Posts Tagged ‘Manaakitanga’
NZx: journey in Aotearoa
Morena
It was great to be back on board the expedition ship Coral Adventurer for a recent eleven days journey in Aotearoa.
As we cruised from Te Whanganui a Tara/Wellington to Piopiotahi/Milford Sound, it was time to korero the stories of Aotearoa, particularly our conservation successes and failures.
Sharing these types of stories can be challenging. There are many different interpretive techniques that can be used to ensure guests are both entertained, learn, challenged and have fun. We often see guides who don’t do this. Rather they concentrate on content: not the delivery.
In our view delivery is more important that content. Sure you need to know your “stuff” but it is how its is delivered that will make the experience memorable. This is especially so if the weather conditions are challenging, the birds are not singing or the dolphins aren’t where they are supposed to be! How you deliver an experience in those condition puts you into mastering interpretation – or not.
We’ve taken groups through thigh deep water, eaten some plants that taste like asparagus, compared salmon to politicians and danced on a ships tender. Now thats entertainment!
As Simon McArthur put it “Interpretation is not information. Great interpretation leaves people moved, their assumptions challenged and their interest in learning stimulated. Good interpretation is still thought about at breakfast the next morning, or over the dinner table the next week.“
There were of course many other conversations during the days onboard about life in America and life in Aotearoa.
Thanks to our American guests https://www.olivia.com/ for being such a fun group.
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
Coral Adventurer at sea
NZx: the art of inspiration/leadership
Morena
For this months blog we thought we would look at the art of inspiration/leadership in the visitor sector.
This thinking came to our front of mind last week when we dined out in a tourism focused town. As the only diners that night we received adequate service, but no more. This is in sharp contrast to the situation we encountered while filling up the car with petrol on the West Coast last year. In this case the attendant thanked us for choosing to use their service station and spend our money with them, as opposed to someone else.
After our dining experience I reflected on what was a lost opportunity for the hospitality business. My view is that any business echos the leadership and inspirational traits of it’s leaders.
Over the years I have been lucky enough to have worked with some amazing and inspiring leaders. One thing they all had in common was that they showed some or all of the traits noted below, and in some cases more.
Of course there have been a number of leaders that didn’t reflect these traits, their leadership style is probably best summed up in this link
The future challenge for managers/mentors/team leaders across the visitor sector will be ensuring they implement these traits (and others) as our borders open up. Do you inspire/lead/mentor using these building blocks?
Thanks to Vala Afshar from Salesforce for the prompt!
Ka kite ano
NZx: a collective difference
Naumai
A recent night sky experience has led us to reflect on the collective difference in NZ inc. By this we mean what are the unique selling points and subsequent tourism products of the region or place?
A quick search of night sky tours found at least seven “planetarium” , over fifteen “tours”, and at least 24 local astronomical societies that operate observatories on a few nights each month. We are certainly not decrying our night sky experiences. New Zealand is one of the best places in the world to see the night sky. The fact that the world’s largest Dark Sky Reserve and the world’s only Dark Sky Sanctuary on an island can be found here support this.
Another search could just as easily find different versions of essentially the same product, from zip-lines to jet boat tours, repeated throughout Aotearoa.
We first commented on the wider issue in 2011 and again in 2012.
We are a small country with a wide range of differentiation (landscape, culture, food, wine etc) between regions. Our collective differences are potentially our strength.
One can only hope that the Provincial Growth Fund recognises this when making it’s deliberations.
There are hints that perhaps the rise in international visitor numbers is starting to slow. We must continue to grow, differentiate and create points of difference in our tourism product.
These should be regionally based, unique and reflect the culture and stories of that place. Not simply repeats of a similar experience found elsewhere in the country.
How many night sky experiences do we need?
Ka kite ano
Owaka in the Catlins, and it’s famous teapot collection
NZx: February 10th Manaakitanga in the C21
Naumai
Is this really the best manaakitanga we can offer?
Tourism New Zealand suggests: the meaning of manaakitanga is much broader than a one word or direct translation.
It can be broken down into three parts: mana-ā-ki which loosely translates as ‘the power of the word’ and reminds hosts to be expressive and fluent in welcoming visitors.
Another explanation has the words mana / prestige and ki te tangata / to the people – pointing out the importance of enhancing the mana which covers the integrity, status / prestige, and power of guests.
Here, as our experience suggests, a great day out was left wanting in manaakitanga by our introduction to Fullers ferry and the introduction by staff on arrival at Rotoroa Island.
Our manaakitanga component started off by having to queue for the ferry. No big deal but despite being early morning it was a burning , windless day. People who had queued early inside the perspex cover were eventually forced to abandon their place in line and escape the hot tapped air. It was seriously stifling.
There was general confusion about who was queuing for what. Was this the ferry to Rangitoto, Tiritiri Matangi or Rotoroa Island? No signs, or technology, not even temporary, just two staff that came and went answering the same questions as to the destination.
Two minutes after leaving the wharf we returned – someone had got on the wrong ferry……. That’s despite a handheld scanner that supposedly scanned everybody aboard including our mobile phone downloaded tickets. Only problem was it couldn’t read the bar code on our phone!
On arrival all seventy plus of us were crammed into a small hot shed on the wharf and given a rambling presentation about the history, issues and do’s and dont’s on the Island. We fully support the bio-security intent behind this – but having endured countless windblown ( you can’t here the words and often the speakers aren’t great) welcomes at Tiritiri Matangi and other DOC/partner managed islands, one has to wonder is there a better way? It is human nature to not what to be confined (see Maslow) and to be acknowledged and treated with intelligence. This and other Island welcomes don’t do this! DOC and it’s partners should use other ways of pushing the bio-security message to what is mostly an already knowledgeable audience.
The final straw was when the ranger announced a different ferry departure time back to Auckland than that advertised in the various Fullers media. Normally extra time on an Island such as Rotoroa would be great, but we had organised a busy late afternoon around the quoted departure time and arrival back in Auckland.
The last comment the ranger made before “releasing us” was to invite us back inside the shed before we got on the return ferry – surely not!
In the end it was with much thankfulness that the staff on Rotoroa didn’t invite us back into the hot little shed on the wharf to say haere ra! Everyone was far too busy enjoying the sunshine, swimming off the wharf an enjoying their last minutes on the Island.
Rotoroa Island is a fantastic day out. But two of the key partners need to up their game in the manaakitanga stakes. The basic mana of visitors just isn’t being respected.
Ka kite ano
Sculpture on Rotoroa
Island
NZx – October 31st : delivering on the promise
Naumai
It’s that time of the year again.Hopefully you have your team in place, well trained and ready to go!
Recently we took part in a discussion with Tai Poutini Polytechnic, employers and others associated with tourism on the West Coast. We discussed the opportunities and issues that involve training those involved in tourism.
Much of the discussion was based on the qualities of a guide. How do you take someone that may have all the necessary technical skill (i.e. hard) but needs coaching on the (so called “softer”) skills of guiding i.e. people management ? I think there was general agreement in the group that the biggest need was in the latter. For example how do you mentor an eighteen year old to lead, inspire, entertain and enlighten a 60 year old visitor from another country?
In this blog we look at some some of the qualities we should be training just about anyone involved in tourism, but particularly guides.
Charm / ātahu
Every person in your group is looking for information and more importantly, entertainment, from their guide. Remember we are now an entertainment centric society. A guide should always be constantly looking for opportunities to charm and involve your group in doing things, rather than just listening.
An active C drive / mātau
You may of course be a very charming person but if you don’t have the mātau then your’e on the back foot from the start. Yes you need to know facts, figures and anything else somebody on a tour might ask you. You also need to be prepared to find an answer and get back to people. Make sure you engage with everyone in the group and facilitate discussion between the group.
Stories / tito
Visitors (some) love hearing facts behind the topic of interest e.g. Tane Mahuta, but above all visitors love their guide to share a personal story about the topic. Stories engage people’s minds and more importantly hearts. Facts alone do not.
Organisation and flexibility / nahanaha
You need to be super organised and flexible if you want to be a great guide. The group will have certain expectations about what the are expecting to see. You need to deliver on those, and make sure your timing for pre-booked events is perfect. At the same time you need to be flexible. If an attraction is suddenly closed you need to find an alternative!
Humour / whakataka
Your visitors are on holiday; they want to be entertained. That includes the use of humour. It’s a skill to be developed but can ease a difficult situation, reassure visitors, make them laugh and add real value to a situation. While jokes are part of this, the most important part is you as the leader facilitating the humour in an appropriate way.
Empathy / aroha
You can be assured that somewhere, sometime, when you have a group something will happen to someone in the group. It may be lost luggage, bad news from back home, a cultural issue,or any myriad of issues. In this situation aroha will get you a long way, make your guests feel valued and can assist in solving the issue.
You can read some other interesting views of the qualities that make a great guide, and a tourism host, here and here!
Ka kite ano
Malcolm
Guiding at Maungatautari