The partnership between Whakauae Research Services and RYHR
How the right HR / People partner helped a Research Centre Director hold two worlds together, without asking her organisation to become something it's not.
The challenge
Dr. Amohia Boulton leads Whakauae Research Services Ltd, the only iwi-owned health research centre in Aotearoa, accountable to iwi, communities, funders, research partners, its Board and its kaimahi.
Like many leaders, Amohia didn’t come into the role as a manager - she came into the role as a researcher. "I came into this work as a researcher not aspiring to manage people or lead an organisation. Research is where I am most at home."
As Whakauae grew, HR had been managed internally, included in the Business Manager's role (who was not a People/HR specialist). The systems and processes that worked for a small organisation weren't keeping pace with its size and complexity. The decision was made to bring in external People/HR expertise.
Finding the right support wasn't straightforward either. Whakauae needed a partner who understood employment law and process, but who could also work with a kaupapa Māori led organisation, where relationships, cultural obligations and legal requirements don't always sit neatly together.
"The thing that always gets to me is when tikanga comes up against HR rules, practice, law, your requirements, obligations. There is no easy mechanism to navigate that. You just have to navigate that. And if your HR partner is a Pākehā organisation, they have to be willing to trust you."
The solution
Whakauae began working with RYHR in 2022, initially to support their growth with organisational and role design work, along with HR compliance. What started as a practical need for HR support grew into a long-term partnership.
The approach that worked was a clear division of expertise: RYHR brought the legal and compliance lens, while Whakauae brought the tikanga lens, and each respected the other's ground.
"Robyn and her team were prepared to listen and understand the organisation before giving advice. They did not always have the full context at the beginning, but they were willing to ask questions, test assumptions, and understand why certain things mattered to us."
That trust has since supported Whakauae to further develop their HR / People and Culture beyond compliance towards best practice and thinking strategically about its people – topics as varied as performance and development, wellbeing, remuneration and benefits, manager coaching and advice, further organisation and role design, recruitment and training.
For Amohia personally, a turning point in your leadership journey came from RYHR's People Leaders programme, which helped her see people management and leadership as a connected system rather than a set of disconnected parts.
"The People Leaders programme made me look and think, oh, this is a whole thing actually. There are all these moving parts to it. And if you have a really good HR team, then all these moving parts work really well and integrate together."
RYHR has also become a sounding board for the moments that don't show up in any policy (like debriefing following unscheduled HR conversations with kaimahi or preparing for a conversation that helps to get someone back on track.)
The sounding board approach works for Amohia - "I needed to know, like it felt like it was alright, but I needed to know – what can I do? Was that okay? What should I be doing or thinking about now?... It’s relief. Just relief. The worry doesn’t disappear, but it's reassuring, and then you can keep going."
The Learning
For Amohia, the real shift has been learning that good HR / People and Culture support doesn't ask an organisation to compromise who it is.
"The relationship works because there is respect. We can be frank. We can ask questions. We can say when something does not quite fit. Robyn and her team can give me clear advice without making me feel as though our Whakauae values are a problem to be worked around."
Dr. Amohia Boulton's tip for fellow leaders
"As a Māori organisation its always about the relationship. So start with the relationship. You absolutely need someone who understands employment law, process, risk and documentation – but fit matters just as much. Be clear about who you are and what matters to you, and don't assume that getting HR support means becoming more corporate or less grounded in your own principles or tikanga. The right HR partner should help you strengthen your organisation in a way that still feels like you.
And don't wait until something has gone wrong! Good HR support isn't just for crisis management."