A skip-level meeting is a structured conversation between senior leaders and individual contributors, skipping the direct manager, to understand how work actually gets done, identify manager issues early, and build trust across levels. When designed well, these conversations surface ground truth that rarely reaches the top—frontline frustrations, process bottlenecks, hidden team dynamics—and give leaders a direct line to the people closest to customers, products, and operations. This template provides ready-to-use skip level meeting questions, decision thresholds, and follow-up workflows so leaders run consistent, high-value sessions and HR can track patterns by manager and team.

Survey questions

Below are structured skip level meeting questions grouped into seven core areas. Use a mix of closed and open-ended items to balance quantitative tracking with rich qualitative insight. Employees respond on a five-point scale from Strongly disagree (1) to Strongly agree (5), plus short text answers where indicated.

Team Health & Dynamics (Questions 1–5)

Manager Effectiveness (Questions 6–12)

Communication Gaps (Questions 13–16)

Workload & Resources (Questions 17–19)

Career Development (Questions 20–22)

Obstacles & Frustrations (Questions 23–24)

Overall Recommendation (Question 25)

Open-Ended Questions

Include three to five open-text prompts to capture unfiltered feedback and ideas. These are essential for context and actionable insights.

Decision table

Use this table to convert survey scores and open feedback into clear, timely actions. Each row specifies which questions or themes to monitor, the threshold that triggers a response, the recommended action, who owns it, and a timeline for follow-up.

Key takeaways

Definition & scope

Skip-level meetings are structured conversations between senior leaders and individual contributors, deliberately bypassing the direct manager. They measure team health, manager effectiveness, communication quality, workload balance, career support, and organizational obstacles. The process supports decisions about manager coaching, process redesign, resource allocation, and early intervention when engagement or performance risks emerge.

Scoring & thresholds

Use a five-point Likert scale for closed questions: 1=Strongly disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, 5=Strongly agree. Scores below 3.0 signal critical issues requiring immediate attention. Scores between 3.0 and 3.9 indicate areas needing improvement—schedule follow-up within two weeks. Scores at or above 4.0 reflect strength; recognize and document what's working. For the 0–10 manager recommendation question, treat 0–6 as detractors (red flag), 7–8 as passive (watch closely), and 9–10 as promoters (healthy relationship). Calculate dimension averages by grouping related questions—for example, sum Q6 through Q12 and divide by seven to get the Manager Effectiveness score. Track these averages over time and by manager to identify trends. When three or more employees cite the same obstacle or frustration in open text, escalate it as a pattern requiring senior leadership review. Document every score, every open comment theme, and every action taken in a central tracker so you can measure follow-through and close the loop with participants.

Follow-up & responsibilities

Assign clear owners for every threshold breach. HR partners with senior leaders to triage feedback within 24 hours of session completion. When manager effectiveness scores fall below 3.0, the manager's leader schedules a coaching conversation within seven days, reviews specific feedback without attribution, and creates a documented improvement plan with milestones. If team health or psychological safety scores drop, facilitate a team working session within 14 days to reset norms and address conflict. Communication gaps trigger an audit of update cadence and channels, with a revised schedule published within 21 days. Workload or resource issues require a gap analysis and reallocation plan within 14 days—adjust timelines, redistribute tasks, or secure additional tools. Career development concerns prompt one-on-one development conversations and written plans within 30 days, with follow-up check-ins every quarter. Process bottlenecks identified by multiple employees warrant a cross-functional task force; report back to affected teams within 30 days. For manager recommendation scores of six or below, HR and the senior leader conduct a confidential debrief with the employee within 48 hours and escalate concerns immediately. Track every action in a shared dashboard, link each to the original feedback theme, and close the loop by reporting outcomes back to participants in the next skip-level cycle or in a follow-up email.

Fairness & bias checks

Segment results by relevant groups—department, location, tenure, remote versus office—to identify disparities. If one team consistently scores lower on manager effectiveness while others rate the same leader high, investigate whether feedback reflects different work styles, unclear expectations, or unequal access to the manager. Compare scores across demographic groups where data privacy allows, watching for patterns that suggest bias or inequitable treatment. For example, if remote employees report significantly lower scores on communication or support, adjust meeting cadence, documentation practices, or manager training. When open-text comments reference favoritism, inconsistent recognition, or unequal development opportunities, treat these as potential bias signals and conduct deeper reviews. Use calibration sessions with multiple senior leaders to discuss themes and ensure interpretations are fair and evidence-based. Rotate which leader conducts sessions across teams to reduce perception of favoritism and gather diverse perspectives. Publish aggregated, anonymized results to the broader organization so everyone sees leadership is listening and acting, and track whether interventions reduce score gaps over time.

Examples / use cases

Case 1: Manager coaching triggered by low direction scores

A director held skip-level sessions with eight engineers. Average score on Q6 ("My manager provides clear direction") was 2.4, well below the 3.0 threshold. Open comments cited conflicting priorities and last-minute scope changes. Within five days, the director met the engineering manager, reviewed feedback themes, and co-created a weekly planning ritual where priorities were written, shared in Slack, and updated only with explicit communication. Three months later, the same question scored 4.1, and voluntary turnover in that team dropped from 18% annualized to 6%.

Case 2: Process bottleneck surfaced across multiple teams

In four separate skip-level conversations, employees from sales, customer success, and operations cited the same approval workflow as a major obstacle. The average score on Q23 was 2.6. Senior leadership convened a task force, mapped the process, and reduced approval steps from five to two. Cycle time for customer requests fell by 40%, and the next quarter's skip-level scores on Q23 rose to 4.0.

Case 3: Career development intervention

A product team's skip-level feedback showed an average of 3.2 on Q20–Q22, with several comments about unclear growth paths. HR and the department head launched quarterly career conversations, published a skills matrix, and created mentorship pairings. Six months later, internal mobility from that team increased by 25%, and career-development scores rose to 4.3.

Implementation & updates

Start with a pilot: select one department or leader, schedule skip-level sessions with five to ten employees, and test your question set and decision table. Refine wording, adjust thresholds based on initial data, and train facilitators on how to create psychological safety and probe open-ended answers without leading. Once the pilot validates your approach, roll out to additional leaders in phases—expand by department, geography, or function every quarter. Train senior leaders on the purpose, structure, and follow-up expectations; emphasize that skip-levels are development tools, not performance reviews. Publish a cadence—quarterly or semi-annual sessions work for most organizations—and communicate it to all employees so participation is expected and normalized. After each cycle, aggregate scores by manager, track action completion rates, calculate average response time to issues, and measure changes in engagement or turnover for teams with interventions. Update your question bank annually based on evolving business priorities, employee feedback on survey clarity, and new risk areas. Archive historical data to spot long-term trends and validate whether threshold-driven actions correlate with improved scores and retention. Share anonymized insights with all managers so everyone learns from patterns and best practices, and celebrate examples where fast follow-up resolved issues and lifted team performance.

Conclusion

Skip-level meetings give leaders unfiltered visibility into how work really happens, how managers support or hinder progress, and where organizational friction slows teams down. By using structured skip level meeting questions, clear scoring thresholds, and ownership rules, you transform informal check-ins into a repeatable feedback system that catches manager issues early, uncovers hidden obstacles, and builds trust across levels. The decision table ensures every signal—low scores, recurring themes, detractor ratings—triggers a documented action with a named owner and deadline, so feedback never disappears into a black hole. Over time, tracking patterns by manager and team reveals systemic challenges versus isolated problems, enabling targeted coaching, process redesign, and resource reallocation. To get started, pilot the question set with one leader and five to ten employees, refine based on their input, then scale the cadence quarterly or semi-annually. Assign HR and senior leaders to review results within 24 hours, execute follow-up actions within the timelines in your decision table, and close the loop by reporting outcomes back to participants. Measure success through higher scores on manager effectiveness and team health, faster resolution of obstacles, increased internal mobility, and lower voluntary turnover in groups where you intervene. When employees see leadership listen, act quickly, and communicate changes, skip-level meetings become a powerful trust-building ritual that strengthens manager quality, surfaces innovation ideas, and keeps your organization connected to ground truth.

FAQ

How often should skip-level meetings be conducted?

Quarterly or semi-annual cycles work for most organizations. Quarterly sessions provide faster feedback loops and help catch emerging issues before they escalate, while semi-annual cadences reduce time burden and work well in stable environments. Choose based on your organization's rate of change, manager turnover, and capacity to act on feedback. Consistency matters more than frequency—employees need to know when to expect the next conversation so they trust the process and prepare meaningful input.

What if scores are very low across multiple managers?

Low scores across many managers signal a systemic issue—unclear strategy, insufficient training, broken processes, or cultural problems—not just individual performance gaps. Convene senior leadership to review aggregated themes, identify root causes, and design organization-wide interventions such as manager training programs, revised communication rituals, or process simplification initiatives. Track whether these changes lift scores over the next two cycles, and adjust your approach if progress stalls.

How do I handle critical or sensitive comments about a manager?

Treat critical feedback with urgency and confidentiality. When an employee raises serious concerns—bullying, discrimination, retaliation—escalate immediately to HR and the manager's leader. Conduct a confidential debrief within 48 hours, document the issue, and follow your organization's investigation and disciplinary procedures. For less severe but still concerning feedback, anonymize themes, share patterns with the manager and their leader, and co-create a coaching or improvement plan. Never reveal individual employee names or exact quotes unless the employee consents or the issue requires formal investigation.

How do I involve managers without undermining their authority?

Communicate clearly that skip-level meetings support managers, not replace them. Frame sessions as a way to spot blind spots, provide coaching, and remove obstacles managers face. Share aggregated, anonymized feedback with managers, focus on themes rather than individual comments, and involve them in creating action plans. When employees see managers respond constructively to feedback and improve, trust in both the manager and the skip-level process grows. Avoid surprise escalations—give managers a heads-up when their team participates, and debrief with them after each cycle.

How do I keep the question set relevant over time?

Review your skip level meeting questions annually. Gather input from employees, managers, and senior leaders on which questions provided useful insights and which felt redundant or unclear. Add questions that address new priorities—for example, remote work support, cross-functional collaboration, or innovation—and retire items that no longer differentiate performance. Pilot changes with a small group before rolling out organization-wide, and version your survey so you can compare results across cycles. Track which questions correlate most strongly with engagement, retention, and performance outcomes, and prioritize those in your core set. For deeper exploration of performance management best practices and tooling that integrates continuous feedback with career development, consider platforms that automate follow-up workflows and surface patterns across teams.