You could be enjoying a flat white and a croissant while having a leisurely chat at your favourite cafe, with your boss.

Or the pair of you could be taking a gentle stroll around a park, perhaps even sharing some lunch.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is moving away from its old model of performance reviews to one that wouldn’t seem out of place at the likes of Google or Facebook.

Over the next few weeks, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa will be scrapping its old approach to annual performance reviews to update it with one that’s based on what our kaimahi want.

Te Taituarā John Whaanga said: “Kaimahi Ora recognises that we shouldn’t be talking with people just once a year. We should be talking with people as we go along.”

“It’s a common sense way of doing things. We need to be talking more, not less. If we talk with people more, not less, funnily enough we get a better result for our people.”

He said Kaimahi Ora is based upon shared responsibility and common sense.

“If we don’t have trust and if we don’t have good relationships, we will not achieve our vision and mission. It’s that simple.”

“Kaimahi Ora provides an opportunity to practice empowered leadership. Leadership isn’t just about having a management position. Leadership is taking charge of things and owning what you do.”

Peter Makin, Organisational Development Subject Matter Expert, who is part of the Focus group that developed Kaimahi Ora, said the new approach was “way beyond what mainstream is generally doing.”

“What we’ve tried to do is try to listen to great practices across the world but make direct connections to our kaupapa and what it is to work together in a kaupapa-based way and that’s why we’ve got something which is all about building our relationships.”

“If we get our relationships right, the mahi will follow.”

Te Taituarā said the very first hui may be about discussing the relationship between a kaimahi and the person they report to.

“It could be about getting to know each other, what makes you get out of bed each morning and what motivates you?”

“If we understand that a bit better that might help us move forward." 

Kaimahi Ora will be refined over the next 12 months but in its immediate form will likely see kaimahi receiving emails every six weeks, asking how things are going, what issues they may have encountered and what can be done better.

“We will be checking in with people regularly and will be able to refine kaimahi ora so it works for us,” said Te Taituarā.

“This whole thing is about sharing responsibility for getting things right and working well together.”

“If we understand that a bit better that might help us move forward.”