How do you run a skip-level meeting?

What is a skip-level meeting, and how is it different from a regular one-on-one?

Skip-level means skipping one level. In a division head, team lead, team member structure, a conversation between the division head and a team member is a skip-level meeting, and the team lead does not attend. The format is the same as a one-on-one, but who owns the next steps is different. For the basics of one-on-ones, start with What is a one-on-one (1on1)?.

A skip-level meeting does not replace regular one-on-ones. The team member's day-to-day work and growth are still handled in one-on-ones with their team lead; the skip-level is an extra channel above that for seeing how the whole organization is doing.

Why hold skip-level meetings

• Hear what the reporting line filters out. Each step a report passes through, it gets summarized and polished. Hearing directly from the people closest to customers tells you quickly whether a new policy or reorganization actually works on the ground.
• Connect people to the direction directly. It is a rare chance for a senior leader to explain in person how a team member's work ties into the division's and the company's goals.
• Find talent. You discover future team leads and hidden strengths in conversation rather than in reports.

Open a skip-level to check whether the team lead is doing a good job, and it fails. Team members hold back, the team lead turns defensive, and nobody is candid.

Cadence and format: how often, and with how many people

Skip-level meetings are commonly recommended quarterly or twice a year, depending on the size of the organization and how fast it changes. You need time to act on what you heard and to check whether the change worked (People Managing People, 2024). For the cadence of regular one-on-ones, see How often should you hold one-on-ones: weekly or every two weeks?.

• 30 to 45 minutes per person is about right. Twenty minutes is barely enough to break the ice.
• With more than 15 people, meeting everyone one-on-one every quarter is hard. Split them across quarters so you meet everyone at least once a year.
• If your organization is new to this, start with small groups to set the tone, then move to one-on-ones.

Five steps to run a skip-level meeting

Whether a skip-level meeting works is decided less by the conversation than by what happens before and after it. How you tell the team lead, and how you feed back what you heard, set how candid the next meeting will be.

1. Tell the team lead first. Before inviting team members, agree with the team lead on the purpose, schedule, and what will be shared. For example: “Starting next month I'd like to hold 30-minute skip-level meetings with people in the division every quarter. It's not to check on you; it's to hear the problems I need to solve at the division level. I'll only share patterns, without saying who said what. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to hear from the team.”
2. Explain the purpose to team members in advance. A sudden calendar invite from a senior leader makes people think something is wrong. Explain in a team meeting or a message why you are doing it, what you will ask, and how far it will be shared. It is even less stressful when HR announces it as a company practice rather than the senior leader.
3. Restate the purpose and confidentiality at the start. “Today I'm here to listen. Nothing that could identify who said it will be passed on to anyone, including your team lead. The exception is anything the company must act on, such as harassment or safety, which goes through a separate process.” Stating the exception up front keeps trust from breaking later.
4. Listen, dig deeper, and don't answer on the spot. When the senior leader talks too much, the team member just listens and leaves. When something interesting comes up, ask once more: “What exactly happened?” “Why do you think it turned out that way?” Rather than promising a fix in the room, it is safer to say, “Let me look into it and get back to you by a set date.”
5. Turn what you heard into patterns and report back. Send a short thank-you on the day, and after each round share with everyone the common themes and what you decided about them. Open the next meeting with “Of what came up last time, this has changed and this hasn't yet.” If you only listen and nothing changes, from the second meeting on it becomes a formality.

30 example skip-level meeting questions

In a single meeting, pick only two or three of the six groups below. Try to use them all and it turns into an interview. Questions for regular one-on-ones are collected separately in What questions should you ask in a one-on-one?.

Opening questions

• What is the most enjoyable part of your work these days?
• What did you do before joining our team?
• What does a typical week look like for you right now?
• How would you score this quarter out of 10? What would have to change to make it a 10?
• Is there anything about the team's work you think I probably don't know?

Questions to find obstacles

• What do you find yourself waiting on most often?
• Where do things get stuck most when working with other teams?
• Is there a report or meeting that could disappear without anyone missing it?
• If I could change one rule tomorrow, what should it be?
• What are you hearing from customers a lot lately?

Questions about direction

• If you put the division's goal for this year in one sentence, what would it be?
• Can you see how your current work connects to the company's goals?
• Is there a recent company decision whose reasons don't make sense to you?
• What should our team do more of, and what could it stop doing?
• Is there a topic I should explain more often in all-hands meetings?

Questions about working with the team lead

Avoid questions that ask the team member to evaluate their lead (“How is your team lead?”); ask about the support the team gets instead.

• What support from your team lead helps you most?
• Is there anything I can do to help your team lead support you better?
• How are decisions made on the team when people disagree?
• What would you like the team to talk about more often?
• What would a new colleague need to know to settle into the team?

Questions about growth and career

• What would you like to be better at a year from now?
• Is there other work in the division you'd like to try?
• What experience taught you the most recently?
• What opportunity are you missing most to keep growing?
• Are you interested in a leadership role? If so, what excites and worries you about it?

Closing questions

• Of everything today, what is the one thing I must follow up on?
• Is there a question I should have asked but didn't?
• What should we talk about at the next skip-level meeting?
• Could you sum up how today felt in a word or two?
• If something else comes up that you want to tell me, what is the easiest way for you?

Sample skip-level meeting agenda (30 minutes)

You can paste this order straight into the calendar invite. Keep the time for sharing direction short and near the end, so it does not eat into listening.

How to share what you hear with the team lead

The hardest moment is when a team member voices frustration with their team lead. The senior leader should hold to three principles.

• Don't judge from one person's words. Note what came up once, and treat it as a pattern only when several people say something similar.
• Tell the team lead about the impact, not the incident. Instead of “A said they were upset in a meeting,” say something that does not reveal who it was, such as “Several people find the frequent priority changes hard.” On a small team of two or three, wait two or three rounds before sharing so no one can be identified.
• Solve it with the team lead. If the senior leader bypasses the team lead and fixes a team member's problem directly, team members will start bypassing the team lead too. Decide on improvements together with the team lead, and let the team lead bring them to the team.

When sharing with the team lead, a summary like this works.

Anything the company must act on, such as workplace harassment, discrimination, safety, or legal issues, should not wait for a pattern: take it to HR right away under your company's procedures.

Five common skip-level meeting mistakes

If you are in HR, skip-levels are steadier as a company practice than as an individual leader's habit. Writing down the purpose, cadence, and sharing rules and trying them in a pilot division first follows the same process as How do you roll out a one-on-one program? Six steps for HR.