Six members of Tonga’s His Majesty’s Armed Forces (HMAF) have spent time in New Zealand taking part in a six-week Pacific Leadership Development Programme workshop to help them deliver the HMAFs first Lead Teams Leadership course in the Kingdom of Tonga next week.
Accompanied by their Kiwi Training Advisor/Leadership Mentor New Zealand Army Captain Geoff Bright, the group had to complete the first two weeks of the course development workshop online while they were in managed isolation, before moving to Trentham Military Camp. They have since returned to Tonga.
The Lead Teams course is aimed at personnel who are managing other people, and Pacific Leader Development Programme Principal Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Milward from the New Zealand Army says it was an important course to help leaders understand their impact on their staff.
“It was crucial to have effective and trust-based leadership. While command and management are important, they are about individuals using authority to require others to carry out tasks.”
Lieutenant Tala Mafileo of the Tongan Navy says there was not a lot of difference between the New Zealand and Tongan Lead Teams courses.
“We’ve tweaked it to fit the Tongan culture. We’ve changed some small things, some acronyms and words. Our university leadership training is academic, whereas this framework is more practical. It’s the actual application of leadership rather than the theory of it.”
Image credit: NZ Defence Force