Solomon Islands: Shell Money Team Stringing Workshop

Shell Money Team Stringing Workshop, Solomon Islands

Context

In the Solomon Islands, money has never been only paper and coins. Along the west coast of Malaita, the Langalanga (“saltwater people”; pronounced LANG‑ah‑LANG‑ah) have for generations minted tafuli’ae (see glossary for local pronunciation), long strings of carefully shaped shell discs, used to seal marriages, compensate wrongs, and symbolise enduring ties between kin groups. Four shells—romu, ke’e, kurila, and kakadu—are prepared into beads and strung in precise sequences; in some contexts red‑centered strands signify reconciliation and enduring ties, and this guide uses community‑preferred spellings with a brief pronunciation and style note verified with Langalanga culture‑bearers. Far from being a museum relic, shell money making remains an active craft-economy and a living language of obligation and peace. * * *

As of 2025, Honiara’s Central Market regularly includes vendors of shell‑money strands alongside fresh tuna and greens, and artisans from Langalanga run demonstrations and lessons for visitors, students, and conference delegates. The Shell Money Festival, typically scheduled mid‑year when organized and hosted by Langalanga lagoon communities, further showcases the full process from raw shell to finished strands, but the practice itself is year‑round and interwoven with daily livelihoods and social life. * *

Meet the Company/Cultural Tradition

In our 2023–2025 scan of Honiara‑based conferences and NGOs, some corporate “team building” activities borrow respectfully from local custom rather than importing generic games. In Malaita’s Langalanga Lagoon, micro‑enterprises and homestays such as Taflabana Guesthouse invite groups to learn “shellmoney processing,” guiding guests through the steps artisans use—breaking, shaping, drilling, heating, threading, smoothing, and designing—while corporate workshops focus on safe, portable stages such as smoothing pre‑cut discs and threading until a short practice strand takes shape. It is hands‑on, calm, and collaborative, and it is run by the very people whose families continue to settle debts and seal unions with their craft, with roles such as cutting, drilling, smoothing, and threading often differentiated by gender and age and with certain motifs reserved and not taught to visitors. * *

For organisations meeting in Honiara, the tourism authority’s MICE listings connect planners to venues and cultural suppliers; cruise operators even package a two‑hour “Shell Money Tour” in the capital, where Langalanga women demonstrate the making and explain why particular colours and patterns matter. These offerings make it easy for companies and NGOs to convert a conference coffee break into a culturally rooted, skill‑based ritual with no forced sharing—no speeches or slides, just shared craft and story with opt‑in participation. * *

The Ritual

Phase	What happens	Purpose	Led by
Welcome (5 min)	Langalanga facilitators greet the group; quick safety and tool briefing; shells and finished strands are passed around.	Set respectful tone; sensory connection to the craft.	Artisan lead (often women makers)
Story & Symbols (10 min)	Short explanation of romu, ke’e, kurila, kakadu; where beads sit in a strand; when tafuli’ae are exchanged.	Anchor activity in meaning without drifting into ceremony.	Artisan lead
Demonstration (10–15 min)	Live demo of the “eight steps,” focusing on safe, portable stages (smoothing pre‑cut discs; threading).	Show sequence and quality cues.	Artisan lead
Pair work (25–30 min)	Participants work in pairs to smooth and thread a short “friendship strand” using practice beads; partners swap roles.	Cooperative focus; quiet coordination; visible progress.	Artisan team roves
Closing Circle (10 min)	Each pair holds up their strand; facilitators explain how strands travel between families to mark obligations and peace; optional photo.	Reinforce reciprocity theme; celebrate group output.	Artisan lead

Notes: Workshops are commonly scheduled for 60–90 minutes for corporate groups; for a minimum‑viable pilot plan 60 minutes for 12–20 participants focused on smoothing and threading with a ratio of one artisan to eight to ten participants and estimate all‑in cost per person as loaded time plus facilitator fees and materials, and pilot with 2–4 teams over 6–8 weeks with 2–3 sessions per team, while full‑process demonstrations and tours typically run about two hours. * *

Why It Works

Shell money is a social technology that externalises commitment; in this workshop the combination of dyadic craft and shared symbolism is intended to foster synchrony, relatedness, competence, and shared meaning and to support norm formation around reciprocity that can translate into higher belonging, trust, and calm focus at work. In Malaita, red‑centered strands have long resolved conflicts and affirmed alliances; encountering that symbolism while cooperating on a small strand reframes workplace relationships as reciprocal obligations rather than transactions. Teams learn, with their hands, that value here is accrued by patience, precision, and pattern: virtues transferable to complex projects. * *

There is emerging evidence for craft‑as‑bonding. In lab and small field studies, group craft making is associated with small‑to‑moderate reductions in stress and increases in relaxed, attentive states consistent with parasympathetic activation, and parallel crafting has been linked to physiological synchrony and self‑reported cohesion among participants. Systematic reviews of crafts‑based interventions report improvements in sociability, belonging, and emotion regulation, outcomes that are promising for teams after high‑cognitive‑load work but should be locally tested before drawing causal conclusions. The shell‑money circle may support these benefits while grounding the experience in authentic local content rather than imported icebreakers. * * *

Outcomes & Impact

Practically, groups leave with tangible artifacts—practice strands made from pre‑sourced beads—that can be mounted near a team area as a standing reminder that obligations flow both ways, and travelers should declare shell items at borders and check import rules before carrying strands across jurisdictions. Symbolically, the session introduces a living Solomon Islander ethic of reciprocity: strands move between families to close disputes or celebrate unions; by analogy, teams can encourage reciprocal support across functions. This link between artifact and ethic makes the ritual memorable and can be paired with practical metrics—for example, track handoff defects per sprint and cross‑team Slack replies per week as proxies for smoother coordination and help‑giving. * *

At the ecosystem level, spending on workshops supports local women makers and homestays, some of whom rely on shell‑money processing as daily livelihood, and companies should acknowledge economic asymmetries by using transparent day rates, co‑designed agendas, limits on photography, and post‑event credit in internal channels. The activity is not a staged one‑off festival stunt: as of 2025 it is a craft economy visible in Honiara’s Central Market stalls and in Langalanga homes, and it is increasingly packaged for visitors by credible tourism operators, making recurring corporate adoption feasible. * * *

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why it matters	How to translate
Craft over contest	Cooperative making builds calm focus and cohesion without winners/losers.	Swap races and games for a hands‑on local craft taught by artisans, and when outside the Solomon Islands partner with local culture‑bearers rather than exporting shell‑money symbolism.
Meaning-rich symbols	Cultural artifacts carry shared values (reciprocity, peace).	Choose a symbol with authentic local significance, explain it briefly, refer to outputs as “practice strands,” and do not mimic reconciliation or bridewealth exchanges.
Quiet pairs, visible progress	Parallel work reduces social anxiety; artifacts show momentum.	Use dyads, aim for a 20–30‑minute make that everyone can complete, and offer remote kits or webcam craft alternatives for distributed teams.
Pay locals, don’t perform them	Ethical sourcing sustains culture-bearers and credibility.	Contract community hosts (e.g., homestays, craft co‑ops), pay transparent day rates, and sign a short MOU covering consent to photos, attribution, appropriate practice patterns, and benefit‑sharing; do not run the ritual without community facilitators.
Keep it secular and safe	Avoid religious rites; prioritise accessible steps.	Focus on smoothing and threading using pre‑made practice beads if indoors, provide cut‑resistant finger cots or gloves, dust masks if sanding, labeled rinse water, and a first‑aid kit, and avoid cutting or drilling unless in an approved workshop with PPE and community approval.

Implementation Playbook

Contact a Langalanga facilitator or homestay (via Tourism Solomons MICE listings or providers such as Taflabana) and request a workplace or venue‑based session focused on safe, portable steps, using pre‑made practice beads, prohibiting raw shell collection, and sourcing licensed, ethically harvested materials, and agree a short MOU covering pay, consent to photos, attribution, appropriate practice patterns, and benefit‑sharing with an accountable owner, a facilitator, a comms lead, and a data owner named. * *
Book a 60–90‑minute slot inside your meeting agenda within core hours, avoiding night‑shift or live‑incident windows; provide tables, bright light, water basins with labeled disposal, PPE as needed, recorded briefings or remote kits for colleagues who cannot attend in person, and a pre‑event opt‑in form that screens for shell/shellfish allergies and hand‑sensitivity while checking prayer and holiday calendars.
Brief leaders to participate as learners, not hosts; artisans lead the room, and participation is voluntary with a socially safe opt‑out and an equivalent alternative role such as observer, logistics support, or notetaker.
Pair people across roles; assign simple strand goals (e.g., a 20–30 cm practice string) and offer accessibility adaptations such as larger beads and cords, bead threaders, pre‑started strands, seated tables, breaks, and latex‑free gloves.
Close with a two‑minute reflection using a brief script and record pilot metrics, for example a one‑item belonging pulse, Edmondson’s four‑item psychological safety short scale, and cross‑team Slack replies per week, with success thresholds such as +0.3 on belonging and +20% replies and stop rules including any safety incident or less than 40% opt‑in.
Compensate facilitators promptly and credit them visibly in internal communications; use opt‑in photo consent with default no external sharing, apply a caption template (name/role, community, place, date, consent on file) with no staged dress or props, collect only anonymized pilot metrics with 90‑day retention, provide an incident‑reporting path, have Legal/HR review employee communications, and if useful commission a longer follow‑up session for advanced patterns.

Common Pitfalls

Treating the activity as mere entertainment rather than a values lesson in reciprocity.
Overcomplicating tools (e.g., power drills) in office spaces; stick to smoothing/threading.
Tokenism—inviting artisans to “perform” without fair pay, attribution, or consent to photography.
Drifting into religious or ceremonial territory; keep the session secular and educational.

Reflection & Call to Action

Many teams talk about trust; the Langalanga make it visible. A short, shared strand condenses patience, precision, and reciprocity into something you can hold up together. If your next off‑site is in Honiara or your regional team includes Solomon Islanders, prioritize a practice that builds enduring ties and respects place while leaving skills behind with your people. Start small: one hour, two artisans, twenty pairs, and a strand that hangs in your workspace reminding everyone that help given today threads tomorrow’s success, and include a brief Community & Ethics Note listing consulted Langalanga makers, consent, benefit‑sharing terms, and any redactions of restricted knowledge.