Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative

Case and Materials

“The Toughest Beat”: Investing in Employee Well-Being at the Denver Sheriff Department

  • Authors Gaylen W. Moore, Elizabeth Linos, Jorrit de Jong
Denver Sheriffs standing in formation with hands raised for swearing in ceremony

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Topics
Data and Evidence, Innovation, Strategic Leadership and Management
Location
United States

Overview

At the largest sheriff’s department in the state of Colorado, a new effort to address staff burnout led to unanticipated risks. This case is designed to help educators, students, and practitioners think through how to diagnose a problem before adopting a solution; what to consider when weighing whether an approach is worth trying out; how to pilot a new practice and rigorously test its effectiveness; and how to manage risk and risk aversion and build support for experimentation and change.

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Supporting Materials

Introduction

Facing staffing shortages, safety concerns, and widespread burnout at the Denver Sheriff Department, Chief of Administration Sonya Gillespie was overseeing a novel experiment in boosting staff morale through peer-to-peer support. Over an eight-week trial period, employees randomly assigned to a peer-to-peer group or an individually-focused group received email prompts focusing on either strengthening connectedness and belonging or individual wellbeing. When peer-to-peer messages shared on the online platform created for the study began calling out leadership and pushing against established policies and safety protocols, Gillespie had to decide whether to prioritize the integrity of the experiment or concerns that a lack of immediate response would only make matters worse.

Learning Objectives

This case has been designed to advance the following learning objectives:

  • How to identify and pilot promising practices to improve talent management in organizations
  • How to diagnose a problem before adopting a solution
  • How to ascertain that a promising practice is worth trying out
  • How to pilot a new practice and rigorously test its effectiveness
  • How to manage risk and risk aversion and build support for experimentation and change

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The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is located at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University.