High Performance Leaders Use End-Runs Very Carefully

Have you ever gone over your boss's head?

Have you ever by-passed a team member who could have helped you solve a problem and instead gone to her boss?

It can feel fast. It can feel satisfying. It can ruin your team.

Yes, there ARE times to use an end-run and get to the part of the chain of command that will act fast and solve a pressing problem. But those times are few and tend to look very much like emergencies, or matters of personal privacy. If a team member is breaking the law, you have no viable choice other than to go over their head to authority. To avoid doing so is irresponsible, and in some cases even criminal.

But hopefully in your organization, those instances are rare. Much more common are those times when it simply feels more convenient to skip over someone who seems to be obstructing us and talking to a more powerful, more friendly decision maker.

What does that do to your relationships, though? Does it build, or damage trust?

Does it help your team in the long run to have people skipping boundaries and avoiding the chain of command?

If your chain of command is too long and too complicated, work within your system to change that. Unilaterally dismantling a chain of command though usually creates unsavory side-effects that you probably don't want and certainly don't want to be responsible for.

Breaking the chain of command risks breaking the entire chain of command. Use end runs very, very carefully.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

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