A skip level meeting is a conversation between an employee and their manager's manager, skipping the level in between. Its purpose is to hear directly how work is going, what gets in the way and what people want to know about where things are heading, without going around the direct manager. A good agenda covers what's working, what's in the way, questions for leadership, and the follow-ups the senior manager commits to.
Best forDirectors and senior managers meeting people two levels down
Meeting length30 minutes, once or twice a year per person, or quarterly in small groups
SectionsGround rules, what's working, what's in the way, questions for leadership, ideas, follow-ups, what gets shared with their manager
DateLength30 minSenior managerEmployeeTheir managerTold about the meeting: Yes / No
Item
Owner
Time
What we need to leave with
Why we're meeting and how notes are used
Senior manager
3 min
Employee knows what will and won't be shared
What's working
Employee
5 min
Two or three specifics
What's in the way
Employee
10 min
A recent example for each problem
Questions for leadership
Employee
7 min
Answers, or a date for each answer
One thing you'd change
Employee
3 min
One idea, in their words
Follow-ups and what we share
Senior manager
2 min
Agreed follow-ups and what goes to their manager
Questions that work in a skip level
What slowed you down most this month?
What do you wish leadership understood about your work?
If you ran this team for a week, what would you change first?
What do customers tell you that probably doesn't reach me?
Is anything about where the department is heading unclear to you?
Word MarkdownPastes into Google Docs, Word or Notion with headings and tables intact. Copied. Paste it into your document.
Skip level: Dana Mercer and Tyler Brooks
Filled-in example
Skip level: Dana Mercer and Tyler Brooks
DateTuesday, October 27, 2026, 30 minSenior managerDana Mercer, director of customer support, Fieldstone UtilitiesEmployeeTyler Brooks, support specialist, two years on the teamTheir managerKim Alvarez, support team lead
Ground rules
Dana said she meets everyone on the support team twice a year, Kim knows about it, and she'll share themes with Kim but won't name Tyler unless he says so.
What's working
The new reply templates for billing questions. Tyler estimates they save him about a third of the time on those tickets.
Kim's Friday ticket review. He likes seeing where others got stuck.
What's in the way
Problem
Recent example
Who can fix it
Weekend on-call swaps need two approvals
His swap request for Oct 17 took four days, so he worked the shift anyway
Dana (the two-approval rule is hers)
Support hears about billing outages from customers first
Oct 20 outage: the first notice was a customer call, 40 minutes in
IT incident team. Dana to raise it.
Unclear who picks up the escalation queue after 6 pm
Escalated tickets from the evening of Oct 22 sat until morning
Not clear. Dana to find out.
Questions for leadership
Question
Answer given
Follow-up needed
Is support moving to the new phone system next year?
Yes, planned for spring 2027. No date yet.
Yes, when the date is set
What does it take to become a senior specialist?
Dana wasn't sure the criteria are written down anywhere
Yes, by Nov 13
Will hybrid schedules stay?
Yes. No change planned for 2027.
No
Ideas
Let specialists swap on-call shifts directly with anyone trained on the same queues, and just notify the team lead.
Follow-ups
Item
Owner
Due
How the employee hears back
Cut on-call swap approval to one step, or drop it
Dana
Nov 20
Announced at the Nov 24 support team meeting
Ask IT to alert support at the start of any billing outage
Dana
Nov 6
Email to Tyler and Kim
Find written criteria for senior specialist, or ask HR to write them
Dana
Nov 13
Direct reply to Tyler
Find out who owns the escalation queue after 6 pm
Dana
Nov 6
Through Kim, at the next team meeting
What we agreed to share with their manager
On-call swap delays. Tyler is fine being named.
Outage alert gap and the after-hours escalation queue. Not named.
The Friday ticket review is valued.
Fieldstone Utilities and everyone named are a fictional sample.
Best forDirectors and senior managers meeting people two levels down
Meeting length30 minutes, once or twice a year per person, or quarterly in small groups
SectionsGround rules, what's working, what's in the way, questions for leadership, ideas, follow-ups, what gets shared with their manager
FormatsGoogle Docs, Word, Notion, Markdown
When to use this template
You've taken over a department and only hear about frontline work through your managers.
Turnover is up on one team and the manager's explanation doesn't fully add up.
You're the employee, a skip level is on your calendar, and you want to know what to bring.
Questions people ask
What should I bring to a skip level meeting as an employee?
One thing that's working, one specific problem with a recent example, and one question about where the company or department is heading. Keep it about the work. If you have a serious concern about your manager, HR or a separate, direct conversation is usually a better place for it.
Should I tell my manager about my skip level meeting?
Yes. Most managers know their boss holds skip levels, and the senior manager will usually share themes anyway. Telling your manager what you raised avoids surprises and makes it clear you aren't going around them.
How often should skip level meetings happen?
Once or twice a year with each person works for most directors with 20 to 60 people under them. Larger groups often run quarterly group skip levels of five or six people instead, with an anonymous question option.
Is a skip level meeting a sign something is wrong?
Usually not. In most companies they're routine and scheduled for everyone in turn. If one appears suddenly with no explanation, it's fine to ask what it's for.