About Manawa Kōkopu

Manawa Kōkopu — to connect the heart of the dots and harness potential — catalysing insight, innovation, and improvement through culturally grounded transformation.

Created with a clear vision to weave together mātauranga Māori, creative thinking, and transformational leadership, we support people, teams, and organisations to turn reflection into action, values into strategy, and potential into impact.

At Manawa Kōkopu, we do not simply advise — we collaborate. Our work spans across complexity and context, supporting clients to think consciously, act deliberately, and lead with courage, clarity, and care.

We believe in relationships before transactions and honouring the past while shaping the future. Whether partnering on strategy, guiding professional growth, or walking alongside change leadership, we are here to grow capability, amplify integrity, and embed transformational momentum.

Connecting the Heart of the Dots and Harnessing Potential

Manawa Kōkopu is a metaphor rich in meaning. Manawa speaks to the heart — a source of vitality, patience, and emotional strength. Kōkopu refers both to a native freshwater fish, known for its ability to adapt and survive in changing environments, and to a prized form of pounamu marked with distinct dotted patterns. 

Together, they symbolise quiet strength, resilience, and the ability to endure and evolve. At its essence, Manawa Kōkopu represents the ability to connect the heart of the dots — to navigate complexity with clarity, make sense of what matters, and respond with wisdom.

At Manawa Kōkopu, we specialise in thought and innovation leadership — looking for meaning where others may not, listening deeply, drawing connections, and bringing clarity to complex situations. Our mahi centres people, place, and purpose, focusing on awakening and harnessing potential, and promoting continuous development.

The poutama pattern is central to our identity. Seen in tukutuku panels and traditional weaving, its ascending steps symbolise the pursuit of knowledge and the layered nature of growth — progress built through learning, reflection, and whakapapa.

Like Tāwhaki and Tāne-nui-a-Rangi, who ascended to the upper realms in search of sacred wisdom, we walk alongside those navigating their own paths — helping to connect insight to action, and vision to practice.

Ngā Pou o Manawa Kōkopu

Leadership Guided by Whakapapa and Purpose

Megan Tahere

Manu Manawa Kōkopu | Founder and Director – Manawa Kōkopu

Te Whānau-ā-Āpanui, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Raukawa, Ngāti Whātua, and Ngāpuhi

Megan is a mother of five and a proud grandmother to eight mokopuna, grounding her in the values of whānau, service, and intergenerational purpose.

Her leadership spans the public sector, not-for-profit, and kaupapa Māori spheres, with senior and executive roles in health, education, and Māori development. Beginning her professional career as a Registered Midwife, she progressed to the tertiary education sector, where she led significant shifts in culturally responsive teaching and learning.

Most recently, Megan served in national roles as General Manager – Kahu Taurima, Maternity and Early Years at Te Aka Whai Ora, and as Hauora Māori Advisor within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Health Reform Transition Unit.

Drawing on this breadth of experience, Megan serves as the strategic steward and principal consultant of Manawa Kōkopu, bringing clarity, courage, and purposeful design to every layer of our work. Her leadership bridges inherited wisdom from Te Ao Māori with bold, future-facing insight, carried forward into Te Ao Hou. Through each engagement, she partners with people and organisations driving kaupapa-aligned transformation, offering strategic guidance that is values-led, future-focused, and grounded in tikanga.

Woven Insight and Transferable Expertise

Shaped by a journey of leadership, kaupapa Māori development, system transformation, and continuous learning, Megan has woven a kete rich in insight, lived experience, and practical expertise. Recognised for her adaptability and breadth of capability, she brings a versatile skill set to her practice, characterised by clarity, connection, and integrity — creating the conditions to think expansively, act with intention, and lead with lasting impact.

Strategic and System Leadership:

  • Leading national, regional, and local programmes that deliver meaningful outcomes and embed lasting change.

  • Aligning strategy, planning, and delivery to ensure action is purposeful and coordinated.

  • Navigating the machinery of government to influence direction and unlock opportunity.

  • Contributing to policy that is grounded, practical, and informed by evidence and lived experience.

  • Exercising political judgment and situational awareness in complex environments.

  • Holding space for bold thinking, transformation, and purposeful leadership.

Commissioning, Investment and Delivery:

  • Designing commissioning approaches that centre equity, value, and impact.

  • Managing significant budgets and negotiating investment decisions with confidence, care, and accountability.

  • Embedding systems for performance, risk, and continuous improvement that support collective success.
  • Overseeing core corporate functions — including finance, digital, people and culture, and operations — with both strategic and operational clarity.
  • Delivering under pressure with calm leadership, structure, and responsiveness.

Relational and Collaborative Practice:

  • Building trusted relationships across agencies, iwi, and communities, grounded in whakapapa and shared purpose.

  • Supporting high-performing teams through compassionate, transparent, and values-based leadership.

  • Designing and delivering development programmes that support capability uplift through culturally grounded facilitation, coaching, and learning.

Insight, Influence and Integrity:

  • Making sense of complexity through creative, critical, and systems thinking.

  • Writing with clarity and depth — producing thoughtful reports, advice, and long-form documents that inform decision-making.

  • Communicating with presence, honesty, and purpose across diverse settings.

  • Upholding te Tiriti o Waitangi in both principle and practice, with a deep commitment to tikanga and cultural integrity.

Henare Kani

Manu Hauangiangi | Cultural Steward – Manawa Kōkopu

Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Ngāti Tūwharetoa

Henare is a father, grandfather, artist, cultural advisor, and kaupapa Māori strategist with decades of experience across governance, wellbeing, and cultural development. He describes himself simply:
“I have a lifetime of varied experiences that have given me many tools to share. I love working with whānau, hapū and iwi, and being involved with the development, preservation and cultural vitality of people and the universe. It enables me to contribute to the wellbeing of the world we live in and want to care for.”

He has held leadership roles as a council member, kaimanaaki, kaupapa advisor, and board trustee across sectors including health, tourism, education, and iwi development. He is also the author of Tūranga Kaupapa, the cultural competency guidelines for midwives in Aotearoa. His work spans cultural audits, coaching, workforce development, political advocacy, and storytelling.

Essential to Manawa Kōkopu, Henare elevates the cultural integrity and depth of our kaupapa. A highly respected source of mātauranga, tikanga, and quiet strength, his presence and wisdom ensure our work remains grounded, aligned, and responsive to the evolving realities of Te Ao Hou. The name Manu Hōmiromiro — gifted by Henare — continues to guide the direction of one of our core developmental pathways. Henare also brings cultural guidance to Megan’s PhD research — further shaping the kaupapa that informs the foundations of Manawa Kōkopu.

Nā te haerenga i hanga ai ahau; mā te āwhina ka toha aku mātauranga.

Shaped by the journey, through service my knowledge is shared.

Connect with us. We are here to listen, understand, and support your journey.

Protecting Our Taonga – Intellectual Property Notice: 

All artwork, visual designs, and original content featured on this website — including workshop materials, frameworks, and written concepts — are protected by copyright and remain the intellectual property of Manawa Kōkopu and its collaborators. These taonga are shared with intention, and reflect distinct ways of thinking, designing, and engaging that are deeply aligned with purpose and practice. Unauthorised use, reproduction, distribution, or adaptation of any part of this content — including for commercial or training purposes — is strictly prohibited and may constitute a breach of the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 and applicable intellectual property protections. If you are interested in using or adapting any part of the material or artwork, please contact us to discuss appropriate permissions and attribution.