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There is probably no word in the corporate dictionary that incites as much dread as the word ‘escalation’ does.
Anyone who has worked long enough in the corporate world would have either given or received one in his career. In most cases, neither of the experiences is pleasant – and unsurprisingly so.
Most people, who work in corporate roles, wield the escalation as a sword to be used against an offensive person with whom he/she picked a bone with. We have all seen the pattern and here’s a classic case
Raman, who works in Candid Corporation, a client of Softwares Unlimited (SU) doesn’t get what he wants from his SU point-of-contact, a developer named Babloo. Babloo is late to deliver a fix and has asked for an extra week for a minor fix.
Out goes an escalation to the helpless Babloo’s project manager – Sandy Singh.
When Sandy Singh is already at his wit’s end wondering how he will sort his delivery woes, he sees this email from Raman, complaining about one of his team members. In a classic case of misguided frustration, he calls Babloo to his cabin (or gives a call), gives Babloo a piece of his mind and then gives him a deadline to complete Raman’s fix. The delivery manager then proceeds to write an email to the customer telling him everything has been taken care of.
Raman reads the email from Sandy, smiles his evil smile and decides to go get a coffee. Lovely day, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, the developer Babloo, who just received a hiding, returns to his cubicle, grinds his teeth and vows vengeance – Raman is bound to make some mistake during the next requirements gathering (as he usually does), and that’s when Babloo will get even. He’ll send an escalation to Raman’s boss – Bhargav, stating that Raman sent a change after requirements were frozen and after development had begun, which will now involve a cost to the Candid Corporation!
Babloo imagined that scene in his head. Clients go berserk when additional cost is involved and that scumbag who dared to escalate against him will know better next time.
Babloo smiles to himself. He know that he will get his sweet revenge in due time. Raman deserves it. After all he just broke the unwritten ‘Bro Code’ in the corporate world – “Though shalt not escalate against a fellow brother, and thereby that brother is obligated to not escalate again thee either”.
*****
You are probably smiling as you read this. Why not?
After all, this is probably something you can relate with very well. Something similar would have happened to you too in the past.
Events such as the above end up creating a vicious circle from which there is no coming out. Usually a situation similar to the Babloo – Raman duel will also be played out by their respective managers, one or two levels up the hierarchy too.
In most such cases, the end result is always the same – broken client-vendor relationships, mutual distrust and if you take the bigger picture, a spoilt relationship between two organisations (or two teams) that will result in a dip in productivity levels of both parties involved.
And where did all this emanate from? Escalations!
Maybe it’s about time we critically scrutinised escalations, once and for all.
Sit on tight!
The Q&A that follows might just give you a comprehensive view about escalations.
But seriously, what really is an escalation and what is it supposed to be used for?
We are not talking of the dictionary meaning of an escalation – that stands for an increase in intensity of something. We are talking of the meaning as it applies in the context of corporate life.
Have you ever been told in your entire career what really is an escalation and how it should be used?
It is more likely that you were told “Send an escalation against that guy” several times and you somehow came to believe it was a weapon to be used against defaulters at work. I’m certain that today if an average team leader or a project manager is asked this question, he/she will struggle to come up with a convincing answer simply because he/she was never taught what it was for in the first place!
Let’s get that notion corrected right now.
An escalation is NOT a tool meant to be used against a person who doesn’t do his job, but rather, is a corrective mechanism to rectify a process breakdown.
Did that sink in?
If not, here’s a better way of stating it. An escalation is a method used for fixing a problem and not for fixing a person.
It is the lack of this basic understanding that leads to the ugly situations that always follow an escalation. When an average person sends out an escalation email, he almost never tries to use it as means of addressing the problem but takes on a person that leads to bigger problems.
Can escalations be avoided altogether?
In a perfect corporate world, where everything operates perfectly, escalations may not be needed but in a real world, it is unavoidable in certain situations.
Escalations are often required to invoke the assistance of somebody higher up in the hierarchy because of a breakdown in the existing machinery. Issues sometimes linger for too long in an organisation because it may just not be transparent at the right level where it can be addressed.
In fact, critical situations may arise because people do not escalate a potential problem at the right time and do it when it’s too late. But for an escalation to have its intended effect without repercussions, it should be done the right way.
The right way to escalate – is there even a right way?
A few years back, I was working as a project manager at a client location, where our organisation provided system-integrator services.
I was part of the client team and we about to initiate the final user acceptance testing (UAT) in a couple of days.
Two days before the scheduled UAT, I get to know that one of the 4 vendors would not be able to be ready with a crucial component by that time. Aligning the various end-users for a UAT was a humungous task and it would take weeks before I could get them all together were we to miss the scheduled testing date.
The vendor who was about to cause this delay somehow didn’t seem to care about the delay and was adamant that we push the dates forward. We disagreed over emails and it seemed an escalation was due.
However, before sending out that escalation email, I phoned this particular vendor’s point-of-contact (let’s call him X) trying to understand why he couldn’t deliver on time.
His response was: “We had a production failure in another customer’s network and our developers are working overtime with the testers to fix this. That is of critical priority and therefore I can’t spare people to get ready for the UAT in 2 days”
We had a little chat and I told him since I couldn’t change dates myself, I would have to send an escalation to his senior manager. I told him exactly what I was going to write, and once he understood my point, he said ok.
The escalation mail I sent was something on these lines
“Dear <Snr. Manager>
We have a critical UAT coming up on <date>which needs to be done on time to meet our rollout deadline and we just got to know that your team may not be ready for testing at that time.
I had a word with X and understand that he is completely swamped with his team working overtime on other major issues which is why this date cannot be met and therefore want to push the UAT forward.
Can you please do the needful to help X with some additional resources for the time being so that we don’t miss this deadline?
That would be much appreciated since we would not be able to find another UAT slot without considerable delay.
Awaiting your response.
Thanks and Regards,
…….”
So what happened next? A few hours later, I got the response via email that additional resources were borrowed from another team to meet the deadline and our UAT would go on as scheduled.
And what about X? He called me to discuss details, shortly following the response from his manager. And guess what, X was actually pleased that the escalation went out and thanked me for it! Else, he’d have never received those additional resources he needed to meet his timelines.
This was an escalation that actually worked and can you guess why? Let me outline it for you
- The escalation was outlining a problem without targeting a person
- The tone of the escalation wasn’t rude or discourteous (if it had been, the senior manager would have either responded in equal measure or would have taken it out on his subordinate)
- Though a person was named, the request was to help him (without being accusatory)
- The actual person involved was also marked a copy of the mail so that transparency was always maintained (X therefore never got the feeling that I was approaching behind his back)
So if at any point, if you need to make an escalation, just ensure you give cognizance to the points above, and rest assured that escalation won’t become the double-edged sword that might just end up hurting you later.
What if you are the manager who receives an escalation?
During the time I managed a team; I handled plenty of escalations myself and while some customers are very considerate when escalating, some can be outright rude.
In the case of the latter, the last thing you want to do is take it out on your team member. As a manager, that would be the most immature way to deal with the escalation. Do the following and rest assured, the escalation will be taken care of:
- Speak to your team member against whom the escalation was made to try to understand his side of the story – sometimes customers might just make unreasonable demands and in such cases, you need to reset expectations with the customer rather than slamming your team member.
- If the escalation was the result of an error from your team’s side, chalk out a plan for addressing the problem and outline an Expected-Time-of-Closure (this is very important) by when you can get it done. This ‘ETC’ should not be something you decide in isolation but a realistic timeframe decided in consultation with your team member /team. If you force your decision on somebody, it will only prove counter-productive later.
- Apologise for any inconvenience caused to the customer on behalf of your team (if the error was from your team’s end) and such a move calms a customer considerably. Tell the customer how you plan to fix the problem and share the ETC. Reassure them that you yourself will personally follow this up till the time it is complete.
- Once the problem is sorted, assure the customer how such issues will be avoided in the future. Also, ensure that the necessary safeguards are in place so that the problem is never repeated.
I followed this process for almost 2 years and it worked like a charm for me.
If it worked for me, no reason why it shouldn’t work for you either.
What if you are the person against whom an escalation is made?
Ok, now this is what is most difficult to manage at times and it gets far worse, if you have a bad boss.
Now the funny thing that you must realise is that even if an escalation is made against you for something, it is eventually you who will need to sort the problem. Here are a few tips to help you out:
- First advice: Don’t take the escalation personally – that’s the most immature thing to do.
- If you made a genuine mistake, apologise like you mean it. Half the problem gets solved over there because customers are human too and they will calm down once you accept your mistake.
- Once you realise your mistake, rectify the mistake as soon as you can and find out a way by which you can avoid the problem thereafter. Ensure that your boss and client get reassured that the problem is unlikely to resurface.
- If the escalation happened for issues beyond your control, outline the problem with your reporting manager and discuss how this could be sorted, reach a consensus on what response should go back to the customer.
And here’s one last hot tip: if at any point you think you are going to get an escalation against you, run to your manager and brief him in advance. People hate surprises and you will be pleasantly surprised how a person reacts when he gets an escalation he has already anticipated – even the meanest manager could actually be your ally in such a situation.
I remember this one situation when I rolled out a release before taking the final approval from the Change Control Board (the preliminary approval was taken though and every other team was prepared and informed).
I realised my mistake way too late and since it was a serious process lapse, I was expecting to get pounded by the short-tempered Department Head. Nevertheless, as a pre-emptive measure, I called the Department Head and explained the situation to him, apologising profusely, and expecting the worst.
To my complete surprise, he actually laughed.
He said mistakes happen and then went ahead and called the board members to excuse me since it was an oversight that wouldn’t be repeated. The formal escalation did come in via email and what could have been a disaster was easily mitigated simply because pre-emptive action was taken and the ‘dangerous’ Department Head was already forewarned.
And to sum it up
Escalations are a part and parcel of corporate life and if managed well, it could actually prove to a useful tool to get work done as long as it is initiated in the right manner.
Escalate to address a problem and not a person. If you are the target of an escalation, buckle up your shoes, fix the problem and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Do that and you will see that an escalation isn’t really the demon it is made out to be!
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