As managers rise through the ranks, it’s tempting to want direct, firsthand relationships with all employees, even well down the org chart. But conducting one-on-one meetings with direct reports of your direct reports—known as skip level employees—often proves to be an ineffective use of time that actually weakens critical connections.
I’m synthesizing the wisdom of the Manager Tools podcast, which has profoundly shaped my own coaching philosophy. I’ve experienced the dysfunction of skip-level one-on-ones personally during my career. When one-on-ones flow properly up and down the management chain, critical information bubbles up through trusted relationships. Attempting to short-circuit this chain through skip-level meetings then becomes redundant rather than value-adding.
Why Managers Are Tempted By Skip Level One-On-Ones
It’s understandable why managers are intrigued by the idea of skip-level one-on-ones. Some common motivations include:
- A desire for firsthand exposure to what’s happening on the frontlines to gain unfiltered perspectives.
- Suspicion that direct reports might not provide complete transparency, so wanting to verify stories.
- Belief that more access and visibility will improve skip-level employees’ engagement and connection to leadership.
- Feeling like informal, personality-driven connections are crucial for talent retention and development.
- Wanting to signal an open door policy and outlet for raising concerns.
- Curiosity about how policies and strategies are being implemented.
- Identifying high-potential employees who might not be visible through current processes.
These motivations are well-intentioned. But skip-level one-on-ones often fail to achieve the desired goals while creating unintended consequences.
The Pitfalls of Skip Level One-on-Ones
In practice, skip-level one-on-ones between managers and indirect reports frequently fall flat:
- They undermine the primary relationship between managers and their own direct reports, sowing confusion on where employees should devote time and attention.
- They tend to rehash much of the same ground already covered in other one-on-ones, wasting time without surfacing new insights.
- Employees can feel uncomfortable being fully candid with a more senior leader they don’t know well, impairing psychological safety.
- Even if issues are surfaced, subsequent follow-up is diffused across multiple parties rather than clear accountability.
- They signal a lack of full trust and confidence in the transparency and integrity of data flowing properly up through management channels. This reflects poorly on your team’s managers.
- As an employee, I’ve personally found them unproductive. The skip-level leader gains little meaningful new context about my work. And I leave unsure if my input sparked any substantive change or action plans.
- Conducting meaningful one-on-ones with indirect reports takes significant time. The opportunity cost of investing hours this way detracts from developing your direct reports.
In essence, skip-level one-on-ones disempower managers from building strong connections with their own employees. They also rarely provide meaningful new understanding for senior leaders. The juice is rarely worth the squeeze.
Strengthening Bonds Indirectly But Effectively
None of this means you must resign to distant, impersonal relationships with skip-level employees. But the most effective connections come indirectly by working through proper channels.
- Coach your managers to have excellent one-on-ones with their own direct reports. This cascades transparency and accountability up the chain.
- Conduct skip-level team meetings to hear collective, high-level perspectives without undermining individual managers.
- Maintain an open door policy so employees know they can surface unresolved issues.
- Make time during site visits for informal conversations and rapport-building across the organization.
- Celebrate successes publicly to indirectly fuel engagement at every level.
- Debrief regularly with managers on employee feedback themes so you know the pulse and culture.
The truth is, the relationship health of your skip-level team depends almost entirely on the relationship health between each manager and their direct reports. This means investing in your direct reports’ leadership abilities rather than circumventing them.
Why The Links In Your Chain of Trust Matter Most
Organizational relationships function like a chain. They are only as strong as the trust between each link. When you try to short-circuit the chain through skip-level one-on-ones, you implicitly signal a lack of confidence in its strength.
Instead, focus on fortifying each link:
- Coach your managers on having rich one-on-one dialogues with their people.
- Help them grow skills in building trust, providing feedback, delegating, and developing team members.
- Require and monitor the consistency of their one-on-ones.
- Role model transparent leadership yourself in your meetings with them.
- Work collaboratively on aligning priorities across levels.
- Celebrate, appreciate, and reward collaborative, empowering leadership.
The more you invest in nurturing the links closest to each employee, the greater the returns in engagement, innovation, and execution throughout the organization. Skip-level one-on-ones often nip these buds before they can bloom.
Invest in the Chain, Invest in the Organization
If you want additional support strengthening your chain of trust, I offer executive coaching focused explicitly on this management system connectivity. Feel free to reach out to explore how I can help you and your team develop the leadership abilities that translate to broad organizational health.
Empowered people empower people. With consistency and care, you can build an organization that actualizes this virtuous cycle at every level.
