Talk it through with Aurelius
When people skip their manager to come straight to you
People skip their managers and bring their questions, approvals, and problems straight to you — and you say yes, because it's faster and it feels good to be the one who helps. But every yes quietly tells them their manager doesn't matter, and teaches the next person to skip too.
◆ How this problem reads on the two dials
GuidanceKnowledge
1:1 with AureliusWith others (a Pod)
Half inner (the pull to be needed) and half craft (redirecting well, backing the chain). Some peer practice on the redirect.
How the two dials adapt to you →What’s really going on
Saying yes to a skip-level feels like leadership — responsive, helpful, decisive. It's the opposite: each yes hollows out a manager you're supposed to be building, and trains the org to route around them. The pull underneath is usually a need to be needed. We build the redirect that helps the person without undermining the chain — and the discipline to back a manager's call even when you'd have made a different one.
🔒 What you’ll build togetherUnlock by starting
KnowledgeWhy saying yes feels like leadership and isn't
KnowledgeThe redirect that doesn't reject the person
KnowledgeBacking a manager's call you'd have made differently
KnowledgeBuilding the habit until people stop skipping
A moveNotice what you get from being the one people come to — and what it costs the managers you skip past.
A movePick one recent skip-level yes and script how you'd redirect it next time.
PractiseThe redirect drill · a Pod of 4 · 25 min
What changes unlock by starting
- You redirect skip-levels without making anyone feel dismissed.
- Your managers make (and own) the calls in their lane.
- People stop routing around the chain.
- You're building leaders instead of being everyone's shortcut.
One object, two jobs: a public answer to a real problem, and — the moment you start the chat — Aurelius’s live plan for your version of it.