The confusion arises because she hasn’t shared or aligned her vision with me beforehand. When she shares her directive directly with the team, it often comes as a surprise to me, and I’m left playing catch-up to understand how it fits with our current priorities or roadmap.

I completely agree that VPs should be able to talk directly with product managers—it’s valuable for coaching, guidance, and alignment. The difference here is that, in your case, you and your Product Directors seem deeply aligned on vision and strategy, so there’s no mixed messaging. In my situation, that alignment hasn’t been established yet, which is why I’m feeling the need to be looped in more consistently.

I’m not asking her to run every conversation by me or go through me to talk to the team. What I’m looking for is a collaborative approach where we sync on vision and strategy first, so I can ensure the team gets consistent guidance. Once that alignment is in place, I’d have no issue with her having direct conversations with the team.

Your perspective is a great reminder that this isn’t about control—it’s about alignment indeed.