What is Skip-Level Meetings?
Skip-level meetings are recurring meetings between a senior leader and the people who report to their direct reports.
Skip-level meetings are recurring meetings between a senior leader and the people who report to their direct reports. They bypass one level of the reporting chain to create a direct communication channel between senior leadership and individual contributors.
Purpose: detect organizational problems that managers may not surface, build direct relationships with key ICs, get unfiltered team sentiment, and ensure organizational decisions have ground-truth input. They are NOT for undermining the middle manager — they supplement the management chain.
Format: monthly or quarterly, 30 minutes, informal. Good questions: "What would you change if you were in charge for a day?", "What's slowing you down that I could fix?", "Is there anything you think I should know?"
Why It Matters
Skip-levels prevent the "information filtration" problem where every level of management unconsciously filters bad news upward. They give senior leaders ground truth about engineering culture, productivity, and morale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are skip-level meetings?
Meetings between a senior leader and the people who report to their direct reports. They create a direct channel that bypasses one level of management hierarchy for ground-truth communication.
Won't skip-levels undermine my managers?
Not if communicated well. Explain to managers that skip-levels supplement — not replace — the management chain. Share themes (not specifics) with managers. Focus on organizational topics, not performance reviews.
Related Terms
Need Expert Help?
Richard Ewing is a Product Economist and AI Capital Auditor. He helps companies translate technical complexity into financial clarity.
Book Advisory Call →