How To Escalate an Issue at Work? Include These 4 Components
An effective escalation requires more than just marking to seniors
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Many years ago, I recall being invited to a meeting at work.
It was called by the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of the bank, and had the COO (Chief Operating Officer), senior VPs, my boss’s boss, and me.
During the meeting, the CTO asked everyone about their IT-related issues that were yet to be addressed.
I was surprised.
I was just a manager then. Even my boss was not invited to the meeting.
Later, I realized it was because of the Escalation emails I sent from time to time on different issues.
They had an intensity that my (then) small 25-member team’s issues were tracked at the CTO level.
To Escalate today has become synonymous with marking to seniors — your and your counterpart’s boss.
In the absence of any thought in drafting the email — apart from merely marking to seniors — just 1 issue results in 10s of email going up and down the chain before something meaningful is achieved.
The relationship between the departments deteriorates in the interim.
In this article, I share how to effectively escalate an issue from my 2-decade experience at work in a bank.
A mere 10 minutes of think-through in writing the email will help you to achieve what would otherwise take 10s of calls and meetings.
The relationship, too, wouldn’t suffer.
Let us begin.
To start, you need to segregate issues into two broad categories when it comes to Escalation:
– One-off issues
– Issues that are systemic in nature
Both will require a distinct approach.
1. One-off Issues
“One-off” issues that require escalation could pertain to a single transaction, a one-off delay, an instance of non-revert, etc.
These can mostly be resolved with an effective Subject line.
In short, convey how the issue is affecting your work. The subject structure has to thus become:
Category — Issue — Reason for Escalation
Some examples:
- IRDA Staff — Not in 5 branches — will come in Audit Report
- Form XYZ — Rs.2.75 lakh diff — Deadline for Tax Return 31 July
- Customer List — Await info — Reply to SEC on hold!
- Mark Ltd . — Usd. 50K Loan Approval — Check return deadline 20 min!
- Joseph Smith — misplaced Nomination — wants to meet CEO
Subjects like these don’t leave room for discussion.
They force people to give priority. They force bosses, who are cc’d, to pay attention, to intervene if required, and, in all probability, to track for closure.
In a day, you will face tens of issues.
Stop running — getting into long phone calls and meetings to solve them.
Instead, consider your chair, your PC, and your email as a pilot’s cockpit, and manage situations with a forceful subject.
Note:
Exercise restraint when using this approach.
Use it judiciously, depending on the situation. It shouldn’t look like you are raising false alarms.
2. Issues that are Systemic in nature
A “Systemic” issue is one where you can’t just blame an individual.
You get an inkling of this from a couple of (prior) interactions with the counterpart.
At other times, it could be the same issue cropping up every now and then — confirming that the issue is not just restricted to the individual.
In such cases, while you put pressure on the individual, you will also have to focus on the real reason — the volumes, the process, the system, etc.
And to get your job done, you will have to proactively reach in.
An example follows.
First, I list the typical way we would escalate in a circumstance, and then a revised approach that will help you to get the job done, faster and better.
Put simply, the way we escalate issues at present suffers from 3 flaws: a weak subject line, low on facts, and high on emotion.
— — — --
Example (Avoidable)
To: Sunil Kumar (Officer — Accounts Team)
Cc: Ashish (Your Boss), Ramesh (Sunil’s Boss)
Sub: Re: Re: AK Shah & Co — Pay order not recd??
Sunil,
What is the Issue? Why haven’t we received the Pay order of M/s. A.K.Shah & Co till now?
The bill was sent nearly 25 days back — the Pay order should have come by now.
Manish (from my team) has been constantly following-up — but there just isn’t any reply!
I understand there are many cases like this where we have yet to receive the Pay orders (Nadia Enterprises, McGraw & Co., Encore Ltd., etc.).
Once we send the bills, it becomes your responsibility to send us the Pay orders as per the agreed TAT (5 days) — or alternatively, let us know — if there is any issue with the bill.
Please revert urgently on all the bills that are pending with you, pertaining to DSA’s. (Direct Selling Agents of the bank)
The delay is impacting the sourcing of new Accounts.
Regards..
Nitin Sharma
Head — Sales (Current & Savings Account)
Asia Bank, Delhi
— — — — — —
You are angry — and have put your entire might in a 5-minute, hurriedly drafted email.
But your email doesn’t do much to resolve the issue, other than piling onto an already-burdened Nitin.
A better option would be to have a participative approach, which means a strong subject line, high on facts, low on emotion, and preferably with some suggestions.
— — — — -
Example (Revised):
To: Ramesh (Manager — Accounts Team)
Cc: Ashish (Your Boss), Ravi (Ramesh’s Boss)
Sub: 32 Bills pending — Over 25 Days old — Business Suffering
Hi Ramesh,
Of late, we find the Pay orders — for the bills sent by us — are received much after the TAT of 5 days — and that too after a lot of follow-ups from our side.
As of today, we find there are 32 bills for which we are yet to receive the Pay orders. All of these bills were sent, in different schedules, more than 20–25 days back.
The details of these 32 bills, vendor name, amount, schedule date, etc. (as detailed in the attached Excel file) are as under :
XX XX
XX XX
These bills pertain to DSAs (Direct Selling Agents) of the bank who source Current & Savings Accounts for the bank.
Due to the delay — the DSA’s in turn have not paid salary to their field staff. (July salary has not been paid to date to staff — today is 30 Aug).
As a result, there is angst among staff (many of them have Housing Loan EMIs).
This is increasingly impacting their performance — acquisition of new Accounts for the bank.
Manish from my team has been constantly following up on individual bills with Sunil in your department, but in view of the large number of bills pending, I felt the need to highlight them.
i) Appreciate if you can check and let us know the status of these 32 bills. (If required, we can rescan copies of these 32 bills).
ii) Also, going forward, how do we ensure that bills are processed as per the agreed TAT, i.e., within 5 days? (Can we look at receiving an MIS from the Accounts Dept., every Friday, which gives the status of bills received during the week — processed / unprocessed, the reason for hold, etc.?)
Regards..
Nitin Sharma
Head — Sales Team (Current & Savings Account)
Asia Bank, Delhi
— — —
The revised email –
i) Has a strong Subject: One need not open the email, and yet based on the subject — ‘32 Bills Pending — Over 25 Days old — Business Suffering’– all will be seized of the issue.
The subject indicates a systemic breakdown and will attract everyone’s attention.
I recall a subject similar to this, and within 15 minutes, my boss, who was travelling, had joined in the conversation from his smartphone.
ii) Is high on Facts : The clear listing of 32 bills — as also your offer to rescan the bills, if required — will help Ramesh to focus his efforts — put all his energy, staff — to investigate & issue the Pay orders for these 32 bills on priority.
True — this means you have had to do some work — collate details of all the pending bills as per your records. But that is a small price to pay, to have your issue resolved speedily.
iii) Is low on Emotion — There are no high pitched words, and yet, by your description of how the delay is impacting the work — “This is increasingly impacting their performance, acquisition of new Accounts for the bank” -you have conveyed the seriousness of the issue.
Contrary to this, the focus in the first email is destructive (“What is the issue?” “Once we send the bills, it becomes your responsibility…”)
iv) Has a Suggestion: Your suggestion of publishing an MIS every Friday by the accounts team, lets all know that you have thought through the issue and seek to resolve it once and for all.
(Not in all, but in some cases — as above — you do get an opportunity to suggest a solution. When you get one, do share your opinion.)
— — —
True, drafting an Escalation email like this takes time — possibly an additional 30 minutes — but once sent, it will get results that would otherwise take tens of phone calls & meetings.
Conclusion
Today, To Escalate has become synonymous with marking to higher-ups.
Bosses have work of their own. Don’t drag them into each and every issue.
Instead, if at all required, just cc them. They know what is important enough to intervene, and where they just need to keep track.
Your greater focus instead should be on drafting the email to a level that forces action, a response from the counterparts themselves.
Follow these 2 guidelines to effectively escalate an issue.
For One-off issues
1. A Strong Subject Line (Category — Issue —Reason for Escalation)
For Systemic Issues :
1. A Strong Subject Line (Category — Issue — Reason for Escalation)
2. High on Facts
3. Low on Emotion (Dispassionately state how the issue is affecting your work)
4. Include some suggestions, if possible.
To Escalate effectively is a skill that will give manifold returns over the course of your career.
The better you are at Escalation, the less you will have to depend on your boss for everyday work issues.
You will be able to work independently, marshaling your company’s resources as required. Seniors will marvel at your ability to get work done.
If you are in an Individual Contributor role, or a new Manager, I have created an eBook with specific suggestions and examples to help with your Year-end Appraisal. Download your copy here.
