Circle of escalation
A most excellent phenomenon that can occur in organisations of a certain size, and is guaranteed to happen in a big one, redolent of a 4x100 medley relay, only with contestants carrying a stick of limp celery rather than a stiff baton.
- “This is okay with me, but you need to confirm with Tax,” you say, happy that you have passed the tangled skein off your desk.
Of course, the tangled skein has not magically winked out of existence: it has simply landed on the desk of some poor, overworked attorney in Tax, who will have exactly the same aspiration as you, and to fulfill it she will take exactly the same approach:
- “There may be an increased risk of retrospective withholding which it is hard to quantify,” she will say (one gets very adept at saying this sort of thing by rote) “but if you are prepared to absorb that additional risk then this I have no objections.”
And lo, off the escalation goes to the business. Salespeople, naturally, have but one goal — impregnating their clients — but not in a way that involves assuming any personal responsibility for a transaction which goes wrong. Up the chain it goes, to management.
See also
- Celery, and limp celery
- I would be inclined to agree
- I am supportive in principle at this stage
- I have no objections
- The circle of escalation
- I could get comfortable