I know this question sounds a bit sacreligious but hear me out as I would like some advice on how to handle this situation. Apolgies if it has been answered elsewhere as I couldn't find anything relevant in the forums.
Here is the background. I recently took on leadership of a team knowing I would need to replace the management team directly reporting to me. So, for various reasons, I had to let 4 people go about 3 months after I arrived. In anticipation of this, I started doing O3s with their reports (i.e. my skips) right from day one. I am currently in the process of hiring replacements for those positions and have continued doing the O3s with my skip level managers. They have done an amazing job of stepping up and holding the organization together. They have also very much enjoyed and got used to having O3s with me on a weekly basis and I have been able to build a good working relationship with them through this transition.
And there is my challenge. As I hire in my new team of directs how do I stop doing O3s with my skips and transition this to their new managers?
Another question is in hindsight (hopefully I don't have to do this again), should I have done this differently instead of starting the O3s with the skips.
Stop one thing, start another
You're right; don't do O3's with skips. So you tell them, once you've hired the new manager, that you'll stop doing one on ones with them. That they have a new manager.
Then you roll DOWN the trinity to your new managers. Here's the cast on that:
http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/03/rolling-down-trinity
Please let us know how this goes. Good luck!
John Hack
What he said :-)
You weren't wrong to start O3s - that's what I would have done. And, it will soon be time to stop them. Tell them O3s with skips aren't normal but were necessitated by the changes you made, and thankfully there are new managers for whom their O3s are an appropriate responsibility.
Sounds like you did a nice job in the transition - well done!
Mark
From my phone on a plane
New
Don't you have to consider how some of your skips might feel about not moving up to fill any of the vacated positions? Seems to me some of skips might feel disappointed not sitting down with big boss any longer?