I promoted one employee instead of her coworker, and now my whole team is upset — Ask a Manager

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer who promoted one employee instead of her coworker, and now their whole team was upset? Here’s the update.

I did follow your advice by not asking Annie to do or say anything with respect to the overall dynamic on the team. I always knew that I couldn’t do that, really; I wrote the letter in a frustrated moment. That moment has passed and the team has moved on to other concerns. Beth is settling into her position. Annie has not quit, and I don’t know to what extent she has looked elsewhere. There has been no further conflict between Annie and Jane.

I made the original letter as short and simple as possible, but I can give a bit more background for your interested commenters. (I’m sure Annie would appreciate their outrage on her behalf!) The promotional opportunity was dictated by our corporate headquarters 3000 miles away, and officially I’m not the decision-maker although I led the interview team and my recommendation was accepted. An outside candidate was not an option because policy that comes from high above me requires an internal promotion, and frankly I agree that that’s a good policy given the nature of the position. The work is a bit esoteric. Moving Beth to a different team upon promotion was also not a realistic option because our team is the only one in our geographic area.

There was a formal, standardized application process which involved Annie and Beth answering the same questions in their respective interviews. The one question Annie answered poorly was the one that, considering her history, she had to answer perfectly: how do you handle stress? That is the source of the “volatility” I mentioned: she occasionally handles stress by screaming and crying. These incidents have come multiple years apart, so I’d hesitate to brand her a high-drama-high-performer, but I’d also hesitate to place her in a permanent position of authority. A previous manager pushed her to speak to a counselor and to her credit she did. I thought that she had gotten herself under control, but then came the head butting between Annie and Jane. Some of Annie’s complaints about Jane were legitimate and steps have been taken to correct that. However, Annie’s delivery of her concerns involved name calling, which is obviously not acceptable. Literally the only criticism that has ever appeared in Annie’s evaluation is “handle stress better.” It hasn’t happened yet, but I haven’t given up entirely — for Annie’s own sake as well as for the sake of the people around her. I do remain surprised that she received so much support from her colleagues when she was passed over for the promotion considering that her history is common knowledge.

As for why I would ever have fantasized about asking Annie to diffuse the tension when she’s too volatile for promotion? Because 99% of the time she’s Dr. Jekyll. But the 1% of the time that she’s Ms. Hyde is still 1% too much when there is a more stable option.