Introduction

Escalations can come in various forms, from the understated ironic remark to a highly emotional outburst of frustration. Below I will introduce two other forms of escalations, ‘shared ‘ and ‘stealth’ escalations, which in some situations can be more effective than either of the earlier two mentioned.

Original escalations

Let’s first examine what an escalation really means. According to Webster’s Online Dictionary an escalation is: “to increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity, or scope”. Apparently it was first used in 1944, based on an escalator, the “power-driven set of stairs arranged like an endless belt that ascend or descend continuously”.

In business, it is often used to ‘go one level higher’, or get the bosses involved. The traditional escalation often is ‘about somebody’, where an ‘action’-person does not get the desired response from a ‘resister’-person. The ‘action’-person then asks for the help of a more ‘powerful’ person or higher in the hierarchy (often one’s boss) to overcome the resistance of the ‘resister’(often by talking to the boss of the latter).

Shared escalations

I find that a ‘shared escalation’ often is more effective. In such a case two parties meet on the basis of equality and exchange views, which might differ from one another. If that occurs and at least one of them finds it important enough, then together the issue is escalated to the next higher up, usually the boss of the ‘resister’-party.

The major differences with a ‘normal’escalation are that both the boss of the ‘action requester’ is not involved, and that the relationship between the action-requester and the ‘resister’ are maintained. Often I have escalated together with a colleague because we both ultimately agreed on the desirability of a particular action, but he did not have the means to execute. Then together you encounter boundaries and together you go find a solution.

That saves a lot of time, and a lot of trouble.

Stealth escalations

Most escalations make the issue bigger, not only in size, but also in parties involved. The danger with increasing the group of people involved is that it becomes ever more painful for either party to give in. And to make an action item bigger, one needs to create urgency, which often is difficult to do without attaching blame. In addition, with some dinosaur action items, responsibility is difficult to attach, and especially if an action item has been hanging there for quite some time; publicity only will make people to start justifying their actions, covering their backs, not necessarily resolve the issue (except in the companies where the reader works, of course.)

A further difficulty with ‘normal escalations’ might be that you are ‘too far away’: the action item has been delegated to one team member, who is relying on an ‘external’ party that has been subcontracting it out to the following party etc. There it does not really make a difference whether the ‘external’ party is within or without the formal corporation.

In such a case it might be an option to start the escalation from ‘the other end’. Rather than following the communication trail, a ‘stealth escalation’ starts with the action that needs to be performed and then escalates to an identifiable and influential person within the ultimately responsible party, usually the CEO of that party. (This person by definition is powerful, and you do not have to analyze the exact lines to the place where it needs to happen, which is often unfeasible, especially given the short deadlines that accompany most escalations like this.)

A second characteristic of a stealth escalation is that it does not use any publicity at all. No cc’s and no bcc’s. This aspect requires professionalism from both sender and receiver. Sender needs to maintain the strictest confidentiality, usually even his direct operational counterpart may not be informed to avoid political games or putting him into a difficult position. The hardest part might be not to inform the own manager, to ‘cover your own back’. There it might be useful to just indicate something to the extent of ‘I am considering something creative’. In the ideal, most professional case you will get a response in the line of ‘as long as it is according to our corporate values and gets the job done’.

At the same time, the receiver needs to do the same: if he distributes the ‘stealth escalation’ too widely or ‘thunders from Olympos’, the stealth-component is lost and everybody will jump in the trenches again. To continue on that analogy, then the minefield will erupt. However, sometimes it is necessary to take those risks in order to ensure that goals are achieved and customers serviced.

(Originally published July 20, 2013)