Mokita – that which everyone knows and no one speaks of.
The term “mokita” derives from The Papuans of New Guinea, a term used to refer to these unspoken issues. In fact it is more than just a common phrase in the Kivila language, the Papuans judge the health of a community by the number of ‘mokitas’ that exist within it. How healthy is your organisation, faculty or department?
The questions I have, (as a leader) include; when and how do you explore / address the ‘the elephant in the room’ or the ‘800 pound gorilla.’ Do we already know what mokitas exist within our organisations or which mokitas our members perceive they are sharing the room with? Which brings me to the process of how do we find out…. having just drafted our staff survey yesterday. Is this the best tool for revealing ‘mokitas?’
I am not confident that staff surveys really dig out the issues, though we need to start somewhere (yes I accept that it is dependent of the questioning). I would also be curious to know your opinion on where or not staff surveys should be anonymous, whether anonymity promotes or diffuses honesty? (I side on the ‘put your name to your opinion’ but that reflects my personality I guess). One thing I am sure of, before you ask the questions, you must make sure you have the courage and resilience to address whatever may come up? If you are not ‘ready’ to receive that answers, then ask your yourself how much each ‘hidden’ truth is hurting the school.
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