Skipping the Chain of Command

[hamburgee]

I need advice - my messages to my Flight CC are being ignored by him, they're very important and I'm not sure what to do. Am I allowed to skip the chain of command to my C/CC to have her pass the information up, and if not, would it be a reasonable defense to say that he was ignoring me? Thanks!

[lordmonar]

Yes.

That is assuming the C/CC is the next step in the chain of command.  That's the way it works.  Your boss is not there/can't be reached/is not responding/ignoring your request...you go to the next step in the chain.     If they ask why you didn't take it to your Flight CC....tell you you did and they ignored it.

Done.

[hamburgee]

Thank you very much!

[CAP9907]

I think a little more needs to be known here...

Is what you need to tell them really important, or important to you? Big difference there..

Do you have a C/Deputy Commander to go to or is the C/CC the next step?

A little clarity would go a long way to answering your question.

[Live2Learn]

Thank you very much!

For future reference:

1.  keep cc of your communications. 
2.  Confirm your next level up the chain is actually using the email or other address you used in your contact attempts.

[Flying Pig]

Generally speaking, skipping the chain of command is done with the knowledge of the commander you are skipping, outside of duress or intimidation or safety reasons.  Not saying you need your commanders permission, depending on what the reason is but you need to request to speak to the next person up the chain.  And most of the time, its done because that commander cant assist you.  Not because you dont like your commanders decisions. Thats something you need to be intellectual honest with yourself about.  "Does this really need to go up the chain, or am I just torqued that my commander didnt like my idea?"

In the adult world, there is a fairly common practice of waiting until your boss is gone to skip the chain and go to the next person.   Ill give you an example...  I am the Chief Pilot of my organization.   I take 5 days off.   Someone in the air unit, decides that since Im gone, he'll go ahead and pitch an idea to the Captain (Im a Lt.)  When I found out about it, this employees reason was "Well, you were on vacation." 

Scenario... this person, a mechanic,  wrote a proposal asking to be trained as a pilot from zero time, he knew my position on training pilots.  Not that we cant do it, but because of our missions, the experience needed and the different types of aircraft we fly, it would take someone years to become a competent PIC in each mission.  It just isnt feasible in our set  up.  In addition to that, you have to be a deputy to be a pilot.  There is another 16 months just in LE training before you even start your pilot training.  Sorry, you wanting to be a pilot is not something that needed to be addressed in the 5 work days I was away.  And in addition to that.... if it was that pressing, you could have called, emailed, texted, sent me a letter, etc.  No, what you did was just wait until I was gone because you had already been told "No" before.

Make sense?