We are rating our Level 10 Meetings as eight out of habit, but we are not actually getting real value out of the ninety minutes. How do we break this polite eight trap and force the team to rate the meeting honestly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An eight is a safe, lazy rating that prevents your team from having uncomfortable but necessary conversations. When your Level 10 Meeting™ consistently receives an eight from everyone, it usually means your team is going through the motions rather than solving root-cause issues during IDS®. They are being polite instead of honest.

To break this habit, you must redefine what a ten looks like and hold the team to that standard. A ten means the meeting started and ended on time, the scorecard was clean, every to-do from last week was completed, and you solved your most painful issues. If you left the meeting with your top issues unresolved, or if you spent thirty minutes on status updates, the meeting is not an eight.

As the facilitator, you need to challenge the ratings directly. When a team member rates the meeting an eight, ask them what would have made it a ten. Force them to identify one specific area of waste. Did we spend too much time in the segue? Did we fail to identify the root cause of an issue? Did we let someone dominate the discussion?

You must also establish a rule that any rating below an eight requires a brief, actionable explanation. If someone rates it an eight, push them to be specific. If they cannot name what was missing, they are choosing comfort over traction. By making the ratings a tool for continuous improvement rather than a checkbox exercise, you will force your leadership team to bring more focus and intensity to the weekly meeting pulse.