Escalation calls are every program manager’s rite of passage. You join with no solution, an angry customer, and the uneasy feeling that your only update is still, “We’re working on it.”
About nine years ago, I was in one of those situations on a BI project. A critical issue had dragged on for weeks. Three weeks in, I took a pause — stopped defending, turned my camera on, and just listened. I acknowledged their frustration and was honest about what we were trying, where we were stuck, and what we still didn’t know.
Eventually, when we finally resolved the issue, the real outcome was unexpected — they trusted me more than before. Somehow, the escalation built a stronger relationship instead of breaking it.
Customers understand technical challenges; they’ve faced them too. When you’re transparent — when you say, this is the problem, this is what we’re trying, and we don’t yet have the answer — you build trust even when things are breaking.
So the next time you walk into one of those fiery calls, remember — you don’t always need a solution. Sometimes, you just need to listen.
— Midnight musings from the trenches of delivery.
#Midnight-Musings
Midnight Musings 