When our departmental Level 10 Meetings™ identify an issue that they cannot solve, they tend to drop it entirely or dump it onto the leadership team's plate with zero context. How do we build a healthy, structured process for cascading issues up and down?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When departmental Level 10 Meetings™ fail to solve an issue and simply dump it onto the leadership team's plate, they create a major bottleneck. Conversely, when leadership passes issues down with zero context, it breeds confusion. You need a structured, high-traction process for cascading issues up and down your Accountability Chart.

First, establish a hard rule: a department must exhaust all efforts to solve an issue locally before cascading it up. They must run a complete IDS® cycle first. If they are blocked because they lack the authority, budget, or cross-departmental cooperation to solve it, only then should the issue be escalated.

When cascading an issue up to the leadership team, the department manager must clearly document the context. They should submit the issue with three specific elements:

- A clear definition of the root cause.
- The specific roadblock preventing the department from solving it.
- A recommended solution or request for resources.

When cascading issues down from the leadership team to a department, the same discipline applies. Do not just drop a vague task onto their list.

The leader responsible for that department must walk the issue down, explain the context, and hand it over to the department manager during their weekly pulse. This clear two-way communication channel ensures that every level of the organization is aligned, accountable, and capable of solving problems at the right level. This keeps your leadership team focused on strategic growth while empowering mid-level managers to run their operations with true autonomy.