Graduate Sam Keats is an Acting Inspector at New Zealand Police Headquarters. His research has informed the development of a new leadership programme for staff.
Recent graduate Sam Keats began his Executive MBA journey in 2018 without any prior university study or undergraduate degree, which he says resulted in a fairly rapid and steep learning curve.
The 31-year-old police officer of 10 years is an acting inspector based at the New Zealand Police National Headquarters. His service includes stints on the frontline in Canterbury and Wellington and most recently in training and organisational development.
With an interest in strategy, leadership, community learning, reflective practice and organisational development, he wanted to undertake further study to stretch himself.
“I joined the police with nothing more than a first aid certificate. A big part of the MBA journey was about understanding myself and being willing to transform who I was and how I saw the world.
“Sitting amongst a diverse range of people, who were often very different to me, had different careers and saw things very differently to how I did was really great. It gave me a good opportunity to test my thinking and perspectives.”
He says beginning an EMBA without any experience in tertiary study was daunting to begin with, but the support of lecturers made it possible.
“I had some real imposter syndrome moments in those first few papers trying to figure out what my place in the programme was, but the lecturers were really great in making it applicable for me – that meant that even papers like economics and finance became relevant and provided learnings for me to take back to the role I held at the time. It almost felt like each course was designed just for me in the way that I wanted to learn.”
He says he valued working with other professionals who were senior leaders, aspiring leaders or managers, and learning from their experience.
“You got to challenge your interpretations and assumptions by testing your thinking with your peers on each course, I really liked that format. You have to be open to being challenged by your peers and that was easily the most valuable part.”
His research assignment was focused on testing a new approach to the development of police officers in the field using self-reflection within communities’ practice. After investigating these areas, Sam tested his research in a pilot programme that involved police officers utilising a reflection framework within a community of peers to understand, learn and adapt to the challenges of policing. Elements of this reflective practice framework and community learning approach have been adopted as part of the foundation of the organisation’s new leadership development programmes.
He says studying opened many doors and provided opportunities for him to apply what he was learning at university to his role and the wider work force.
“I had some really good leadership and mentorship throughout my study. To help my learning they [NZ Police] created a number of opportunities for me to be part of conversations which, probably for somebody of my service and experience, I wouldn’t have been able to have access to.
“This allowed me to understand my organisation more and apply what I was learning in the ‘real-world.’ My MBA provided with me with credibility and confidence to show the value that I could add and has continued to create opportunities for me to work on important and impactful work with experienced and senior leaders.”