New Zealand Police performing the Haka, a traditional Māori dance, during a funeral service in 2020 to honor Constable Matthew Hunt, who was killed in the line of duty.

There are numerous police agencies across the world implementing compelling police management programs. One such agency, the New Zealand Police, has emerged as forerunners in innovative police leadership. Their unique approach embraces the Māori Indigenous tradition and infuses it into their leadership and more broadly across their entire police culture.

Recent research in narrative psychology has examined how top-level New Zealand Police executives embrace a “modern police leadership” approach that involves two key features: goal focused and human centered. This leadership style embraces the traditional policing mindset of acknowledging that the work needs to be done, yet also recognizes that it cannot be done in the manner that has frequently occurred in the past with agencies across the world—i.e., at the expense of the people responsible for achieving those goals. It’s possible to both achieve goals and have a healthy workforce—and the New Zealand Police are proving it.

Narrative Psychology and Awe

Narratives don’t tell the stories of people’s lives—they create them. A person’s narratives shape how they recall the past and  how they live and see the present, and they contribute to a future in which people can thrive. This article shares findings from a research study of New Zealand Police leadership in which the data were collected directly from police leaders via the stories they shared. Importantly, this type of qualitative research can provide insights that quantitative studies cannot.

The concept of awe was used to understand how Kiwi police leaders engage in a modern leadership style of policing. Emerging research in policing has shown how awe can support overall police resilience, well-being, suicide prevention efforts, and police leadership. The findings, including research specific to policing, have also shown that awe can be a gateway to many other resilience practices.

A Modern Approach to Policing

By incorporating a human-centered approach to achieving missions and goals, “modern” leaders have long since abandoned the “win at all costs” approach, which leaves a wake of despair, burnout, cynicism, and mental health conditions in their workforce. As one New Zealand Police executive shared, being effective leaders and promoting the human-centered aspect of their modern policing strategy begins with themselves:

You can’t want to talk about leadership and who you are and why you do things without talking about where you are from and what makes you… a human being. Because, fundamentally, I’m a mum, and I’m a person.

Some of the key findings from the study are shared herein and framed in the leadership themes that follow. It is worth noting that these themes and the corresponding study are not intended to provide a complete list of leadership skills. Instead, the aim is to show how one particular agency’s leaders are embracing this modern leadership style through the concept of awe and the themes that were revealed in this specific agency personnel.

The following awe story by a New Zealand police leader shows the powerful impact that sharing narratives can have on leaders by giving them the opportunity to reflect on and then recount such narratives. Importantly, research has also shown that those who are exposed to these types of awe-inspiring stories can be influenced by them too.

To be honest with you, as a police leader, I’m in awe most days. We’re going to think about what policing is—it’s ordinary people being put in extraordinary circumstances.

We have really ordinary New Zealanders who sign up to step in front of a threat for our community. So, if I think about March [2019] and the terror attack where we lost 51 New Zealanders who were in their place of worship, and I think about that offender who is driving around, and I think about two constables that I know. They’re not advanced tactical constables; these are guys who have just served their community as constables, one in a rural area, and they see the car—and they talk to each other—and they say, “You know what, we’re not going to let him hurt anyone else. We’re not going to let him kill anyone else.”

Because that’s what he was on his way to do. He was going to another mosque to kill more people. They had a conversation that day: “If we don’t make it, can you tell my kids that I love them? Can you tell my wife? They risked their lives, and they stopped him.”

I am in awe, and I could tell you story after story of police staff who we’ve had injured, staff and others, who have thrown their bodies on their colleagues so that they can’t take another bullet because they know they’re bleeding.

I mean those stories every day leave me in awe because they’re ordinary people with extraordinary human spirit, and compassion, and kindness for the community who step in harm’s way. Every single day, I’m in awe of them.

Table 1 demonstrates some of the leading core values of New Zealand Police leaders and how Māori principles structure their approach. The tradition of formally respecting the Māori culture dates back to the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which included a promise to protect the Indigenous culture. Today, this includes honoring and infusing Māori customs, language, and practices into daily life across New Zealand.

Leadership is complex, and it involves numerous elements, skills, and personality traits. A New Zealand Police leader succinctly captures this complexity, as a leader’s role encompasses creating trust, developing the leadership-followership dynamic, and connecting an individual’s purpose with the agency’s goals:

As a leader, I want you to follow me because you trust me. I’m clear about our strategic direction, where we’re going, how you connect to our purpose.

Table 2 presents a selection of the leadership themes that emerged from the research study that are supported by comments from the participants.

The Value of Stories

A narrative psychology approach was taken for the research study. In the same way the themes are important, the specific stories shared by the participants are equally important. The following stories provide insight into the personal meaning and significance of themes while also showing how the themes are interconnected.

One of the great aspects of learning from New Zealand Police leaders was their candid, straight-to-the-point reflections.

On Effective Leadership

To me, a leader in New Zealand Police is someone who brings out the very best in the people that work with them or for them. It might be [that] the chain of command is one thing, but my ethos around this is … getting the discretionary effort because people want to do better and be their best rather than being made to.

I’m a believer [that] it’s all about the people, all about how you support them, how you care for them. To be honest, it’s how you judge them when they make a mistake. That’s actually a key factor for me. 

I think one of the key things is understanding what the purpose of a leader is. From my perspective, it’s actually nothing to do with me. It’s not about me or my position or my rank; personally, I don’t give a toss about this stuff— and it’s always been irrelevant to me. First and foremost, I think it’s about what I can do for people rather than what they can do for me. I think sometimes the ineffective leaders misunderstand that, and they think that leadership is all about them. I think it’s the opposite.

On Being Authentic/Genuine Leaders

Cops have great bullshit radars. If you think about operational policing, it’s what cops do. They turn up to a place and they go, “Oh right, there’s a whole bunch of people telling me some stuff. Let me overlay what’s actually happening here, and I’ll make an assessment of whether I trust that person or not.” For me, authenticity is grounded in that.

It’s like, just say what it is. Obviously, there are some bounds around that, and there is a level of detail that you can and can’t go into sometimes on some topics. I think if people understand that you’re coming from the right place, that what you say you will do, you actually do it. That plays into that authenticity bit for me.

On Curiosity About People

You have to know people, know with sincerity and with heart, so it’s that when we engage, I know things about you. I’ve been a leader for 22 years, so I know who my people are. What’s their why? Why are they in policing? What motivates them? Who are the important people for them? What is it? Where does their care go when they’re not at work? Kind of like for me, it’s always been about the whole person has to come to work.

On Humility

The whole idea about blue collar working.… How do you teach humility? There’s a Whakataukī, … a proverb in Māori, and it says, essentially the sweet potato is the kumara in New Zealand. But the sweet potato never talks about how sweet it is because you don’t.

Finally, the following police leader explained how experiencing awe can occur when outside comfort zones through traveling and its benefits for both leadership abilities and personal well-being:

On Stepping Outside One’s Comfort Zone

I think one of the things about being a cop is that you become quite cynical. And basically, nothing can surprise you. And I was talking to someone the other day about all the jobs we’ve attended. And you get to a point where you go, “Well, I’ve seen that.” “Well, yeah, okay, that happened.” Nothing really surprises you.

But when I went on that travel trip, that blew me away. Absolutely blew me away, and it’s something that I had never experienced before. I don’t know if that in itself would help contribute to my role in police as a leader … but there’s more out there. You have this one-eyed view of the world, because you’ve been in [the] police for so long; it’s really quite humbling to actually step outside of that police world and go, “Man, there’s more to life than this,” you know?

 The Awe Project

The leaders also took part in the Awe Project, a five-day virtual resilience program that took place in a private Google classroom for all participants. Each day, the participants engaged in two different sets of practices, one in the morning and one in the evening. The practices were both evidence-based and practical, and they took less than 10 minutes per session. A few leaders elaborated on the ripple effect these short exercises can have throughout the day:

I’ve been surprised about how relatively easy it’s been to tune into short pieces of video to get that perspective and how our team have all enjoyed and talked about the experience. Awesome is such an apt word!

It’s crazy how these short videos can calm you and open your mind when it seems really simple??!

 Outside of the awe videos, I’ve started noticing the amazing things around me much more often.

 The morning and evening session practices were designed the same way: a one-minute controlled breathing practice, a short awe-inducing video, and then two questions. The first question was related to the video, while the second question referred to a resilience practice. At different times during the program, the leaders were also asked to go back and comment on other people’s posts.

Table 3 shares some comments to demonstrate the impact the program had on police leaders and how awe can serve as a gateway to both other resilience practices and support for leadership skills.

Conclusion

This narrative psychology study was designed to be both an intervention and an opportunity to promote police leadership by allowing these police executives, who are responsible for thousands of people, to reflect on critical topics related to both their leadership abilities and their personal well-being. In the words of one police leader who participated, the experience was “incredibly uplifting and one of the best conversations I have had around leadership in a long time.”

The results have shown that this type of narrative psychology approach to leadership can be beneficial in many ways. First, it shows that New Zealand Police’s modern approach to leadership can be successful in both achieving its goals and preserving the humanity and dignity of its workforce. Next, it further contributes to the research on how awe, especially in policing, can serve as a gateway to both resilience and leadership enhancement.

Stories have the ability to inspire hope. The aim of this article was to shine a light on one group of incredible people, ordinary people, doing extraordinary work in the New Zealand Police. Let this last comment inspire and motivate those reading this to lead others, regardless of one’s  title or rank, and ensure that police professionals are looking after their own well-being, as well:

You go, “I want to join to make a difference.” Then the moment you put on the uniform, you are the difference.

Please cite as

Jeff Thompson, “New Zealand Police Leadership: A Goal-Focused and Human-Centered Approach,” Police Chief Online, May 1, 2024.