“We’re in trouble.”
How can I help?
“I’m ready to do an escalation up my management chain.”
Sounds like serious trouble.
“It is! My operations team manages a large data store. The volume of data has been growing fast.”
Growth in data probably means the business is growing. How is that a problem?
“Data growth has been trending up unexpectedly. We use commercial data management software. The software license has a hard limit on data storage. Our data usage is going to exceed our license capacity sooner than later.”
Can you resolve the capacity issue by purging obsolete data?
“My operations team manages shared infrastructure services. Multiple application teams use the data store. We can’t purge any data without sign-offs from the application teams.”
What about your data management process?
“That’s part of my frustration. We have a data management process! Other teams haven’t been following the process. Now, we’re in a bad place and forced to react.”
What happens if you go over the license?
“We’ll have to purchase additional license units from the vendor to bring us back into compliance. That’s an unplanned expense. Plus, my team will look bad if we go over the license limit. We’ll get blamed because we manage the data store.”
You are in a bad place.
“Exactly. I’m going to escalate.”
Do you still have time to remediate the issue before you run out of capacity?
“Sure. We’re not in the red zone yet. We’re yellow, trending red. Time for me to escalate to my boss.”
Hold on.
“But I have to take action.”
You are going to take action. We’re not ready to push the escalation button yet.
Cause for pause
Escalations are necessary to move our teams past blockers. Think about escalations for a moment. When we reach the point of an escalation, we’re like Bruce Banner getting ready to turn into the Hulk. Anger has driven us to escalate and rightfully so. We channel our Hulk mode to push our teams past a blocker so they can get things done. Not that we go on a destructive rampage like the Hulk. We redirect our anger into positive energy, focusing on shaking up the system to clobber those blockers.
Escalations are effective. However, an escalation is the easy way out. Right? Just punt the problem to someone else up the leadership chain. That’s an acceptable course of action for a manager who’s exhausted ALL efforts to unblock their team on their own. We’re not ready to go there yet. We still have a fighting chance with our license capacity scenario.
“Dude, we’re yellow. Almost red!”
Stay calm. We are going to escalate.
“But you said we’re not going to escalate?”
Not immediately. You’re going to learn about the power of a gradual escalation.
I’m an experienced technology operations and infrastructure leader. Unless I’m managing an active production emergency or outage, I pause to consider escalations, putting mindfulness into practice. Consider the following factors before you escalate an issue up your leadership chain:
Emotional regulation
Anger can be a powerful catalyst for change, but you don’t want anger to trigger destructive actions. Get a handle on your emotions before you push the escalation button. Take some time to reflect. Going on a Hulk style rampage is a great escapist fantasy. In reality, allowing your heated emotions to drive your behavior can do more harm than good. You want anger to spur you into action. You don’t want anger to make you act like a reckless jerk. Be cool before you escalate.
Cross-team relationships
An escalation involving another team is going to affect your relationship with that team. Escalations can cause friction and conflict. But, you say, “Well, they deserve it. They’re not doing their jobs. That’s why I need to escalate.” That’s true. However, as a leader, be mindful of your cross-team relationships. Short-term, that escalation will resolve an immediate issue. Long-term, that escalation may have a negative impact on your relationship with the other team. You’ve got to build and maintain relationship bridges across teams to be successful as a leader. Keep that in mind before you turn on your Hulk mode.
Recognize privilege
Escalations are a privilege. You’re busy. Your boss is busy. When you escalate, you’re punting an issue to your boss, adding another task to their plate. Treat an escalation as a privilege. Be considerate of your boss before you escalate. Also, you wanna show your boss that you’re capable of solving problems on your own. Ensure that you’ve exhausted all of your problem solving options before your inner Hulk comes out. Use – don’t abuse – your privilege.
Build your case
To make an escalation effective, you need data and facts. If you’re considering taking a blocker to your boss, be prepared to present a strong case. Your boss will need that data to make their case for action to their counterpart on another team. This is why emotional regulation is an important factor to consider. You don’t want to go before your boss with an emotionally-charged rant based on assumptions and incomplete facts. Your team is counting on you to move them forward. Gather data and facts. Be prepared.
Solve the problem
Now, let’s devise a solution for our license capacity problem. We’re going to practice emotional regulation to channel our anger into a constructive, gradual escalation. If we reach the point of an escalation, we recognize that we’re going to further strain our already tenuous cross-team relationship with other teams. Although we have the privilege of an escalation, we’re going to hold off until we’re certain that we’ve run out of options to resolve the issue independently. As part of our gradual escalation process, we’re going to exhaust our remaining options on a solution while gathering the data required to build the case for the actual escalation.
Here are the stages of our gradual escalation:
1. Prepare the escalation case
Get your team together. Discuss the history of the issue. This discussion will be part fact-finding mission and part team venting session. Document the facts. Get details such as: cause of issue, actions taken, actions not taken, blocking items, names of stakeholders on other teams and risks to the business. Review all work tickets related to the issue. Now is the time to ensure that work tickets contain all relevant facts, including due dates for completion. Also, document the remediation plan.
2. Email the stakeholders
This is a call to action email, asking the stakeholders, who have been blocking us up to this point, to deliver on their tasks. Be direct with the tone of your email message and state the actions required from the involved parties. Be clear about due dates. Use a bold font to highlight the risks of not taking action on the deliverables. Cite any related work tickets in the message. Save that email, Dr. Banner. If things don’t start moving forward, the big green guy is gonna be making a special delivery up the leadership chain.
3. Corral the stakeholders
You’ve collected the facts. You sent out a terse email with a directive to take action. In an ideal world, things will start moving forward. In reality, well, the responsible parties still haven’t taken any action. You have one more hand to play before you channel your inner Hulk. Schedule a meeting with the stakeholders. Make sure you go into the meeting with an agenda and expected outcome. Be direct and reiterate all of the facts, citing the email as a reference. Be clear about the risks of failing to take action. Use the meeting space to clear up any misconceptions. Take meeting minutes and document follow-up items.
4. Hulk mode on
Once you reach this stage and no action has been taken, escalate the issue to your boss. Show your boss how you’ve exhausted all of your options by producing the documentation trail from the team meeting, the call to action email and the minutes from the stakeholder meeting. Pretty cool to be prepared for your escalation discussion! As an added benefit, your boss has the facts needed to engage their counterpart in the organization to make their case to get things moving forward. Also, be sure to raise any concerns about the impact of the escalation on cross-team relationships.
One last thing!
Managing a frustrating blocker and enduring the escalation process is painful and draining. You don’t want to go through a repeat of the same scenario because it can happen again. In the aftermath of the escalation, do a postmortem to analyze and address failures in process. Use the postmortem as an opportunity to collaborate with your stakeholders on the lessons learned. As an added benefit, the collaboration is your chance to repair any damage to the relationship bridge between your teams.
Conclusion
Escalations are easy. Too easy. Instead of immediately dumping a problem on your boss, practice mindfulness. Pause to consider emotions, relationships and privilege. Build a strong case. If you run out of options to solve the problem, channel your inner Hulk and present your case for the escalation.