Introduction
You’ve sent the follow-up email. You’ve raised the issue in two consecutive status meetings. You’ve brought the right people together and made sure everyone understands what is holding up the work.
Then another week passes, and the project is still waiting on the same thing.
Project managers spend a lot of time coordinating. We connect people, clarify dependencies, follow up on commitments and make sure information gets where it needs to go. Most of the time, that is exactly what keeps a project moving.
But there comes a point when more coordination stops helping.
One of the less obvious skills in project leadership is recognizing when you’ve reached that point. It also means knowing how to escalate an issue in a way that moves the project forward rather than simply calling attention to a problem.
Coordination and Escalation Solve Different Problems
Not every delay needs to be escalated. Sometimes a developer needs clarification. A stakeholder may not realize another team is waiting on an answer. Two groups may be working from different assumptions and simply need a conversation to get aligned.
These are coordination problems. Coordination generally works when the project needs:
-
Better communication: Someone is missing information or context.
-
Clarification: People are working from different assumptions.
-
Connection: The right people have not yet talked to one another.
-
Follow-up: An agreed action simply needs to be completed.
-
Alignment: The team has not yet settled on a shared understanding of the problem.
Escalation solves a different kind of problem.
It becomes useful when the people currently working on the issue cannot resolve it themselves. There may be competing priorities, limited resources, unclear ownership, or a disagreement that requires a business, product or technical decision from someone with greater authority.
If the problem is communication, more communication may solve it. However, if the team is waiting on a decision or lacks the authority to move forward, more communication may only produce another conversation.
How Do You Know When You’ve Reached That Point?
There is rarely a flashing sign that says, “Escalate now.” Usually, you realize you’re having the same conversations and seeing the same delays.
Some warning signs are easier to recognize than others:
-
The same issue appears in meeting after meeting: Everyone understands it, but nothing changes and the action date simply keeps moving.
-
You’re hearing “we’re waiting for…” repeatedly: That often exposes a dependency with no clear owner driving the next step.
-
Two teams are at an impasse: Neither has the authority or incentive to accept the other’s approach.
-
The issue is beginning to affect a committed milestone: What was once a working-level problem is now creating a real delivery risk.
-
You’ve stopped learning anything new: Another meeting would involve essentially the same people having essentially the same conversation.
Of course, a project manager should make reasonable attempts to resolve problems at the working level first. Escalating every disagreement or late action item creates noise and makes escalation less meaningful.
But there is also a point where continued coordination becomes its own form of delay. If another meeting is unlikely to produce new information, a new commitment or a decision, the project probably does not need another meeting.
It needs a decision.
Escalation Does Not Mean “Telling On” Someone
Part of the hesitation around escalation comes from the word itself. It can sound confrontational, as though escalation means reporting that another person or team has failed. However, useful escalation is not about documenting how hard you tried to get someone to respond.
Compare these two approaches:
-
Blame-focused: “I’ve emailed the team three times and they still haven’t given us an answer.”
-
Decision-focused: “We need this decision by Friday to maintain the September launch. We have two options. One protects the date but increases cost; the other avoids the additional cost but moves the release. We need a decision on which tradeoff to accept.”
The first focuses on what someone has failed to do. The second focuses on what the project needs.
Pay attention to that shift. A good escalation should help the person receiving it to quickly understand what is unresolved, why it matters, and what needs to happen next.
In other words: escalate the issue, not the person.
Make the Decision Easier to Make
Escalation works best when it does more than move a messy problem up the organization. Before escalating, a project manager should be prepared to answer:
-
What exactly is unresolved?
-
Why can’t the current team resolve it?
-
What happens if nothing changes?
-
When does the decision need to be made?
-
What options are available?
-
What are the tradeoffs?
-
Who actually has the authority to make the call?
That preparation turns escalation into something much more useful: a request for a decision.
Project managers often do not own the final decision. We may not decide which architectural approach to take, how funding should be allocated, or which business priority wins out.
However, we can make the decision more visible. We can frame the question, identify the tradeoffs, clarify the timing, and bring it to the person who can make the call.
Don’t Wait Too Long to Escalate
Waiting too long is another mistake project managers can make. It is tempting to try one more follow-up, one more discussion, or one more meeting before escalating. After all, nobody wants to raise an issue unnecessarily and feel foolish.
However, timing matters. If a problem threatens a milestone three weeks from now, leadership may still have options, such as:
-
Shift resources.
-
Adjust scope.
-
Change priorities.
-
Choose a different approach.
-
Accept the risk with a clear understanding of the impact.
On the other hand, if you escalate the same problem the day before the milestone, most of those options may already be gone.
Remember that the goal is to escalate the issue while there is still enough time for the decision to change the outcome.
Conclusion: Knowing When to Escalate
Good project managers solve problems at the working level whenever they can. But they also recognize when coordination has run its course.
Escalation is not a failure of coordination. Sometimes it is simply the next step needed to keep the project moving.
The goal is not to escalate more often. It is to escalate at the right time, with a clear understanding of the issue, the impact, and the decision that is needed.
