Escalating problems and bad news upward

Skills you'll practise

• Decide whether a problem should be handled within your authority, escalated to your manager, or reported immediately through a safety, legal or ethics channel
• Write an escalation message that states the situation, impact, what you've tried, options with a recommendation, and the decision or help needed by when
• Deliver bad news early and plainly, separating facts from estimates and stating what happens next
• Escalate a cross-team problem without blame, after speaking to the other team's lead first
• Keep a simple risk and issue log with owners and next actions, and close the loop after a decision

Course outline

1. 1.Escalating problems and bad news upwardVideo · 3 min
2. 2.When to escalateLesson · 16 min
3. 3.Writing the escalation and delivering bad newsLesson · 18 min
4. 4.Across teams, following up and the logLesson · 16 min
5. 5.Escalating problems and bad news upward: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 18 questions
6. 6.Escalating problems and bad news upward: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
7. 7.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• General people-leadership practice for team leads and managers