Our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ is highly efficient at resolving immediate operational fires, but we realize we are not making tangible progress toward our bigger 1-Year Plan goals. How do we connect our weekly IDS® priorities directly back to our V/TO® so we are not just surviving the week but building the future?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is common for leadership teams to get so caught up in firefighting during their weekly Level 10 Meeting™ that they lose sight of their long-term strategic direction. While the weekly short-term Issues List is designed for immediate operational hurdles, those solutions must still align with your bigger 1-Year Plan and 3-Year Picture. If they do not, you are running fast in the wrong direction.

To prevent this, the facilitator must bring the V/TO® into the room as an active filter for IDS®. Before finalizing a solution to a complex issue, the facilitator should ask the team, 'Does this solution move us closer to our quarterly Rocks and our 1-Year Plan goals?'

If a proposed solution solves the weekly operational fire but contradicts your long-term strategic targets, it is a bad solution. You must realign the debate. Additionally, during your weekly Rock review, if a critical Rock is reported off track, it must immediately be dropped to the Issues List to be solved. This ensures that your long-term goals are driving your weekly tactical priorities. By constantly referencing your V/TO® during problem-solving, you ensure that every To-Do generated in your weekly meeting acts as a building block for your ultimate business vision.