I’ve made personnel decisions that looked right at the time and didn’t work out. I can interview somebody, review their record, talk to people who’ve worked with them, and watch how they perform, only to discover later that I misjudged their ability to supervise other people.

Sometimes the promotional process itself is the problem. Other times the process was perfectly reasonable, but the person who got promoted simply wasn’t suited for the job.

I’ve never believed that being good at a job automatically makes somebody a good supervisor. I’ve seen dependable employees who knew their jobs inside and out struggle when they were put in charge of other people. I’ve also seen employees who weren’t particularly popular or outspoken become good supervisors because they had the judgment and willingness to make decisions that other people avoided.

Part of the problem is that departments sometimes treat promotions like rewards. Somebody has been there the longest, has the most certifications, scores highest on a test, or has finally waited long enough that everybody thinks it’s their turn. Those things may deserve consideration, but a promotion isn’t a retirement gift.

You’re giving somebody authority over employees, assignments, discipline, evaluations, and decisions that can affect careers. In police work, you’re also trusting their judgment in situations where a poor decision can put other officers and the public at risk.

That responsibility changes the standard. A supervisor doesn’t get to stop being accountable simply because they’ve earned a set of stripes. If anything, I expect more from somebody who has authority over other employees. Yet I’ve seen how organizations can spend more time excusing a supervisor’s repeated failures than they would ever spend defending a patrol officer who made a single mistake.

When the promotion doesn’t work

I don’t think every failed promotion means somebody made a careless decision. Some people change when they get authority. Some become afraid to make decisions, while others become a little too impressed with their new rank. Some discover that they liked the idea of being in charge more than they liked the responsibility that came with it. You can do your homework before promoting someone and still discover things you couldn’t reasonably have known beforehand.

That’s why I believe a new supervisor deserves a fair opportunity to learn the job. They’re going to make mistakes. They need clear expectations, coaching, and somebody above them who’s willing to have the uncomfortable conversations when something isn’t being handled correctly. I don’t expect perfection, and I’m not interested in setting somebody up to fail just so I can justify removing them later.

But there’s a difference between somebody learning a new position and somebody who isn’t capable of doing it. Eventually, the same problems keep coming back. Decisions aren’t being made. Employees are complaining about inconsistent standards. Work gets pushed onto other people while the supervisor avoids responsibility for it. You’ve explained what needs to change, given the person opportunities to improve, and you’re still dealing with the same issues.

At that point, I have to decide whether more time and coaching are likely to accomplish anything or whether I’m just postponing a decision I don’t want to make. And while I’m making up my mind, the people working under that supervisor are living with the consequences.

Good employees usually end up compensating for poor supervisors. They handle the complaints, correct the mistakes, make decisions that should’ve been made above them, and take on work that doesn’t belong to them. Eventually, even your best employees get tired of carrying the extra load. Some stop volunteering to do more. Others transfer, leave, or simply lose interest in giving an organization more effort than it seems willing to recognize.

Then somebody in management starts asking what’s wrong with morale. Sometimes the answer is sitting in a supervisory position that everybody knows isn’t working. Employees pay attention to who gets promoted, but they also pay attention to who gets to stay promoted. If a supervisor repeatedly avoids responsibility while dependable employees keep covering for them, the organization is showing everyone which behavior it will tolerate.

The decision still has to be fair

Recognizing that a promotion hasn’t worked doesn’t give me the right to remove somebody on a whim. I have to be careful that I’m judging actual performance rather than a personality conflict, an unpopular decision, or somebody’s willingness to challenge me when they believe I’m wrong. Sometimes the supervisor who’s creating friction is the one who’s doing the job correctly.

There are also rules governing how personnel decisions get made. Depending on the agency, civil service protections, employment contracts, personnel policies, and applicable laws may affect whether someone can be demoted, reassigned, or disciplined. Those requirements aren’t an excuse to avoid accountability. They’re part of making a decision properly, and I expect the same fairness for a supervisor that I’d expect for anyone else.

But once I’ve documented the problems, communicated my expectations, provided appropriate coaching, and given the person a reasonable opportunity to improve, I still have to decide whether they belong in that position. I can’t keep using the process as an excuse to avoid reaching a conclusion.

I also don’t have to pretend the original promotion was unreasonable just because it didn’t work out. Maybe I believed the person was ready and later discovered they weren’t. Maybe their performance changed. Maybe I overlooked something I should’ve recognized. I can acknowledge any of those possibilities without spending the next several years defending a decision that no longer makes sense.

What I have a much harder time accepting is a leader who knows a supervisor is failing but leaves that person in charge because correcting the mistake would be embarrassing, unpopular, or inconvenient. By then, it isn’t simply a question of whether the supervisor is doing the job. It’s also a question of whether the person responsible for supervising that supervisor is willing to do theirs. I can make the wrong promotion. But once I know the person isn’t doing the job, the next decision belongs to me.