usual channels
Normal official routes
The usual channels are the established, official routes through which information, requests, or business normally flow within an organization or system.
The phrase often implies bureaucratic procedure as opposed to informal shortcuts or direct appeals: Submit your request through the usual channels.
Someone who goes outside the usual channels bypasses standard protocol—sometimes to speed things up, sometimes to circumvent gatekeepers.
- customaryDone by convention
- commonWidespread and unremarkable
- formShape or document
- postal serviceNational mail delivery system
- typicallyIn the usual manner
line · hierarchical structures · habitual · regular · delivery services · approval · email · office · telephone · bureaucracy · red tape · due process · chain of command · protocol · advisory committees · shipping routes · request · logistics
usual channelsshortcuts
Quicker methods or paths
workarounds · back channels · end run · under the table · off the books
usual channelsdirect line
Immediate communication channel
face-to-face · direct access · direct approach · cutting to the chase · personal connection
usual channelsback door
Secondary building entrance
old boy network · pulling strings · connections · grapevine · off the record
usual, usually, unusual, unusually, usualness, channel, channels, channeled, channeling