🚨 You’re Escalating Too Early

“You’re escalating too early.”

Here’s something that feels proactive…
but actually weakens your influence:

Issue comes up → you escalate immediately.
Client pushes → you loop in leadership.
Something breaks → you go straight to urgency mode.

Now—sometimes escalation is needed.

But when it becomes your default?

You stop owning the problem.

And you start passing it.

And that creates 3 problems:

👉 your credibility drops internally
👉 teams feel unnecessary pressure
👉 and real priorities get lost

Because escalation isn’t leadership.

Ownership is.

Strong CSMs don’t escalate first.

They clarify first.

They ask:

👉 “What’s the real impact here?”
👉 “What have we already tried?”
👉 “Is this truly urgent—or just uncomfortable?”

That’s the shift.

From escalating problems…

To owning them first.

If everything feels urgent…
you’re probably escalating too much.

💬 Your turn: Where have you escalated something… that you could have owned first?

“Escalation is a tool. Not a default.”

I’ll go first 👇

One mistake I used to make:

Escalating too quickly to get things moving.

It felt efficient…
but it actually reduced my ownership.

Because instead of solving…

I was passing the problem.

Now I pause and ask:

👉 “What can I clarify or move forward myself first?”

Most of the time, there’s more I can do.

And when escalation is needed…

It’s clearer, more focused, and more effective.

Where could you take one more step before escalating?

Csm_With_Jonathan

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