Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 1992 — Change can be painful [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Change can be painful

By Rowcna Akana Vice Chairpcrson OHA Board of Trustees

Change is the key word in this article. Change affects everyone in any organization from the leaders to the support staff to the people who are ultimately served by the organization.

Change affects people in a professional and in a personal way. Perhaps this is the reason people usually loathe change. It seems it is almost always easier to stay with the tried and true method rather than dare to step into new territorv.

Let's talk about leadership and let's promise to stay professional about it. There are a few given factors we must recognize immediately: 1) A good leader has many qualities that help people feel comfortable about sharing ideas; 2) A good leader follows procedures and rules so people feel comfortable; and 3) A good leader guides people through change in the most comfortable way possible.

OHA began as an organization 10 years ago. Everything was new then. Change was a part of the everyday makeup of the organization. Things were exciting then. Never before in the history of America had such an innovative idea been put to practice. OHA was creat-

ed to improve and better the conditions of the Hawaiian people and the Hawaiian people looked to OHA for guidance and leadership. They believed the decades of injustice done to them would finally be addressed. The Hawaiian people looked at OHA as a guiding light. But what has happened?

Somewhere, between the birth and the adolescence of OHA, people have lost faith. Is it perhaps that the initial expectations were too great? Is it that as OHA has grown, the office has bent under heavy state expectations to conform to the status quo? Or is it simply that OHA has become complacent and caught up in the bureaucracy of a government organization? I believe it is a little bit of all of those things.

OHA is a unique organization with a special mandate for the Hawaiian population. It has the resources and the potential to do great things for the Hawaiian people. Unfortunately, it is experiencing that awkward growth period of adolescence. The gangly time we all remember as teens when nothing is definite, everything is questioned and change is a daily occurrence. This is the same time when sound leadership is vital to healthy growth.

As this second decade of growth besets OHA, change is inevitable. The first 10 years of experimenting, testing the waters and creating a network of departments to service the Hawaiian people has passed. The next 10 years and indeed the entire future needs to be focused on fine-tuning those departments and

creating credible leadership devoted to the initial mandate under whieh OHA was created. In government, we are forced to do business in the cumbersome fashion dictated by the nation's model; "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." This is sometimes necessary to make our mark for the Hawaiian people. But, this same necessity does not dictate that we lose our good values and judgement in the process. In our quest for the brass ring, fairness, sportsmanship and honesty cannot be sacrificed. To assure fairness, our leaders must not lose sight of the laws and rules created to provide open and honest leadership.

Let the change eome. It is inevitable and necessary. But with that change, let the leadership of our growing OHA mirror the face of justice. The three vital qualities I mentioned at the start of this article should be second nature to any leader of OHA. To accomplish this ideal leadership, we must, at times, take unpopular positions and shoulder uncomfortable challenges while maintaining a clear perspective of the people.

I am confident OHA ean weather the difficult growth of adolescence and blossom into a mature and responsible agency. OHA ean onee again become the guiding light of the people. The changes necessary to accomplish this growth need not be so painful with the gentle hand of a good leader. Growth, after all, is neeessary for movement toward an enlightened future.