Escalations are good…
Most of us have read the famous story of the boy who cried “wolf” when there was none and when there really was one; no one bothered to help him! This was the first thing that I remembered, when I thought of this topic – Escalation!!
Funny enough, this topic appears very obvious and ordinary too but in reality it is much misunderstood or abused and so is an underachiever. While there is enough research which suggest that more than 50% project failures are due to lack of timely attention (read “escalation”) to the project, there is also a thought process that escalation itself also can cause project failure. (Refer here) But on a deep analysis of these thought processes, it is evident that often “escalation” is misunderstood and hence we either land into too many unnecessary, inappropriate escalations or avoid it to an extent where project manager keeps on fighting until his/her last breath!!
BTW, what is escalation?? Simply put “it is an attempt to focus on an issue in hand or on horizon in order to get best possible assistance for its timely resolution”. Quite clearly, there are three major aspects of it as highlighted and I am pretty sure that if these are taken care then “escalation” is the best weapon that project managers can use ensuring project success.
When to escalate: It is a major delusion that only issues in hand needs to be escalated and this probably is the single most reason why “power of escalation” is underutilized. At a broad level, we can categorize escalations into two types;
? Managed Escalations – Proactive in nature for issues which are on horizon with a possibility of occurrence.
? Un-managed Escalations – Usual reactive attempt of firefighting: This should be really in case of those issues which can’t be planned or difficult to plan
Now it’s not a rocket science to conclude that proactive issue resolution (Managed Escalation) is better than reactive damage control (Un-managed Escalations), however in my opinion Project Manager’s psyche is the culprit for ignoring this obvious fact!! I have seen/heard many weird reactions across the community indicating this psyche…
? I don’t need to escalate because I can resolve it myself
? Asking for help would mean that I am weak
? Leadership will be constantly breathing down my neck if I escalate
What to escalate: As I said before, while there are folks who are over conservative, there are also folks who are go over-board while escalating. I guess a quick and simple questionnaire would help in deciding if the issue is worth escalating.
? Investigate the issue thoroughly
o If the issue is unresolved; will it cause any project delays?
? If yes then escalate
o Have you exhausted all possible solutions in your control
? If yes then escalate
o What are the root causes of issue?
? If the root cause is either repeat in nature or intentional mistake then escalate
? What is the time in hand before the issue would start impacting and is this time sufficient for your leadership to offer help?
o If yes then escalate
o If you have more than sufficient time in hand then do you think any of the above answer change during this course of time?
? If no then escalate
How to escalate: It is our usual belief that our senior(s) are always up-to-date on project activities and more than often it is wrong! so whenever escalation happens, project managers spend most of the face-time in gathering the escalation details rather than discussing the solution. Following protocol would help while escalating;
? Provide following details before hand;
o Project background
o Problem definition
o Your understanding of root cause
o Your assessment of possible impact
o Alternate solution if any
? Most importantly only get the right and required people involved!! (Email abuse is another pain but I would talk about it some other time)
They say that “person’s professional maturity is on display during an escalation” and this is my attempt in helping you increase your professional maturity!!!!