and strategic priorities into time-bound, owned, measurable goals. Close the gap between what the board agrees on (the kaupapa) and what the board is executing against (the strategy). Where Rec #1 is about building the measurement framework, Rec #6 is about building the plan that the framework is measuring.
Document reviews flagged multiple red items on SMART goals, accountability, monitoring, resourcing and sequencing. There appears to be a phased growth plan internal to the executive team that has not yet been formally adopted by the board.
- Translate the strategic priorities into SMART goals for the next 12 months.
- Add 5/10/20-year horizons to differentiate near-term execution from longer-term direction.
- Assign accountability and ownership per goal – board lead, Manager lead, or joint.
- Add a plan-on-a-page visual overview suitable for staff, whānau, marae, partners, and funders.
- Document the income-diversification logic explicitly, including the sequencing (credibility → tender profile → diversification).
- Make sure that there is Board and Manager agreement around the logic and sequencing of the plan as it is built.
- Strategy continues to be experienced as 'here and there' rather than sequenced.
- Kaupapa alignment continues to mask strategic drift.
- The phased growth logic stays in executive heads rather than being adopted by the board.
- Income diversification – a board-level outcome – stays structurally unsupported because the underlying plan is unwritten.
Establish a shared instrument between the board and the Manager for what success looks like, grounded in Tika-Pono-Aroha. A KPI framework unlocks accountability, dashboard adoption, and a more developmental performance-review cadence.
This was the strongest governance gap raised across the engagement. It came up independently in interviews, scored lowest on the survey item asking whether milestones are clear, and was flagged red across multiple document reviews on SMART goals, measurement, accountability and monitoring.
- Translate the strategic priorities into SMART measures across categories such as cultural, clinical, financial, operational, and stakeholder outcomes.
- Use Tika-Pono-Aroha as a weighting frame so the dashboard carries the kaupapa lens, not just operational data.
- Visualise as a traffic-light governance dashboard refreshed monthly, with a one-line narrative under each indicator.
- Identify the specific indicators and whether information can come from existing systems (e.g. social contract data, Xero outputs, management reporting) or requires new data collection.
- The board has no instrument to hold the Manager accountable other than narrative.
- The strategic plan remains aspirational without translation into operational reality.
- Performance review continues to be experienced as containment rather than development.
- The Manager is asked for measures the board has not been clear on – the relationship strains both ways.
Move the board from personal-discipline-based governance to architecture-based governance – written roles, written delegations, written succession. This brings clarity to who is authorised to decide what, on whose behalf.
There were five amber or red items noted in the Governance Manual and Trust Deed reviews that all concern authority and delegation. This was also raised in the surveys and interviews as an issue. Worth resolving as one coordinated workstream rather than five separate policy edits.
- Consolidate the Chairperson position description into a single section.
- Establish a Chairperson delegated-authorities schedule covering urgent decisions, media, and between-meeting authority.
- Establish a Manager delegation schedule with spending and contract thresholds and what must come back to the board.
- Define the Board Secretary position description and resolve the reporting line.
- Establish a board skills gap matrix to guide composition and wider-board succession.
- The Chair operates without a formal mandate for urgent decisions or media response.
- Manager delegations stay implied, which keeps accountability narrative-based rather than threshold-based.
- The Board Secretary role stays contested and structurally ambiguous.
- Wider-board recruitment stays guesswork without a skills matrix.
- Chair succession stays unplanned – a single-point-of-failure risk.
Strengthen the structural design of the Manager-board relationship so the approach supports accountability and development rather than producing avoidance dynamics on either side.
Several signals across the engagement suggest the current design is producing patterns neither side wants – a Manager performance review experienced as surveillance, a meeting structure that minimises the Manager's time in the room, and limited shared time on accountability and strategy. The kaupapa for the relationship is strong on both sides; the architecture for it appears under-built.
- Move Manager performance review from quarterly review to annual review supported by a quarterly data dashboard (Rec #1).
- Restore Manager presence in full board meetings, or at minimum in strategic and accountability items.
- Establish a monthly Chair-Manager 1-on-1 with a published agenda and recorded decisions.
- Surface and resolve the philosophical KPI mismatch (growth and MOUs vs outcomes and impact) within the KPI framework (Rec #1) so the dashboard lands as a negotiated artefact.
- The current pattern keeps looping. Each performance review reinforces the existing posture.
- The Manager's strengths remain insufficiently visible to the board because of limited structured time together.
- External relationship risk stays concentrated on the Manager because no architecture redistributes it (see Rec #8).
- The relationship continues to be experienced as stressed by both sides.
Move from no planned board composition to active succession planning. Address three specific structural gaps: no chair successor, no deputy chair, seventh seat unfilled. Open a rangatahi pipeline.
There is currently no chair successor, no deputy chair, and an unfilled seventh seat. The Governance Manual review confirms the skills matrix is absent and wider-board succession is absent. Personality composition signal: the board sits heavily on Thinking-Judging types and lacks Sensing-Feeling balance.
- Reinstate a deputy chair – lowest-friction, highest-impact move.
- Run a skills gap assessment (from Rec #2) and recruit the seventh seat against identified gaps.
- Hold a tikanga-led conversation about long-tenured trustee rotation – honouring service while securing whakapapa continuity.
- Commit to a rangatahi pipeline (e.g. via Ka Eke Poutama).
- Privilege Sensing-Feeling profiles (ISFJ / INFJ / ESFJ) in candidate selection to balance the existing board composition.
- Chair succession unplanned remains a single-point-of-failure risk.
- The seventh seat sits empty; board capacity stays at 6 of 7.
- Composition stays thin on Sensing-Feeling profiles – limited relational-nuance and maintenance-focused voices.
- The rangatahi pipeline opportunity is missed or delayed.
Shift institutional partnership-holding from sole-Manager to board-led where appropriate – marae, hapū, other iwi, Council, Governance agencies, at governance level, data infrastructure partners. Both sides agree the board should lead at governance level while the Manager manages at operations level; this rec makes the agreement operational.
Mahau was the lowest-scoring dimension on the survey, and partnerships scored low within it. Document reviews flagged engagement with affiliated groups as amber. Marae and iwi relationships are newly contractually required and not yet in place.
- Stand up a marae relationship plan aligned to new contract expectations.
- Allocate specific board members as partnership leads, leveraging existing relationships as starting points.
- Design a board-dinner or formal-hui model for partnership development.
- Reconsider the partnerships KPI – to balance a focus on purely MOU count with actual relationship quality (linked to Rec #1).
- Marae obligation (newly contractual) remains unmet.
- Board-to-board partnerships stay underdeveloped.
- Partnership measurement continues to misfit, straining the Manager-board relationship.
- External relationship risk stays concentrated on the Manager.
Having a structural mechanism for marae and iwi members – the people the organisation exists to serve – to provide thinking directly to the board will mean the marae and iwi member voice is more directly present in strategic planning, rather than only being heard through staff.
Stakeholder involvement was the lowest scoring of all survey questions and this was reinforced in all five interviews. Document reviews cannot see this because the documents do not structurally include marae.
- Adopt a proposed marae rep forum – one representative per marae (supported-living house) coming together as a board sub-committee, alongside any iwi member board representative.
- Have a standing board agenda item: 'Feedback from the marae rep forum.'
- Have a formal strategic planning day (annual wānanga or equivalent) where marae voice directly feeds in.
- Consider piloting with two whare first before scaling.
- A misalignment between process and kaupapa intensifies. The organisation exists to serve marae and iwi members; they currently have limited structural voice in its governance.
- Strategic planning continues to be Manager-and-board only.
- Staff remain the main relational carrier of the marae connection – a concentrated relational risk that excludes the board.
Kupu Āwhina | Additional Recommendations
Additional recommendations from the engagement, sitting alongside the Top Ten. Click any card to expand the full detail.
Convert Tika-Pono-Aroha from a shared value-anchor into an operational decision rubric the board uses at the point of decision. Anchor a kaupapa Māori conceptual framework in the Strategic Plan so the kaupapa the board lives is visible in the kaupapa the organisation publishes.
Values are present and genuinely held; the architecture for living them in actual strategic and operational decisions appears thin. There are repeated signals that Tika-Pono-Aroha sits 'at the back of the mind' rather than functioning as an evaluation framework, and that tikanga practices in board settings (e.g. karakia) are time-compressed.
- Convert Tika-Pono-Aroha into an explicit decision rubric – each material decision scored against each component, with a weighting applied.
- Clarify the relationship between Tika-Pono-Aroha and underlying kaupapa frameworks (e.g. Te Whare Tapa Whā, Pōwhiri Kaupapa, Poutama) – which framework for which purpose.
- Restore tikanga integrity in board practice – karakia with time and intention, not tick-box; opening and closing mihi given their weight.
- Strengthen the kaupapa Māori conceptual framework anchor in Strategic Plan v2 (alongside Rec #6).
- Tika-Pono-Aroha remains a values-card rather than a decision tool. The board defaults to intuition under pressure.
- The KPI philosophy gap (Rec #3, Rec #1) has no kaupapa-level resolution frame.
- Tikanga practices in board settings drift further toward tokenism.
Restore a kaumātua / tikanga advisory function so the board has structural support for energetic centring of meetings, kaupapa framework counsel, and tikanga integrity oversight. Define the function, separated from the question of which person fills it.
The function has been absent for some time. Several trustees have signalled the absence, particularly around the energetic settling of board hui and the use of kaupapa frameworks. Survey partial signal via 'Values & tikanga' 3.75; 'Access to Trust documents' 3.50 (σ=1.20).
- Define the function of the kaumātua role, separated from the question of who will actually fill it. The function covers energetic centring of meetings, kaupapa framework counsel, tikanga integrity oversight, and whanaungatanga holding.
- Identify candidates by function fit, not by pre-existing relationship – widens the candidate pool.
- Agree structural placement – advisor, committee member, or board member. Each carries different implications for authority and time.
- Commit to a timeframe so the function does not stay absent through open-ended exploration.
- Tikanga integrity continues to compress at the board table.
- A single board member carries the kaupapa-bridge role alone – unsustainable and unfair.
- No structural resource is available for complex tikanga-led decisions.
- The board's shift from personal-discipline governance to architecture governance (Rec #2) stays kaupapa-thin.
Make the whānau-governance tikanga the board currently holds implicitly into explicit, written process arond this. Whānau-governance patterns are kaupapa-grounded and not inherently problematic – the absence of an explicit process for surfacing and managing them is the opportunity. Also establish tikanga-based dispute resolution in the Trust Deed.
Several whānau-governance patterns appear to be present, such as the trustee-Secretary whānau connection and the Keita-Bookkeeper whānau relationship. These relationships are kaupapa-grounded; the gap is that there does not appear to be an explicit process for managing the resulting conflicts of interest. Document reviews flag the Trust Deed red on tikanga-based dispute resolution and amber on substantial transactions thresholds. Frame this as making implicit tikanga explicit, not as a prosecution of whānau patterns.
- Add tikanga-based dispute resolution to the Trust Deed.
- Add explicit whānau-on-staff and whānau-on-board tikanga to the governance manual – how transparency is held, when step-asides are required.
- Publish and maintain a Conflict of Interest register with all dual-role relationships declared.
- Reset the Conflict of Interest protocol for the personnel committee – partial step-aside (out of specific decision) rather than total step-aside (out of whole committee).
- Implicit whānau patterns remain a reputational risk the board has no formal process to manage.
- A future dispute has no tikanga-based resolution process – defaulting to secular dispute norms.
- Unresolved conflict-of-interest patterns accumulate; each new instance adds weight to the existing ambiguity.
- The personnel committee functions weakly because the current protocol forces total chair step-aside.
Tūāpapa represent the foundations that guide your board's decisions and behaviour – including the kaupapa, values, tikanga, policies and core documents that anchor everything above. They are the load-bearing beliefs that remain over time and shape how your board operates into the future.
Reflects Mana Whenua – mana built from drawing on tūpuna-led guidance that serves the present and will outlast any one board to safeguard the future.
Kaupapa commitment is universal; the day-to-day ways of operating that kaupapa appear thin.
Recommendations to improve your Tūāpapa
Convert Tika-Pono-Aroha from a shared value-anchor into an operational decision rubric the board uses at the point of decision. Anchor a kaupapa Māori conceptual framework in the Strategic Plan so the kaupapa the board lives is visible in the kaupapa the organisation publishes.
Values are present and genuinely held; the architecture for operating them appears thin. There are repeated signals that Tika-Pono-Aroha sits 'at the back of the mind' rather than functioning as an evaluation framework, and that tikanga practices in board settings (e.g. karakia) are time-compressed.
- Convert Tika-Pono-Aroha into an explicit decision rubric – each material decision scored against each component, with a weighting applied.
- Clarify the relationship between Tika-Pono-Aroha and underlying kaupapa frameworks (e.g. Te Whare Tapa Whā, Pōwhiri Kaupapa, Poutama) – which framework for which purpose.
- Restore tikanga integrity in board practice – karakia with time and intention, not tick-box; opening and closing mihi given their weight.
- Strengthen the kaupapa Māori conceptual framework anchor in Strategic Plan v2 (alongside Rec #6).
- Tika-Pono-Aroha remains a values-card rather than a decision tool. The board defaults to intuition under pressure.
- The KPI philosophy gap (Rec #3, Rec #1) has no kaupapa-level resolution frame.
- Tikanga practices in board settings drift further toward tokenism.
Make the whānau-governance tikanga the board currently holds implicitly into explicit, written approach to guide this. Whānau-governance patterns are kaupapa-grounded and not inherently problematic – the absence of an explicit process for surfacing and managing them is the opportunity. Also establish tikanga-based dispute resolution in the Trust Deed.
Several whānau-governance patterns appear to be present, such as a trustee-Secretary whānau connection; and the Manager-Bookkeeper whānau relationship. These relationships are kaupapa-grounded; the gap is that there does not appear to be an explicit process for managing the resulting conflicts of interest. Document reviews flag the Trust Deed red on tikanga-based dispute resolution and amber on substantial transactions thresholds. Frame this as making implicit tikanga explicit, not as a prosecution of whānau patterns.
- Add tikanga-based dispute resolution to the Trust Deed.
- Add explicit whānau-on-staff and whānau-on-board tikanga to the governance manual – how transparency is held, when step-asides are required.
- Publish and maintain a Conflict of Interest register with all dual-role relationships declared.
- Reset the Conflict of Interest protocol for the personnel committee – partial step-aside (out of specific decision) rather than total step-aside (out of whole committee).
- Implicit whānau patterns remain a reputational risk the board has no formal approach to guide this.
- A future dispute has no tikanga-based resolution process – defaulting to secular dispute norms.
- Unresolved conflict-of-interest patterns accumulate; each new instance adds weight to the existing ambiguity.
- The personnel committee functions weakly because the current protocol forces total chair step-aside.
My reasoning on the close calls:
Conflicts of Interest – green (not amber): The deed has a clear and specific disclosure and abstention process. Clause 10.3 requires any Trustee with a direct or indirect interest in a matter to disclose the nature and extent of that interest, and to abstain from any deliberations on the matter. That’s a substantive COI mechanism, not just a general reference to managing conflicts.
The manual should include a standalone health and safety section – or a clear reference to a separate H&S policy – covering the board’s oversight obligations, reporting expectations, and how H&S risk is managed across the organisation. To get this started: a short section in the manual confirming who is responsible for H&S reporting to the board, how often, and what the board expects to see would give trustees clear visibility of this obligation.
The manual should include a dedicated Chairperson position description that brings together the responsibilities currently spread across multiple sections. It should also define what decisions the Chair can make without full board approval – for example, urgent operational matters, media responses, or expenditure up to a defined threshold. A practical first step: gather the Chair references from sections 8, 11, 12, 16, and 17 into a single “Chairperson – Position Description” section, then add 3–4 specific situations where the Chair can act independently, with any financial or scope limits.
The Board Secretary role is referenced but not described – a consolidated position description would make the role’s expectations clear. Separately, the Manager’s authority is described in general terms across the manual but would benefit from a delegation schedule setting out specific financial thresholds and decision-making limits. One way to begin: create a short Board Secretary terms of reference covering meeting support, minutes, and records. For the Manager, a one-page delegation schedule – listing spending authorities, contract limits, and what must come back to the board – would give both parties clarity.
The manual should expand its expense reimbursement provisions beyond the current general statement. Trustees would benefit from knowing specifically what out-of-pocket costs can be claimed, how claims are submitted, and who approves them. To get this started: add a short subsection under section 16 listing the types of expenses that can be claimed (e.g., travel, accommodation, parking), any limits, and the approval process.
The current succession provisions cover the Manager and Chair but not the wider board. A proactive approach to board succession – combined with a simple skills gap assessment – would help the Trust plan ahead for the skills and experience it needs in future trustees. One way to begin: at the next board meeting, ask each trustee to complete a short skills self-assessment. The Personnel Committee can review the aggregate to identify gaps and start a list of potential future candidates – even an informal one gives succession visibility. TWH can provide a template skills matrix to get this started.
The Tekoteko is the carved figurehead that represents the leadership at the peak of the whare. In governance, it includes having solid governance roles, collective responsibility, board composition and oversight of organisational functions. Rather than focusing on status and control, strong governance is about enabling those that you represent so they can thrive and keep your kaupapa alive.
Reflects Mana Tuku Iho – mana vested in the people who lead that compels us to act in ways that honour those before us, for the benefit of the collective.
The gap appears structural, not personal – and the board is already naming it.
Recommendations to improve your Tekoteko
Move the board from personal-discipline-based governance to architecture-based governance – written roles, written delegations, written succession. This brings clarity to who is authorised to decide what, on whose behalf.
There were five amber or red items noted in the Governance Manual and Trust Deed reviews that all concern authority and delegation. This was also raised in the surveys and interviews as an issue. Worth resolving as one coordinated workstream rather than five separate policy edits.
- Consolidate the Chairperson position description into a single section.
- Establish a Chairperson delegated-authorities schedule covering urgent decisions, media, and between-meeting authority.
- Establish a Manager delegation schedule with spending and contract thresholds and what must come back to the board.
- Define the Board Secretary position description and resolve the reporting line.
- Establish a board skills gap matrix to guide composition and wider-board succession.
- The Chair operates without a formal mandate for urgent decisions or media response.
- Manager delegations stay implied, which keeps accountability narrative-based rather than threshold-based.
- The Board Secretary role stays contested and structurally ambiguous.
- Wider-board recruitment stays guesswork without a skills matrix.
- Chair succession stays unplanned – a single-point-of-failure risk.
Resolve the structural ambiguity around the Board Secretary role. A formal position description, a clear reporting line, and an agreed process for filling the role would lift the role from contested-and-implied to defined-and-accountable.
Across the document reviews and interviews the Board Secretary role was repeatedly flagged as under-specified – the manual references the role only briefly, the reporting line is unclear (independent of the Manager? sitting under the Manager?), and there is no agreed recruitment process. Several trustees raised differing models during this engagement.
- Draft a formal Board Secretary position description covering meeting support, minute-taking, compliance filings, records management, and trustee induction support.
- Resolve the reporting line – agree whether the role reports independently to the board, sits under the Manager, or operates as a hybrid.
- Decide whether a formal recruitment process is needed (open advertisement, position re-tendered) or whether the role is filled by appointment from the existing pool.
- Update the Governance Manual to reflect the agreed shape of the role.
- The role stays structurally ambiguous; the next dispute over its scope or accountabilities has no formal process to lean on.
- Compliance and records discipline depends on an under-specified role, which is a quiet operational risk.
- Wider-board induction quality varies depending on who is currently holding the role.
The Pou Tokomanawa is the central support pillar of the whare – representing how well your board functions together as a collective. This includes how decisions are made, how disagreement is held, and how trust and cohesion is built and maintained.
Reflects Mana Tangata – recognising the inherent mana of individuals and the collective. This mana moves people and kaupapa forward, with each shared decision compounding to generate momentum.
A current strength to actively maintain; the Manager-board cohesion question lives in Tekoteko – that is the architecture work, not this dimension.
Recommendations to improve your Pou Tokomanawa
Restore Manager presence in the full board meeting. The current pattern – Manager attending only briefly – produces a Manager-board accountability dynamic neither side wants. Full presence builds shared context, reduces the need for downstream catch-up, and lets the board's strategic discussion stay informed by operational reality.
Repeated signals across the engagement that the board has its own independent conversations once the Manager leaves the room, and that both sides feel they are missing each other's perspective. The board's cohesion as a group is genuinely strong (Pou Tokomanawa is green); this is about extending that cohesion to include the Manager at the right moments rather than fixing how the board functions internally.
- Default to Manager attending the full board meeting, with a clearly agreed handful of in-camera moments where the Manager is excused.
- Agree explicit principles for which agenda items always include the Manager (strategy, accountability, kaupapa, anything the Manager is materially accountable for).
- Build a brief board-only kōrero into the agenda structure if needed – bookended cleanly so it does not become the de facto main meeting.
- Pair this with an explicit Chair–Manager 1-on-1 cadence outside meetings so the relational layer has its own architecture.
- The dynamic neither side wants keeps reproducing itself.
- The board's strategic conversation continues to be informed by partial Manager context.
- The Manager continues to receive board outcomes second-hand, weakening alignment between governance decisions and operational delivery.
Whaiaro | Personality Profiles
The personality data surfaces a coherent board: all eight respondents are T/J (Thinking / Judging) dominant, with five of the eight being strongly decision-oriented types (ENTJ, INTJ, ESTJ). This is a board built for directness and getting things done. Two members carry the Feeling-capable bridge (ENFJ and ENFP), holding most of the relational labour. The absence of Sensing-dominant types means the board is relatively light on detail-and-maintenance-focused voices.
Strengths of this cluster
- Strategic thinking
- Decisiveness
- Comfort with complexity
- Ability to hold uncomfortable conversations
Risks to navigate
- May prioritise efficiency over relational depth
- May assume others follow the same logic trail
- Tendency to dominate airtime when uncontested
Strengths of this cluster
- Relational attunement
- Values-driven framing
- Ability to read the room
Risks to navigate
- Being the only ones noticing when the group drifts into defensive formations
- Emotional labour distributed unequally
Overall insights: The board sits heavily on Thinking-Judging types (ENTJ × 3, INTJ × 2, ESTJ × 1) – six of eight respondents are in the decisive / structural / outcomes-driven cluster. The Chair (Rawiri, INTJ Architect) and Manager (Keita, ENTJ Commander) share the strategic / structural operating mode, which is intellectually generative but light on a relational bridge between them. Darlene (ENFJ Protagonist) and Marley (ENFP Campaigner) are the board's Feeling-capable voices – they carry most of the relational and consensus-building labour. The absence of Sensing-dominant types means the board is relatively light on detail-and-maintenance-focused contributions.
Governance strengths
- Naturally moves discussions toward decisions and action
- Strong leadership presence in complex governance environments
- Comfortable challenging assumptions and driving accountability
Boardroom style
- Focuses on outcomes, strategy and performance
- Often pushes the board to move from discussion to resolution
Possible blind spots
- May unintentionally dominate quieter voices
- Can appear impatient with slower decision processes
Governance strengths
- Long-range strategic thinking and pattern recognition
- Independent-minded – willing to hold minority positions grounded in evidence
- Skilled at identifying internal contradictions in strategy
- Comfortable with complexity and ambiguity
Boardroom style
- Prefers well-prepared papers over open brainstorming
- Thinks before speaking – contributions tend to be concentrated and precise
- Pushes the board toward coherence and internal logic
Possible blind spots
- May disengage when discussion feels unstructured or ungrounded
- Can underweight relational and political dynamics in decisions
- May assume their reasoning is self-evident to others
Governance strengths
- Strong facilitators of inclusive discussion
- Naturally builds trust and cohesion
- Skilled at aligning diverse perspectives
Boardroom style
- Charismatic and inspiring leaders
- Creates an environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing opinions
- Encourages participation and collaboration
Possible blind spots
- May prioritise harmony over confronting difficult issues
- Can take on too much responsibility for group dynamics
- May focus too much on actively leading rather than finding others to take over
Governance strengths
- Values-driven and relationally attuned
- Notices group dynamics and emotional undercurrents before others
- Generative thinker – brings possibility and fresh framing into strategic discussion
- Often the first to name what the board is quietly avoiding
Boardroom style
- Brings energy, warmth and optimism
- Thrives in discussion and kōrero rather than structured analysis alone
- Makes connections across people, ideas, and kaupapa
Possible blind spots
- May feel constrained by rigid process or data-heavy papers
- Emotional register can be misread as soft by more decisive types
- Can carry disproportionate emotional labour for the group
Governance strengths
- Strong at ensuring governance processes are effective
- Keeps discussions focused and productive
- Organised and accountable
- Values operational clarity and follow-through
Boardroom style
- Direct and pragmatic communication
- Focuses on clear decisions and implementation
Possible blind spots
- May prioritise efficiency over exploratory discussion
- Can feel frustrated with ambiguity or process-heavy deliberation
When considering the seventh seat and future wider-board succession, the board's MBTI distribution points toward a deliberate bias for Sensing-Feeling profiles (ISFJ, INFJ, ESFJ) – practical, relationally attentive, maintenance- focused complements to the existing Thinking-Judging concentration.
This is a comprehensive, decision-ready board pack that demonstrates strong governance infrastructure and mature operational reporting. The pack includes a structured agenda with timed items, extensive management and clinical reports, a full financial report with budget-to-actual analysis and commentary, previous minutes with recorded resolutions, an interests register, and a live action list. Decision-support tools – including dashboards, ratios, and RAG indicators – are actively used across reporting areas.
The areas where the pack could be further strengthened relate to strategic framing: connecting agenda items explicitly to strategic priorities, and embedding pre-drafted resolutions and formal options into the decision workflow.
Pou Tūhono represent the systems and structures that support good governance – the architecture, the cadence, the data, and the infrastructure that allow the board to govern reliably. Strong Pou Tūhono help ensure people don't burn out and hold the kaupapa steady over time.
Reflects Mana Tōpū – mana generated from turning collective intent into clear structure and processes that carry the mauri of the kaupapa and those within it.
The trajectory is clearly upward; the KPI / dashboard layer is the next-step architecture.
Recommendations to improve your Pou Tūhono
Establish a shared instrument between the board and the Manager for what success looks like, grounded in Tika-Pono-Aroha. A KPI framework unlocks accountability, dashboard adoption, and a more developmental performance-review cadence.
This was the strongest governance gap raised across the engagement. It came up independently in interviews, scored lowest on the survey item asking whether milestones are clear, and was flagged red across multiple document reviews on SMART goals, measurement, accountability and monitoring.
- Translate the strategic priorities into SMART measures across categories such as cultural, clinical, financial, operational, and stakeholder outcomes.
- Use Tika-Pono-Aroha as a weighting frame so the dashboard carries the kaupapa lens, not just operational data.
- Visualise as a traffic-light governance dashboard refreshed monthly, with a one-line narrative under each indicator.
- Identify the specific indicators and whether information can come from existing systems (e.g. social contract data, Xero outputs, management reporting) or requires new data collection.
- The board has no instrument to hold the Manager accountable other than narrative.
- The strategic plan remains aspirational without translation into operational reality.
- Performance review continues to be experienced as containment rather than development.
- The Manager is asked for measures the board has not been clear on – the relationship strains both ways.
Build out a Maramataka / Annual Calendar that maps the key governance milestones across the year – strategy review, AGM, audit cycle, KPI review checkpoints, kaupapa moments. Gives the board a single shared rhythm to plan against and reduces the year-end scramble.
A maramataka has been begun (a real strength) but is not yet fully populated. Survey signal: an Annual Calendar was the most-named governance support that trustees said they were missing. Document reviews flagged the absence of a visible policy review schedule and the lack of a mapped year-of-governance rhythm.
- Map the full year of governance commitments – strategy, financial, audit, kaupapa milestones, statutory dates.
- Layer the policy review cycle into the maramataka (which policies refresh in which quarter).
- Surface the KPI dashboard refresh cadence (Rec
- Make the maramataka visible to the wider organisation, not just the board, so operational rhythms can sync to it.
- The board continues to react to milestones rather than plan against them.
- Policy review continues to be ad hoc.
- The KPI framework when built (Rec #1) has nowhere structural to land for refresh cadence.
The Tāhuhu is the ridgepole that elevates the kaupapa. This reflects the backbone of the strategy, to provide clear direction and a sense of priorities.
Reflects Mana Āheinga – mana that comes from deciding our own aspirations, and charting our own path forward. True kaupapa contribute to building the hope, aspirations, capabilities and empowerment of the collective, so that in turn they can elevate the mana of the kaupapa.
Strategic priorities are agreed; SMART measures, time horizons, and ownership are the next layer.
Recommendations to improve your Tāhuhu
Translate the kaupapa vision and strategic priorities into time-bound, owned, measurable goals. Close the gap between what the board agrees on (the kaupapa) and what the board is executing against (the strategy). Where Rec #1 is about building the measurement framework, Rec #6 is about building the plan that the framework is measuring.
Document reviews flagged multiple red items on SMART goals, accountability, monitoring, resourcing and sequencing. There appears to be a phased growth plan internal to the executive team that has not yet been formally adopted by the board.
- Translate the strategic priorities into SMART goals for the next 12 months.
- Add 5/10/20-year horizons to differentiate near-term execution from longer-term direction.
- Assign accountability and ownership per goal – board lead, Manager lead, or joint.
- Add a plan-on-a-page visual overview suitable for staff, whānau, marae, funders and partners.
- Document the income-diversification logic explicitly, including the sequencing (credibility → tender profile → diversification).
- Make sure that there is Board and Manager agreement around the logic and sequencing of the plan as it is built.
- Strategy continues to be experienced as 'here and there' rather than sequenced.
- Kaupapa alignment continues to mask strategic drift.
- The phased growth logic stays in executive heads rather than being adopted by the board.
- Income diversification – a board-level outcome – stays structurally unsupported because the underlying plan is unwritten.
Express key outcomes in SMART goal format so the Board can measure progress
Include agreed success measures and KPIs for all projects and priority areas
Assign accountability and ownership to each project, noting the roles of teams, individuals and partners
Describe how the strategy will be monitored, reviewed and reported on
Clarify the sequencing and phasing of activity to show a clear implementation pathway
Include a plan-on-a-page that gives the Board and stakeholders a single visual overview of the strategy
confirm strategic pillars, articulate key competencies needed, and explore the business model and innovation approach for each project area
Establish roles and resources clarity for each strategic project, including where the organisation will lead, support or partner
Maihi represent the bargeboards of the whare – that connect the Tāhuhu to the Tūāpapa as the arms that turn your strategy into action. This represents the management systems, the operational rhythms and having the right people.
Reflects Mana Whakahaere – mana that comes from turning leadership decisions into disciplined action to ensure the performance of a kaupapa.
The KPI and dashboard layer is the bridge between strong operations and confident board oversight.
Recommendations to improve your Maihi
Establish a shared instrument between the board and the Manager for what success looks like, grounded in Tika-Pono-Aroha. A KPI framework unlocks accountability, dashboard adoption, and a more developmental performance-review cadence.
This was the strongest governance gap raised across the engagement. It came up independently in interviews, scored lowest on the survey item asking whether milestones are clear, and was flagged red across multiple document reviews on SMART goals, measurement, accountability and monitoring.
- Translate the strategic priorities into SMART measures across categories such as cultural, clinical, financial, operational, and stakeholder outcomes.
- Use Tika-Pono-Aroha as a weighting frame so the dashboard carries the kaupapa lens, not just operational data.
- Visualise as a traffic-light governance dashboard refreshed monthly, with a one-line narrative under each indicator.
- Identify the specific indicators and whether information can come from existing systems (e.g. social contract data, Xero outputs, management reporting) or requires new data collection.
- The board has no instrument to hold the Manager accountable other than narrative.
- The strategic plan remains aspirational without translation into operational reality.
- Performance review continues to be experienced as containment rather than development.
- The Manager is asked for measures the board has not been clear on – the relationship strains both ways.
Strengthen the structural design of the Manager-board relationship so that the processes support accountability and development rather than producing avoidance dynamics on either side.
Several signals across the engagement suggest the current design is producing patterns neither side wants – a Manager performance review experienced as surveillance, a meeting structure that minimises the Manager's time in the room, and limited shared time on accountability and strategy. The kaupapa for the relationship is strong on both sides; the architecture for it appears under-built.
- Move Manager performance review from quarterly review to annual review supported by a quarterly data dashboard (Rec #1).
- Restore Manager presence in full board meetings, or at minimum in strategic and accountability items.
- Establish a monthly Chair-Manager 1-on-1 with a published agenda and recorded decisions.
- Surface and resolve the philosophical KPI mismatch (growth and MOUs vs outcomes and impact) within the KPI framework (Rec #1) so the dashboard lands as a negotiated artefact.
- The current pattern keeps looping. Each performance review reinforces the existing posture.
- The Manager's strengths remain insufficiently visible to the board because of limited structured time together.
- External relationship risk stays concentrated on the Manager because there is no structured approach to redistribute it (see Rec #8).
- The relationship continues to be experienced as stressed by both sides.
The Pou Tuarongo represents the back wall of the whare – how you protect your kaupapa over time, including disciplined risk management, compliance, succession and information transfer. Everything you put in place today shapes how your organisation and kaupapa grows intergenerationally.
Reflects Mana Mokopuna – mana generated from protecting kaupapa across generations and replenishing the energy that sustains it.
Most of the gaps here are already named by the board; the work is to commit to a sequence.
Recommendations to improve your Pou Tuarongo
Move from no planned board composition to active succession planning. Address three specific structural gaps: no chair successor, no deputy chair, seventh seat unfilled. Open a rangatahi pipeline.
There is currently no chair successor, no deputy chair, and an unfilled seventh seat. The Governance Manual review confirms the skills matrix is absent and wider-board succession is absent. Personality composition signal: the board sits heavily on Thinking-Judging types and lacks Sensing-Feeling balance.
- Reinstate a deputy chair – lowest-friction, highest-impact move.
- Run a skills gap assessment (from Rec #2) and recruit the seventh seat against identified gaps.
- Hold a tikanga-led conversation about long-tenured trustee rotation – honouring service while securing whakapapa continuity.
- Commit to a rangatahi pipeline (e.g. via Ka Eke Poutama).
- Privilege Sensing-Feeling profiles (ISFJ / INFJ / ESFJ) in candidate selection to balance the existing board composition.
- Chair succession unplanned remains a single-point-of-failure risk.
- The seventh seat sits empty; board capacity stays at 6 of 7.
- Composition stays thin on Sensing-Feeling profiles – limited relational-nuance and maintenance-focused voices.
- The rangatahi pipeline opportunity is missed or delayed.
The Mahau is the front porch – the threshold between the organisation and external relationships. This includes whānau and mana whenua, stakeholder voice, partnerships, and the people the kaupapa exists to serve. Strong governance weaves these groups together to strengthen the kaupapa, with open dialogue, accountability and shared purpose.
Reflects Mana Tauutuutu – mana exchanged through strong and enduring relationships that provide the mauri to keep a kaupapa alive. "Tauutuutu is not transaction but transformation. It keeps relationships alive through the circulation of mana." – Pā Henare Tate
Partnership-holding and marae voice both warrant board-level structures, not solely carried by the Manager.
Recommendations to improve your Mahau
Having a structural mechanism for marae and iwi members – the people the organisation exists to serve – to provide thinking directly to the board will mean the marae and iwi member voice is more directly present in strategic planning, rather than only being heard through staff.
Stakeholder involvement was the lowest scoring of all survey questions and this was reinforced in all five interviews. Document reviews cannot see this because the documents do not structurally include marae.
- Adopt a proposed marae rep forum – one representative per marae coming together as a board sub-committee, alongside a dedicated marae board representative.
- Have a standing board agenda item: 'Feedback from the marae rep forum.'
- Have a formal strategic planning day (annual wānanga or equivalent) where marae reps directly feeds in.
- Consider piloting with marae separately first before bringing them all together.
- A misalignment between process and kaupapa intensifies. The organisation exists to serve marae and iwi members; they currently have limited structural voice in its governance.
- Strategic planning continues to be Manager-and-board only.
- Staff remain the main relational carrier of the marae connection – a concentrated relational risk that excludes the board.
Shift institutional partnership-holding from sole-Manager to board-led where appropriate – marae, Council, other iwi, Government agencies at governance level, data infrastructure partners. Both sides agree the board should lead at governance level while the Manager manages at operations level; this rec makes the agreement operational.
Mahau was the lowest-scoring dimension on the survey, and partnerships scored low within it. Document reviews flagged engagement with affiliated groups as amber. Mana whenua relationships are newly contractually required and not yet in place.
- Stand up a mana whenua relationship plan aligned to new contract expectations.
- Allocate specific board members as partnership leads, leveraging existing relationships as starting points.
- Design a board-dinner or formal-hui model for partnership development.
- Reconsider the partnerships KPI – to balance a focus on purely MOU count with actual relationship quality (linked to Rec #1).
- Mana whenua obligation (newly contractual) remains unmet.
- Board-to-board partnerships stay underdeveloped.
- Partnership measurement continues to misfit, straining the Manager-board relationship.
- External relationship risk stays concentrated on the Manager.
Pukapuka | Board Documents Checklist ▾
This checklist surfaces 32 board governance documents, organised across the eight dimensions of the Whare Tupuna. Where TWH has formally reviewed a document, the status reflects our analysis. For other documents, the status reflects the trustee self-assessment we received from your board — this becomes the engagement’s working position, and can be refined in conversation with the wider board.
Click on any of the four deeply-reviewed documents (Trust Deed, Governance Manual, Board Pack, Strategic Plan) to see the full assessment, recommendations and follow-up prompts.
My reasoning on the close calls:
Conflicts of Interest – green (not amber): The deed has a clear and specific disclosure and abstention process. Clause 10.3 requires any Trustee with a direct or indirect interest in a matter to disclose the nature and extent of that interest, and to abstain from any deliberations on the matter. That’s a substantive COI mechanism, not just a general reference to managing conflicts.
The manual should include a standalone health and safety section – or a clear reference to a separate H&S policy – covering the board’s oversight obligations, reporting expectations, and how H&S risk is managed across the organisation. To get this started: a short section in the manual confirming who is responsible for H&S reporting to the board, how often, and what the board expects to see would give trustees clear visibility of this obligation.
The manual should include a dedicated Chairperson position description that brings together the responsibilities currently spread across multiple sections. It should also define what decisions the Chair can make without full board approval – for example, urgent operational matters, media responses, or expenditure up to a defined threshold. A practical first step: gather the Chair references from sections 8, 11, 12, 16, and 17 into a single “Chairperson – Position Description” section, then add 3–4 specific situations where the Chair can act independently, with any financial or scope limits.
The Board Secretary role is referenced but not described – a consolidated position description would make the role’s expectations clear. Separately, the Manager’s authority is described in general terms across the manual but would benefit from a delegation schedule setting out specific financial thresholds and decision-making limits. One way to begin: create a short Board Secretary terms of reference covering meeting support, minutes, and records. For the Manager, a one-page delegation schedule – listing spending authorities, contract limits, and what must come back to the board – would give both parties clarity.
The manual should expand its expense reimbursement provisions beyond the current general statement. Trustees would benefit from knowing specifically what out-of-pocket costs can be claimed, how claims are submitted, and who approves them. To get this started: add a short subsection under section 16 listing the types of expenses that can be claimed (e.g., travel, accommodation, parking), any limits, and the approval process.
The current succession provisions cover the Manager and Chair but not the wider board. A proactive approach to board succession – combined with a simple skills gap assessment – would help the Trust plan ahead for the skills and experience it needs in future trustees. One way to begin: at the next board meeting, ask each trustee to complete a short skills self-assessment. The Personnel Committee can review the aggregate to identify gaps and start a list of potential future candidates – even an informal one gives succession visibility. TWH can provide a template skills matrix to get this started.
This is a comprehensive, decision-ready board pack that demonstrates strong governance infrastructure and mature operational reporting. The pack includes a structured agenda with timed items, extensive management and clinical reports, a full financial report with budget-to-actual analysis and commentary, previous minutes with recorded resolutions, an interests register, and a live action list. Decision-support tools – including dashboards, ratios, and RAG indicators – are actively used across reporting areas.
The areas where the pack could be further strengthened relate to strategic framing: connecting agenda items explicitly to strategic priorities, and embedding pre-drafted resolutions and formal options into the decision workflow.
Express key outcomes in SMART goal format so the Board can measure progress
Include agreed success measures and KPIs for all projects and priority areas
Assign accountability and ownership to each project, noting the roles of teams, individuals and partners
Describe how the strategy will be monitored, reviewed and reported on
Clarify the sequencing and phasing of activity to show a clear implementation pathway
Include a plan-on-a-page that gives the Board and stakeholders a single visual overview of the strategy
confirm strategic pillars, articulate key competencies needed, and explore the business model and innovation approach for each project area
Establish roles and resources clarity for each strategic project, including where the organisation will lead, support or partner
-
This dashboard is based on information provided by your organisation and its representatives. It is intended to support your governance reflection and improvement.
Despite the care taken during preparation, Te Whare Hukahuka can not guarantee or warrant that all information is complete or accurate.
Responsibility for decisions and actions taken arising from the information shared here sits with those individuals and the board.
If you feel aspects of your governance are not fully reflected, or that we have misinterpreted any feedback, please let us know.
Our strong opinions and conclusions are loosely held, and we are happy to amend the information presented here in the dashboard in the face of new data.
Shay Wright
Te Rarawa, Te Māhurehure (Ngāpuhi), Ngāruahine
Facilitator & Pou Tokomanawa | Executive Director
shay@twh.co.nz +64 27 523 1560