I'm fortunate to have regular (but infrequent) 1:1s with my skip-level, but I'm not sure I'm using them to their full potential or if they're an example of forcing the founder mindset. I struggle to strike a chord with topics I bring to the table to make the meetings more than a status meeting or offering to take on more unplanned and untracked work on my already saturated plate (which might be the entrance fee for a more meaningful engagement). There are often disconnects stemming from non-overlapping scopes of responsibilities and us fighting two completely different fires on any given day.
Hi Andy, thanks for sharing. If the skip-level 1-1s are manifesting as status updates, generally speaking, those probably aren't maximizing the value of these important touchpoints. The unfortunate reality is that "founder mode" coupled with insecure/unprepared leadership will often result in using micromanagement as a misguided proxy for that leadership style.
Given your already heavy work slate, it does you no favors to take on additional work in an attempt to make the meeting more substantive. Your insight about how the untenable load itself might be an entrypoint for a more meaningful conversation is spot on. Your skip-level should be curious as to why you are overloaded—is it systemic, acute, team-/project-specific, etc.? I would think that any experienced leader would want to understand the underlying reasons why this is happening and attempt to solve it systemically in order to preserve/create a high(er)-performing work culture.
Your final statement about overlapping scopes of responsibilities is interesting. Is your skip-level so far removed from your day-to-day that it's difficult to find common ground? Are there fires every day? What can be done to remediate those systematically, if anything?
I'm fortunate to have regular (but infrequent) 1:1s with my skip-level, but I'm not sure I'm using them to their full potential or if they're an example of forcing the founder mindset. I struggle to strike a chord with topics I bring to the table to make the meetings more than a status meeting or offering to take on more unplanned and untracked work on my already saturated plate (which might be the entrance fee for a more meaningful engagement). There are often disconnects stemming from non-overlapping scopes of responsibilities and us fighting two completely different fires on any given day.
Hi Andy, thanks for sharing. If the skip-level 1-1s are manifesting as status updates, generally speaking, those probably aren't maximizing the value of these important touchpoints. The unfortunate reality is that "founder mode" coupled with insecure/unprepared leadership will often result in using micromanagement as a misguided proxy for that leadership style.
Given your already heavy work slate, it does you no favors to take on additional work in an attempt to make the meeting more substantive. Your insight about how the untenable load itself might be an entrypoint for a more meaningful conversation is spot on. Your skip-level should be curious as to why you are overloaded—is it systemic, acute, team-/project-specific, etc.? I would think that any experienced leader would want to understand the underlying reasons why this is happening and attempt to solve it systemically in order to preserve/create a high(er)-performing work culture.
Your final statement about overlapping scopes of responsibilities is interesting. Is your skip-level so far removed from your day-to-day that it's difficult to find common ground? Are there fires every day? What can be done to remediate those systematically, if anything?