Jason Buffington .com

The potential power of a Skip Level

2–3 minutes
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One of the best lessons I ever learned mid-career was the potential of the “Skip Level“.

A skip level is a 1:1 with your manager’s manager. If you put it in a family tree, your manager is the parent, so a skip level is the grandparent. Also consider skip levels with your uncles and aunts, meaning the peers of your manager.

Let’s talk about why (and how) these can be effective in your career growth.

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One of the best lessons I ever learned mid-career was the potential of the skip level.

A skip level is a 1:1 with your manager’s manager. If you were to put it in a family tree, your manager is the parent, so a skip level is the grandparent. Also consider skip levels with your uncles and aunts, meaning the peers of your manager.

That’s enough with the family analogy; your fellow employees are not family — but that message deserves its own podcast episode.

Your goal for a skip level is to get a different perspective, so if you’re going upstream, come with questions.

  • Ask about how you are perceived within the organization
  • Ask about how the team is working?  Where is the additional need or growth windows?
  • Ask about their career progression; some of their history might resemble your future. That said, unless the meeting is specifically about your career path, be careful that it isn’t perceived that you’re just going around your manager. That can end badly.
  • Ask about how that leader’s team is working, what their needs are, and what their success metrics look like. Those insights can give you a better appreciation for what would make the greater team more effective, as well as how you might collaborate better with your ‘cousins’ within the org.

Along the way, especially if you do skip levels quarterly, you’ll probably get some good empathy about your manager’s point of view maybe in ways that your manager might not directly vocalize. All of those insights can help you in your current role, as well as potentially expose ideas for your next opportunity.

FYI, your senior leader might use the same skip level discussion to understand how your team is working – and maybe gain some insights on how they can coach your manager. It’s not your job to tell your director how your manager should work, but if they ask – then they probably care; so share your observations of what’s working or what isn’t.

One cautionary reality check: not all organizations have a healthy skip level mentality. Frankly, not all senior leaders prioritize 1:1’s with their directs, much less skip levels. Using the family analogy, if grandpa isn’t in to skip levels, that’s another good reason to seek out an insightful aunt or uncle.

See you next Monday.

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