Learning from the All Blacks Part 2

Yesterday I asked a couple of questions:

What if our learning day was filled with building reading, writing, and problem-solving work?

More importantly, what if our learning day focused on leadership skills and how all young learners could benefit from leadership training and character development?

Today, continuing to focus on a book titled “Legacy” – the story of the All Blacks, a New Zealand rugby team that is one of the most successful sports’ teams in the world, what could a learning coach and their young learners pick up by studying this group’s leadership approach to global excellence?

When approaching the game of rugby or the game of life for that matter, the All Blacks subscribe to fifteen leadership traits. They are:

“Character – Waibo ma te tangata e mibi – Let someone else praise your virtues.”

“Adaptation – Maui – the discoverer of the secret of fire – was spearing birds with his brothers one day. But as his spear had no barbs, their prey escaped them. Maui’s mother told him to use sticks to create barbs for his weapon – which he did. They feasted on kereru (pigeon) that night.”

“Purpose – He rangi ta Matawhaiti, he rangi ta Matawhanui – The person with a narrow vision sees a narrow horizon, the person with a wide vision sees a wide horizon.”

“Responsibility – Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e whai – Be a leader, now a follower.”

“Learn – Kohia te kai Rangatira, ruia te taitea – Gather the good food, cast away the rubbish.”

“Whanau – A muri kia mau ki te kawau maro, whanake ake, whanake ake – Hold to the spearhead formation of the kawau.”

“Expectations – Ko taku re otaku ohooho,  ko taku re otaku mapihi mauria – My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul.”

“Preparation – Ko te piko o te maburi, tera te tupu o te rakau – The way the sapling is shaped determines how the tree grows.”

“Pressure – Te timatanga a te matauranga ko te wabangu, te wabanga tuarua ko te whakarongo – The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening.”

“Authenticity – Whakapuputia mai o manuka, kia kore ai e whati – Cluster the branches of the manuka, so that they will not break.”

“Sacrifice – Ka tut e ihiibi – Stand fearless.”

“Language – Taringa whakarongo – Let your ears listen.”

“Ritual – We’re  not all Maori. We’re not all Polynisian. – Wayne Smith – Ritualize to Actualize.”

“Whakapapa – E taku mokai, he wa poto noa koe I waenganui I tew a kua hipa me tew a kei tum mai – You are but a speck in the moment of time situated between two eternities, the past and the future.”

“Legacy – Te torino haere whakamua, whakamuri  – At the same time as the spiral is going forward, it is also returning.”

During my 35 years working inside traditional public education, the only leadership training I witnesses with young learners occurred outside the classroom – athletics, fine arts, extracurriculars.

What would happen if we spent time building leadership qualities in our kids following the All Black model?

It might be a different country.

I”ll be away until Monday. Til then. SVB