How to Run Effective Skip-Level Meetings

A skip-level meeting is when a senior leader meets with people who report to one of their managers, skipping the level in between. Done well, it surfaces problems and ideas that don't travel up the usual chain. Done badly, it feels like an inspection.

What they're for

• Hearing how work really feels on the team.
• Spotting problems early: process friction, morale, unclear priorities.
• Building trust between leaders and employees.
• Explaining company direction directly.
• Learning how managers are doing, without making it the focus.

What they're not for

• Checking on individual performance.
• Collecting complaints about a manager to act on without investigation.
• Making decisions that bypass the manager.

How often

Quarterly works for many leaders. One-to-one meetings give the most candor; small groups of three to five save time and some people speak more freely with peers. Keep them to 30 to 45 minutes.

Before the meeting

• Tell the managers involved what you're doing and why.
• Explain the purpose to employees in the invite, so they don't worry.
• Say whether comments will be kept confidential and how you'll use them.

Questions that get honest answers

• What's one thing that slows you down most?
• What should we stop doing?
• Do you have what you need to do your best work?
• What's something leadership might not know about?
• How clear are our priorities to you?
• What are you proud of from the last few months?

Open questions work better than "Is everything OK?"

During the meeting

• Listen far more than you talk.
• Don't defend or explain away what you hear.
• Take notes and thank people for candor.

After the meeting

1. Look for themes across several meetings, not single comments.
2. Share general themes with managers without naming who said what.
3. Act on something, and tell people what changed. Nothing kills candor faster than silence.

Common mistakes

• Surprising the manager: they hear about it from their team and feel undermined.
• Turning it into a status update: you already get those; ask about experience instead.
• Promising fixes on the spot before you understand the issue.
• Holding one and never another, which signals it was a box-ticking exercise.

Keep the time well spent

Skip-levels are an investment of senior time. Meeting Cost Calculator shows what each costs, a useful check that they're producing action. See writing a meeting agenda.