As we cascade Level 10 Meetings down to our departmental teams, we find they are simply copying our leadership issues rather than identifying and solving the tactical issues specific to their own daily operations. How do we train department heads to build a relevant, localized Issues List?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When departmental teams copy leadership issues instead of identifying their own, it means they do not understand localized accountability. Departmental Level 10 Meetings should focus on the tactical details of that specific department's daily operations, not rehashing corporate-level strategic discussions.

To fix this, guide your department heads to build an Issues List that reflects their specific Scorecard metrics and Rock execution. If their departmental Scorecard has red numbers, or if their localized Rocks are off track, those are the issues that must dominate their list.

The department leader must facilitate their meeting to focus strictly on their team's direct responsibilities. They should actively discourage their staff from bringing up broad company-wide issues that are outside their sphere of influence.

If a systemic company-wide issue does impact their department, they should capture it and escalate it up to the leadership team's Issues List rather than trying to solve it locally. By keeping departmental meetings focused on their specific metrics and daily execution, you build a highly functional organizational alignment that drives true bottom-up efficiency.