Kim Hamel and Her 90-Day Plan

Introduction Kim Hamel sat musing at her desk in her new office, having learned a week prior that she had been promoted to lieutenant in the police force of a mid-sized United States city. She was only the second woman to achieve this position in the force's nearly 100-year history. Even though Kim had been with the department for 11 years, she knew that people would scrutinize her performance immediately to assess whether she could succeed at a senior level. Part of her wanted to take things one day at a early in the role, focusing being her authentic self. On the other hand, she had heard of the notion of creating a 90-day plan to help guide her efforts through the transition. Should she wing it, or formalize a plan to make an immediate impact? If she chose the latter, what should the plan look like? Kim's Background Kim always knew that she wanted to be in law enforcement. She and her childhood best friend had pretended to be Cagney and Lacey, two female police officers in a popular television sitcom when they were ten years old. She felt drawn to public service. Following this calling, she majored in public administration in college and upon graduating applied to the police academy in a mid-size city within 30 minutes of her childhood home. During the eight years she worked for the city, she found police work to be highly rewarding. Nonetheless, she aspired to be part of a lower crime-rate area closer to the city where she was raised. Fortunately, her home city posted a job opening for a police officer, for which she quickly applied and interviewed; she received an offer and accepted it. Over the next four years, she worked in two primary capacities. The first was as a law enforcement officer on the beat, where she maintained law and order and preserved peace, made arrests and enforced local and state laws, and interacted with other enforcement agencies. Second, she eventually became a detective, a position in which she was responsible for investigating crimes and gathering evidence related to solving them. Both roles involved interdependence with people at all levels in the force, both officers and non-sworn employees (dispatchers and other shift workers), and with supporting city agencies. Kim took time to build rapport with everyone with whom she interacted, regardless of seniority and position. Over time, Kim desired to advance to broader responsibilities that would give her greater scope to help her city to be a safe one. Also, she wanted to grow her skills and be challenged. When two sergeant positions (akin to first-line supervisors) opened, she applied. She did have concerns about whether to do so, as she had experienced first- and second-hand the challenges that female officers faced in law enforcement. For example, just as she applied for the positions, her son was born. Her captain asked if she was truly interested in pursuing the promotion. She later mused that he would not have asked her male colleagues the same question. When other women in her department became pregnant, their male colleagues assumed that they would quit. If a female officer or administrator wore a suit rather than a uniform to a meeting, community members and city officials assumed that she was not a member of the force. Female officers and sergeants were not invited to golf events, which drew wide participation by male officers, and when male and female officers were equally qualified and held the same responsibilities, male leaders publicly praised the male officers while remaining silent about the women's achievements. In spite of concerns about challenges she and her female colleagues faced, she underwent the promotion process. Eight officers applied, six of whom were men with similar experiences. The process was arduous and included in-basket exercises to test time management skills, a challenging written exam, submission of extensive documentation of abilities, a panel interview with senior administrators, a role play with community members, and at the end of the process, a one-on-one interview with the Chief of Police. …