What are the most effective metrics for executive management to resolve escalations?

I am writing this with external customer escalation as context.In my experience, the most critical response is the "acknowledgement" that the organisation has received an escalation and that every effort is being taken to taken to address it. I have steered away from language around SLA's, typical response times and kept the focus to understand the issue on hand. The other under appreciated aspect of an escalation is the "emotional" aspect of the situation. Our customers are seeking reassurance and we may miss responding to that nuance while dealing with the escalation. Tracking the situation, appropriate frequency of communication with the concerned stakeholders, till you get to resolution and stable state is vital.

To effectively manage escalations, executive management should focus on resolving issues quickly and efficiently. Key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used to measure the effectiveness of the escalation process. The most effective KPIs for executive management to resolve escalations include mean time to resolve (MTTR), escalation rate, resolution rate, customer satisfaction (CSAT), net promoter score (NPS), cost per resolution, first contact resolution (FCR) rate, total resolution time (TRT), escalation volume, and employee engagement. By monitoring these KPIs, executive management can identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to enhance the escalation process.

While both escalations are highly critical, I believe internal should be paid attention to avoid the external ones that have high impact and risk. Internal can be resolved more easily with better communication, understanding and SOPs while external may involve negotiations and sometimes monetary impact as well

Executive management in addressing escalations should focus on various metrics, including the time taken for resolution, customer satisfaction (CSAT), first contact resolution (FCR), escalation volume, root cause analysis (RCA), closure rate, employee feedback, resource utilization, trend analysis, and cost evaluation. These metrics provide a comprehensive view of efficiency and customer satisfaction, facilitating proactive management and ongoing process improvement. Consistent monitoring empowers decision-makers to make informed choices and enhance the overall effectiveness of the escalation resolution process.

Having a panoramic perspective using market intelligence is critical in reading the marketplace of competitor activity, audience/consumers habits and tendencies, resources available, social, as well as being aware of the educational, economic and political landscape, and so gathering all the data points into a metric that is easily comprehended and reacted to, is key to the actions and decisions you take.

Knowing who you have employed and what skills are required against the bigger Strategic Plan is critical to organizational longevity.

Analyse root cause, severity and identify the problem. We will never resolve any problems if we don’t identify and analyse ones we have. Problem can be revoked for the future if there’s prevention in place and tools available to prevent from occurring again. It is important to make the person aware who’s responsible and help them to identify, assess and prevent otherwise they may not be even aware.

Effective control and management of external escalations are crucial aspects of an organisation's effective performance. This involves analysing metrics such as number, frequency, resolution time and resolution rate. The team tackles external challenges efficiently, reflected in the frequency and quantity of escalations. Organisational agility is measured by resolution time, while the resolution rate quantifies success. A high rate strengthens confidence, indicating exceeded expectations, while a low one warns of possible negative consequences. Careful analysis of these metrics is essential for optimising operations, strengthening relationships and mitigating risks.

the results of recommended actions is ultimate metric in deciding if it was more right or more wrong. I’ve seen team members recommend the most incorrect “solutions” simply because they wanted credit for the idea or wanted to be right about it. not because it was the correct action for the organization.

Existen otras métricas para el proceso de administración de escalamientos, como el tiempo de resolución, la satisfacción del cliente, el retorno de la inversión y el impacto en el negocio. Es importante contar con un sistema integrado y automatizado que facilite la recolección, el análisis y el reporte de estas métricas.

Diluting the issues to broader issues under a Snagpoint Systenlm can greatly reduce the complexity of issues and can the be easier addressed.

Existen otras métricas para el proceso de administración de escalamientos, como el tiempo de resolución, la satisfacción del cliente, el retorno de la inversión y el impacto en el negocio. Es importante contar con un sistema integrado y automatizado que facilite la recolección, el análisis y el reporte de estas métricas.

Es ist m.E. wichtig – neben allen Kennzahlen – auf die Menschen zu schauen. Und als Gesch?ftsführung nah bei ihnen zu sein. Ich durfte in der Beratung in Corona-Zeiten die Erfahrung machen, dass die Unternehmen und Teams besser und erfolgreicher durch die schwierigen Zeiten gekommen sind, die sich t?glich Zeit für den Austausch genommen haben. Und zwar den Austausch zu nicht-arbeitsrelevanten Dingen, zu Fragen wie: Wie geht es Dir aktuell? Wie kommst Du mit der Belastung klar? Was k?nnen wir tun, um Dich zu unterstützen? Das war die beste Pr?vention von Eskalation.

Handling complaints globally for standard chartered I would say the only 2 metrics you need is - FTR - first time resolution - OHS - customer satisfaction of the resolution FTR forces you to re-engineer the whole company to empower the frontline, to give them the same empowerment the department heads have and slash away at the ineffective delays of escalating complaints Meeting FTR in the 90-95% range automatically gives you OHS in the high nineties All other complaint metrics fall into either of the above categories

Metrics schmetrics!! Sometimes we take the axiom "We manage what we measure" too far and then have too many metrics to be effective. We must ensure that we keep the metrics to a minimum and select metrics that we have the automation to support. That is, if a metric takes 3-5 days to be "massaged" and "reported" then don't expect to have a response and escalation cycle shorter than 3-5 days. What is required by your internal and external customers, given your current performance management capabilities, and strategic intent should drive: (1) your chosen metrics in the short term, (2) your staffing requirements to respond in short & medium term, and (3) your systems/automation acquisitions to improve performance long term.

Most of us confuse escalations with urgency of a resolution . It is critical to understand the situation and characterise the criticality and impact. Effective resolution revolves around the ability to judge the compounding effect whether internal or external . If not done thoughtfully, and kept bottled up in a small cohort it may have consequences that may spiral well beyond control. Communication within stakeholder leadership is as critical a step to move forward as a strong leadership team with sleeves folded in the trenches to resolve the issue at core.

Consider metrics that reflects a breakdown by channel or severity that provides deeper insights into how resolution rates vary across different channels (e.g., phone, email, social media) and escalation levels (low, medium, high).Benchmarking by comparing with industry standards or internal targets also helps assess performance and identify improvement opportunities.