How do you keep us from getting bogged down in minor tactical details during our session days when we have major strategic decisions to make?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is common for leadership teams to drift into operational firefighting during our sessions. My job as your facilitator is to keep you at the leadership level, focusing on the business rather than in the business.

I use several specific techniques to manage this during our day. First, we strictly enforce the agenda. We allocate specific time blocks for reviewing data, updating our vision, and solving issues. If a conversation begins to spiral into tactical micromanagement, I will step in and redirect the team.

Second, we use the Issues Solving Track, known as IDS. When an issue is raised, we spend most of our time identifying the root cause before we discuss or solve it. Many tactical rabbit holes occur because teams try to solve a symptom rather than the actual problem. By forcing you to clearly define the issue first, we bypass hours of unnecessary debate.

Third, we utilize a parking lot for items that are important but not relevant to our current discussion. If a tactical problem arises that belongs in a weekly departmental meeting rather than our leadership session, we capture it and move on. This ensures that our limited time together is spent on high leverage decisions that move the entire company forward, leaving the day to day tactics to your weekly execution meetings.