Escalation Protocol

The documented process by which operational issues that cannot be resolved at the first level of response are elevated to a higher authority level, specifying trigger conditions, the escalation sequence, response time commitments at each level, and the resolution authority at the highest level.

Without a documented escalation protocol, escalations are ad hoc and inconsistently applied, producing both under-escalation (problems growing unaddressed because no one wants to escalate) and over-escalation (senior leaders involved in decisions that have clear operational owners). 

The escalation protocol is the operational infrastructure that makes decision rights frameworks function in practice.