Skip-level meetings, where managers meet with their employees' direct reports, are essential for fostering transparency, building trust, and enhancing communication within an organization.

Summary

Skip-level meetings, where leaders meet with the direct reports of other managers, are essential for creating transparency, building trust, and increasing communication across the company. These meetings provide an opportunity for employees to share their ideas and concerns directly with higher-level management. This is an incredible way for leaders to better understand culture and business operations, and get real-time feedback.

Research shows that organizations that implement skip-level meetings experience a 30% increase in employee engagement and satisfaction. This is because these meetings empower employees, giving them a platform to voice their ideas and feedback, which can lead to improved morale and productivity.

To get the most out of skip-level meetings, leaders should come prepared with specific topics to discuss, actively listen to their team members, and create an open environment that encourages honest dialogue. By prioritizing skip-level meetings, organizations can strengthen relationships across all levels, promote a culture of openness, and drive overall success.‍

📍Pro tips

• Schedule 1-2 skip-level meetings per month, depending on the size of your team
• Boost connection by making them unique - go for a walk, get coffee, treat to lunch

• Be present during the conversation. Shut out distractions. They can tell if you aren’t present
• Encourage them to give feedback to their manager as well. A good phrase is “Have you given this feedback to your manager?”
  • Since you will only be checking in occasionally, it is important they feel comfortable going to their manager as well. If the answer is “no” dig in to find out why
  • There could be a trust or feedback issue on the team to address. Don’t get stuck in the middle. Help the person give feedback directly to their manager (unless of course there’s an HR issue or something that’s more global for leadership to address)
• Condense/aggregate feedback back to the manager so they know they are part of this process
• One of the most important pieces is follow-up
  • If they have told you something that requires action, follow up on it
  • Even if the action is that there will be no action for now, let them know. If they trust you enough to give you feedback, then one of the best ways to keep that going and build the trust is to follow up on it
  • Take notes if you need to – so you can be impeccable on what you follow up on

Skip Level Agenda

Make a copy of this template for skip levels. Feel free to adjust to your personal use cases. Notes in green on the on the template [linked here] are for guidance, delete before use.

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🖊️ Standard Agenda 

Date

(Read-Only) Purpose Start the meeting by reiterating the purpose of a skip level. Ask them if they have specific goals. 

• The purpose of a skip level is to: 
  • Get feedback/act on it
  • Understand what’s happening within the team
  • Learn where there are pain points
  • Recognize and celebrate wins
  • Build relationships with one another
• Skip levels are not for:
  • Going around other leaders’ backs
  • Creating feedback or conflict triangles - I’ll help you directly address things!
  • Vent session
  • Asking you to do work without buy-in from your manager
• Your goals:
  • List...

Relationship Building Build your relationship with the person by starting with a personal question. The goal here is to get to know them and get them talking in an easy/no pressure way. Use one of the following questions:

• What is something you are most proud of from this year - personal or professional? 
• Where did you grow up?
• What is your morning power drink of choice? 
• What’s your favorite thing to do on the weekend?

Check In Ask them questions about their motivations and satisfaction in the role.

• What gives you energy in your role? What takes your energy? 
• What does your best day at work look like? 

Ask for Feedback Let them know you value your thoughts and want to get their feedback on specific areas of the business. Let them know what you will do with this feedback (ie label commitments). A broad question like “do you have any feedback for me?” can be daunting. Make the questions specific. 

• Could you tell me how [business project/metric/decision] has been going for you? 
• If you had a magic wand, what would you change about role/manager/company? 

Open Space Leave open space at the end of the meeting for anything else they may need to tell you. 

• Is there anything else you think I should know? 

Next Steps Use this space to make commitments on next steps. Put the action, who owns it and when the due date is. 

• Commitment - Owner - Follow-up Date 
• …