skip-level meeting

Intermediate 👥 Human Resources

Definition

A meeting between an employee and their manager's manager, skipping the direct supervisor in the chain. It's meant to provide senior leaders with ground-level insight and employees with exposure, though it often makes middle managers paranoid.

Example Usage

The VP held skip-level meetings quarterly to hear unfiltered feedback from individual contributors about team challenges.

Origin

Management practice popularized in 1980s-90s as organizational hierarchies flattened and transparency increased

Fun Fact

Skip-level meetings can surface issues managers are hiding or minimizing, but they require psychological safety—otherwise employees just say what they think leadership wants to hear.

Source: Organizational communication and management practices

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