Effective skip-level meetings are structured, periodic one-to-one conversations in which an employee meets with their supervisor’s manager. Their purpose is to improve information flow, hear the employee’s direct perspective, strengthen connection, and identify obstacles or development needs—not to create a covert performance review of the employee’s immediate manager. The best meetings begin with a clearly explained purpose, give the employee room to set part of the agenda, and end with documented follow-through.
What a skip-level meeting is—and what it is not
The federal Office of Inspector General defines the format plainly: “During skip-level meetings, employees periodically meet one-on-one with their supervisor’s manager.” In practice, that means a department head, vice president or other senior leader meets directly with someone who reports to that leader’s direct report.
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The meeting creates an additional channel for organizational learning. A senior leader can hear how priorities, processes and leadership decisions are experienced below the next management layer. The employee gets access to a decision-maker and a chance to explain work conditions in their own words.
That access does not make the skip-level a replacement for routine supervision. It should not become a secret appraisal of the direct manager, an instruction to bypass normal reporting lines, or a promise that the senior leader will personally fix every issue. Concerns about misconduct, discrimination, retaliation, safety or other protected matters should move into the organization’s established reporting and investigation processes.
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Start with a specific purpose
A meeting without a stated purpose can feel like an ambush. The University of South Carolina HR guidance identifies several legitimate objectives:
- Hear feedback about the employee’s work and the organization.
- Understand the employee’s relationship with their direct leader.
- Build connection and recognize achievements.
- Identify development needs and desired experiences.
- Gauge how employees are experiencing organizational change.
Choose one primary objective and a few secondary ones for each conversation. For example, a newly reorganized team might use a session to understand priority conflicts and change effects, while an established team might focus on development and process obstacles. Tell the employee the reason before the meeting, the subjects that are in scope and how notes or follow-up will work.
Explain the boundaries in the invitation
An invitation can say: “I would like to hear how work is going for you, what is helping or hindering your team, and what support would make a difference. This is not a performance review. I will take notes on themes and will explain any follow-up.” That language reduces uncertainty without promising a particular outcome.
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Be precise about confidentiality. You can explain who will see notes, how themes may be aggregated and when information must be escalated under policy or law. Do not promise absolute secrecy unless your organization’s policy and applicable obligations permit it.
Check trust and psychological safety first
Trust is a precondition for candor, not an automatic result of scheduling a meeting. Consider whether the employee knows you, whether the organization has recently experienced layoffs or leadership conflict, and whether employees have reason to fear retaliation. A formal program introduced without context can look like surveillance or an effort to gather evidence against a direct manager.
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If the relationship is weak, begin with ordinary relationship-building: learn the employee’s role, acknowledge the limits of your perspective, and make it safe to say “I do not know” or “I need time to think.” An informal setting such as coffee may suit some people, as the university guide notes, but location is a preference—not a proven performance intervention. Offer a choice when practical, including a private video call or office meeting.
Prepare without scripting the employee
Prepare a short list of open prompts, then leave room for the employee’s priorities. Do not arrive with a prepared list of complaints or a list of leading questions designed to confirm your existing view of the direct manager.
Review only information you are entitled to use, such as team goals, current changes and previously agreed development actions. Avoid asking the employee to produce a polished proposal before raising a problem. The OIG report notes that expectations that employees fully formulate an idea before speaking can delay escalation.
A practical preparation checklist
- Write the one-sentence purpose of the conversation.
- List two or three current business changes or priorities that may affect the employee.
- Select four to six open questions, with at least one about the employee’s own goals.
- Decide how you will record takeaways and who will receive any action items.
- Know the escalation route for safety, legal, ethics and employee-relations concerns.
- Plan enough uninterrupted time for the employee to finish a thought; do not advertise a duration as a universal standard.
Run the conversation: listen before you explain
Open broadly and let the employee speak. The federal OIG report says employees may be more willing to share views when leaders solicit input before sharing their own. Steven G. Rogelberg makes a related point about one-to-ones generally: “The first thing that managers need to know is that this meeting is for their directs.” Although his comment concerns ordinary manager-direct-report meetings, the principle applies to the skip-level’s listening role.
1. Establish the frame
Restate the purpose, boundaries and confidentiality limits in plain language. Invite the employee to add a topic: “Is there something important to you that I have not mentioned?”
2. Start with the employee’s experience
Ask a broad question such as, “How are things going for you and your team right now?” Resist correcting facts or defending a decision in the first answer. Use brief acknowledgments and clarifying questions: “What happened next?” “Who was affected?” “What would better support look like?”
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3. Cover work, systems and relationships
A complete conversation examines more than the direct manager. Move through the employee’s day-to-day work, obstacles, team dynamics, priorities, collaboration, leadership support and development. Then invite constructive feedback about the reporting relationship.
- “What’s been the most rewarding part of your role recently?”
- “What challenges are you or your team currently facing?”
- “Where can team priorities be better aligned?”
- “How would you describe the dynamics within your team?”
- “What’s one thing your manager does really well that helps you succeed?”
- “Are there areas where your manager could provide support or guidance?”
- “What skills or experiences are you hoping to gain within the next year?”
- “What’s one thing I, as a senior leader, can do to support you and your team?”
4. Ask, then share your view
Do not front-load your explanation of a reorganization, budget decision or manager’s intent. First ask what the employee sees and what evidence informs that view. Then provide context, label uncertainty and distinguish facts from your interpretation. If you disagree, explain why without treating disagreement as disloyalty.
5. Test the significance of an issue
Not every frustration requires an executive intervention. Ask how often it occurs, who is affected, what the employee has already tried and what outcome they want. This helps separate a one-time misunderstanding from a recurring system problem without minimizing either.
Use employee-led agendas without losing accountability
For ordinary one-to-ones, Rogelberg said, “One of the greatest predictors we have of one-on-one meeting success is the direct either creating the agenda themselves or doing it in concert with the leader.” That evidence concerns routine one-to-ones, not a controlled study of skip-level meetings, but it supports giving the employee meaningful agenda ownership.
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Offer a short menu rather than a fixed script: current work, obstacles, team collaboration, relationship with the manager, development and organizational change. Ask the employee to select the most useful topics. You still remain responsible for covering a required safety, ethics or change-management question.
Choose a format that matches the purpose
No reviewed source establishes that one skip-level format is universally superior. Compare the options against access, candor, follow-through and the kind of information you need.
| Format | Useful when | Risks to manage |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | You need personal context, development discussion or a sensitive concern. | The employee may feel exposed; explain confidentiality limits and provide a safe escalation route. |
| Group listening session | You are looking for shared themes during a change or process review. | Dominant voices can suppress others; do not treat group comments as private disclosures. |
| Formal setting | You need consistent questions and comparable notes across teams. | A rigid script can reduce candor; leave space for employee-led topics. |
| Informal setting | You are building a relationship or lowering the barrier to an introductory conversation. | Informality can blur confidentiality and documentation expectations; state both clearly. |
| Recurring conversation | You need continuing visibility into a team or want to revisit development and change effects. | A calendar ritual without action can erode credibility. |
| Change-triggered conversation | A reorganization, major priority shift or leadership transition creates a defined listening need. | Employees may assume the meeting is an investigation; explain the limited purpose. |
Set cadence from need, not a borrowed rule
The OIG report recommends periodic skip-level meetings but does not set a universal frequency. Do not announce that every skip-level must be weekly, monthly or quarterly as if evidence supports one answer.
Evidence from other meeting types can inform, but not determine, your design. In a 2024 Harvard Business Review interview, Rogelberg said findings on ordinary manager-direct-report one-to-ones generally favor weekly and then biweekly meetings. He cautioned that monthly meetings can suffer from recency bias, while meetings more frequent than weekly can feel like micromanagement. He also said no evidence establishes which location produces the best outcomes. Those observations are about ordinary one-to-ones, not skip-levels.
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Close with clear commitments
End by checking your understanding: “What did I miss?” Summarize the facts, the concern or opportunity, and the outcome the employee wants. Separate actions you own from matters that belong with the direct manager, HR, employee relations, compliance or another process.
Record only what is useful and appropriate
Document key takeaways, agreed actions, owners and dates in the system your organization permits. Avoid speculative labels, unnecessary medical or personal details and statements that imply a finding before an investigation. Tell the employee what will be recorded and who can access it.
Explain decisions and limits
If you adopt a suggestion, say what will happen and by when. If you cannot, explain the rationale and any alternative. The OIG report warns that unexplained decisions can reduce future willingness to share views. A credible “no” with reasons is more trustworthy than silence or an implied promise you cannot keep.
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Send a concise recap, confirm the next checkpoint and report progress even when the answer is “still under review.” Use themes responsibly: aggregate recurring process issues rather than attributing every comment to an identifiable employee. Never use the format to conceal routine supervision of the direct manager.
What the available evidence can—and cannot—prove
Direct procedural guidance comes primarily from the University of South Carolina HR guide and the federal OIG report. Neither is a controlled trial demonstrating that skip-level meetings cause better engagement, retention or performance. Treat trust, candor and organizational learning as intended benefits and plausible mechanisms, not guarantees.
Gallup reported that only 15% of employees whose managers did not meet with them regularly were engaged, while employees whose managers met with them regularly were almost three times as likely to be engaged. The finding comes from a Gallup Panel Web study of 8,287 employed U.S. adults, fielded September 4–October 9, 2013, and published August 5, 2014. It concerns manager meetings generally, not skip-level meetings, and does not prove that skip-levels cause engagement.
The university guide also repeats figures attributed to Gallup (2022), the Edelman Trust Barometer (2023) and Harvard Business Review (2021): 37% more likely to feel motivated and committed, 82% believing senior leaders should interact more frequently to demonstrate transparency, and 25% more likely to identify operational challenges early. The guide does not provide the underlying publications or enough methodological detail to independently verify those claims here, so they should not be used as standalone proof of a skip-level program’s effect.
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- Surprise invitation: Explain the purpose, scope and note handling before the meeting.
- Interrogating the direct manager: Ask about work and systems first, then invite balanced relationship feedback.
- Defending a decision too early: Solicit the employee’s account before giving your explanation.
- Demanding a finished solution: Accept problem descriptions and help shape options later.
- Overpromising confidentiality: State the actual policy limits and escalation duties.
- Taking no action: Assign an owner, date and follow-up channel for every credible issue.
- Turning every comment into an investigation: Assess seriousness and use normal procedures for sensitive allegations.
- Measuring activity instead of value: Track completion of commitments and recurring themes, not just the number of meetings held.
A repeatable meeting template
- Invite: State the purpose, topics, confidentiality limits and expected follow-up.
- Prepare: Review current priorities, select open prompts and identify escalation routes.
- Open: Ask how work and the team are going; let the employee set a priority.
- Explore: Discuss obstacles, collaboration, priorities, support, development and the reporting relationship.
- Listen first: Clarify before explaining or defending an organizational view.
- Agree: Summarize what you heard, assign owners and set realistic dates.
- Document: Record permitted takeaways without unnecessary sensitive detail.
- Close the loop: Report decisions, explain limits and revisit unresolved actions.
A skip-level meeting earns its value when employees can speak plainly, leaders learn something they can act on, and the organization demonstrates what happened next. The format is simple; the discipline of purpose, listening, boundaries and follow-through is what makes it effective.
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