Escalation management is critical in all projects. You may hear senior stakeholders saying I don’t want any surprises but surprises happen, project managers are skilled professionals but they can’t predict the future. Risks turn to issues and problem solving, troubleshooting, bottleneck and impasse management are all part and parcel of day to day project management. 

Therefore it is essential that when problems arise that a project manager can’t solve or does not have the authority to solve, then the right person/s are informed and tasked with making a decision to remove the impasse and keep the project delivery on track if possible.

To achieve this an escalation policy must be put in place and agreed by all the senior project stakeholders and project sponsor/s at the start or initiation stage of the project.

Without an effective escalation policy key decisions will be delayed and not made and this will delay project delivery. The consequences can be added cost, enhanced resource management, disillusioned and frustrated project managers and stakeholders. Remember constant delays and changing of project timelines due to lack of decision making can lead to apathetic stakeholders, end users and ultimately affect the faith that end users have in a prospective new system.

Some key points to include in the escalation policy are noted below.

• Outline clearly the authority level of the project manager, what can they solve and where their authority starts and ends.

• Outline clearly the levels of escalation.

• Use a table or list format where possible to illustrate the levels of escalation.

• See the example below, this can work well, this is in text format but can be used as a table as well.

• Remember each level should be an escalation by itself and should be used if the assigned decision maker is unable to make a decision.

• Headings should include, Level / Owner / Decision Type /  Example.

Level 1

Owner: Project Manager

Decision Type:  Day to day project running decisions 

Example: Allocating resources.

Requesting owners complete tasks by project deadlines 

Level 2

Owner: Business Owner and/or Project Sponsor (can be the same person)

Decision Type: Operational & technical decisions

Example: Scope queries, bespoke work, cost or budget queries.

Signing off on extra cost for bespoke work.

Rejecting inadequate requirement solutions.

Requesting new design solutions.

Querying contract interpretations.

Level 3 

Owner: Managing Director and/or CEO, CFO 

Decision Type: Executive decisions that could affect timelines and services delivered 

Example: Final directive on contract (bar legal intervention)

Sign off on new system

Sign off on new resources

Decision to replace vendor 

Level 4 

Owner: Company lawyer, legal council 

Decision Type: Contractual, Legal decisions/ 

Example: Disagreement on services rendered as per contract (most likely between a client & vendor), legal team would assess and make recommendation on how to proceed, advise on legal implications etc 

The main aim of an escalation policy is to facilitate decision making. Authority levels for project managers can be quite limited in most PMO structures and this can necessitate the move to level 2 in the list above. In most cases a business owner and/or project sponsor should have the authority and business acumen to solve most issues and make decisions that break impasses and continue the natural flow of project delivery.

However there is no point being naive to think this is the case in all situations. A move from level 2 to 3 can be needed when the decision being made is deemed so important that it falls outside the project sponsors remit and needs a CEO or managing director to intervene and make critical decision to remove the bottleneck . It could be that a vendor and client have issues with something specific in the contract and interpretation on both sides is different and both sides need to get together to thrash it out.

In the unlikely event level 3 fails then the legal process of level 4 will be needed. This must be avoided unless absolutely needed as at this stage client and vendor relationships will be strained possibly beyond repair and it may be the case to get a project delivered the only path is a legal one. Once level 4 is initiated reputational damage to clients and vendors must be minimised.

The escalation policy described above is a guide and each company is free to draft their own escalation policy but the most important thing is one is drafted at the beginning of the project and by all necessary parties internally and externally if it is a client/vendor delivery