Systems change webinar #1 - Hautū Waka: An approach to navigating complexity drawn from mātauranga Māori

In this webinar, Angie Tangaere and Anne-Marie Mujica (Auckland Co-design Lab) will introduce and explore the navigational practice and knowledge of Hautū Waka, an indigenous approach to wayfinding and working in complexity. Hautū Waka is an example of an indigenous navigation practice that can be used to map, guide and track complex change and learning work. We have found Hautū Waka to be a powerful tool for public sector teams holding and leading complex change work at individual and collective levels. In our experience it gives more guidance for those undertaking system transformation efforts than conventional tools that seek to reduce complexity. It prioritises contextual awareness, pace, rhythm and relationships. It emphasises that change is not a planning exercise—it is a journey that we need to learn about and build the capabilities for as we go. Shared by Matua Rereata Makiha and further developed by Roimata Taniwha-Paoo and Ayla Hoeta, Hautū Waka is helping us to provide a language for navigating the complex terrain of change in the public sector, drawing on the deep mātauranga of traditional navigators who traversed vast oceans to find land in Aotearoa.