The need for a skip-level meeting

- It's a very exciting time to be a leader. … The practice of leadership has evolved quickly … in the last few decades, producing many new types … of beliefs and practices. … For example, consider communication … between managers and employees. … It used to be that managers dictated … and employees listened and followed orders. … Thankfully, that's changing. … Now we understand that there needs … to be a genuine two-way dialog because we know … that when teams feel they're part … of a conversation, instead of simply receiving commands, … they perform better and they enjoy performing more. … Another old rule of thumb that's also being questioned … concerns the need for integrity in the chain of command. … What that used to mean is that a person … should rarely if ever skip over their manager … to speak to others higher in the hierarchy. … This was considered an affront to the manager … being skipped and was strongly frowned … upon as disrespectful. … Today, we see many positive trends …