Once an organization adds a second management layer, senior leaders are often tempted to keep working the old way: discussing tasks, advising employees directly, and making the difficult decisions themselves.
That feels faster in the moment. But the manager between the leader and the team gradually becomes an unnecessary communication layer.
Discuss the system's output
Ask not only what was delivered, but whether the team is predictable, where risks are accumulating, which decisions are stuck, and what prevents people from working independently.
A manager's product is not a personal list of completed tasks. It is a functioning team.
Do not manage the team over the manager's head
Skip-level conversations are useful. But if a senior leader routinely assigns work and changes priorities directly, the manager loses the ability to manage.
The team quickly learns where the real decision center is and starts bypassing its manager.
Agree on management standards
What counts as a strong hire? How quickly are performance problems addressed? How are decisions made? How are risks escalated? What should a manager always know about the state of the team?
Those agreements matter more than forcing every manager to copy the style of the person above them.
Look at people, not only delivery
A team can deliver for several quarters through overloaded high performers, weak delegation, and unresolved conflict.
So conversations with managers should include development, retention, weak spots, and the next generation of leaders.
Do not automatically take difficult decisions away
If every conflict or ambiguous choice immediately moves one level up, the manager does not grow. Sometimes they need help thinking, not a ready-made answer.
Managing managers starts to work when you stop managing their teams for them.