How to Easily Disengage and Demotivate an Employee

​A friend called me the other day and told me about a situation at her work.
 
She recently applied to an open position, having been mentored and trained over the past 12 months towards this specific role, since the incumbent was retiring.
 
She knew she did not have the required minimum years of experience in a similar role.
 
But she has a number of transferable skills, is an excellent employee with stellar performance reviews, someone who gets along with everyone, and she is well liked.
 
Her direct manager supported her application, encouraged her to apply, and ensured she was as prepared as possible.
 
Aware that the position would also be posted externally, in addition to embracing the mentoring and training, she did everything right:
 
✅ Did not assume that just because she was an internal candidate, she was a shoe-in.


✅ Spent a number of hours on her application materials.
 
✅ Verified through her direct manager that her application packet was very strong.
 
She realized that a strong applicant pool would lessen her chances, but she was hopeful of at least getting an interview.
 
So, she applied, and waited… and waited.
 
Nothing happened. Not an invite to an interview, not a conversation explaining where things stood.
 
Until, eventually, her extremely upset manager told her that she had just heard that my friend was not being interviewed.
 
No additional information was forthcoming – the manager was simply asked to pass along the message.
 
My friend is disheartened and describes it as feeling like a slap in the face to not even have the decision explained to her, instead putting her manager in the position of breaking the bad news, with no reason provided.
 
𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙗 – 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮.
 
Of feeling like she’s not even worth a short conversation explaining why she’s not getting an interview.
 
She places no blame whatsoever on her direct manager, who has been nothing but supportive of her development.
 
However, she is now beginning a job search, because it’s obvious that the development of employees isn’t important at this organization.
 
Nor is caring about employees.
 
𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚.
 
Because good practice dictates that when someone internal applies for a job one of two things happen:
 
💠 They are interviewed.
💠 They are proactively told why they're not going to get an interview.
 
It’s not an option to let their candidacy sit, then have the news casually broken to them, as if it’s no big deal.
 
Unless your aim is to disengage your employees, by not showing them any empathy or respect.