I remember my first breakdown like it was yesterday. It was a Sunday when I responded to a breakdown of the cold mill's left-tilt cylinder on the entry elevator. The clevis had backed out because the jam nut had gotten loose. This condition created an uneven left tilt, and the bind snapped the cylinder's rod. I remember being so focused on getting the job done that I did not consider escalating the breakdown to my area manager. After about 7 hours, we had the job done and the mill back up and running.
Monday morning, my area manager, Melvin, was evaluating Sunday's production and noticed he was roughly a shift short. He then looked at the delays and noticed the 7-hour maintenance delay. He proceeded to call me and ask what happened. I remember how nervous I was when I realized I had not called Melvin when we went down. Even with the importance of production, he did not comment on why I did not escalate the delay to him. Instead, the questions surrounded what happened, how I planned to reduce the probability of a reoccurrence, and what I learned.
The hidden value of an escalation policy
The what I learned part is what I remember most about the situation. If I had thought of it, I could have called Melvin, and he would have taught me his tricks to get back running in 2 hours versus 7. Sure, I could have used him as a cheat code to remove my ability to learn actively. Yes, there are conditions to escalate an incident or scenario. But it is also critical for the Melvins of the world to develop leaders by letting them learn from real-life examples.
The saying of you can teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat forever, rings true in escalation policies. As an area manager, you may find yourself in a position where you must find the balance between investing in your team by letting them learn their lessons through experience versus short-circuiting the solution.
Escalation policy as an investment
The cold mill was down for 7 hours in this scenario. Consider a scenario where a delay on the cold mill was worth $10,000 per hour. This makes the entry elevator failure worth $70,000. Yes, this sounds expensive and feels like a waste knowing that Melvin’s knowledge could have reduced the cost to only $20,000. However, looking at the $50,000 as an investment may make you rethink the triggers in an escalation policy.
I am not saying that escalations are not critical for an organization's success. I am not saying that team members should always use the school of hard knocks and experience to learn. Instead, the challenge is looking at an escalation policy through the lens of an investment. An investment in the team to learn. An investment in ensuring a work/life balance for the rest of the team. Having the right triggers in place for escalation maintains the balance of the cost of the operations versus the amount you want to invest in your team.
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