We have successfully run EOS® on our leadership team for a year, but now that we are cascading it down to departmental managers, they are treating the weekly Level 10 Meeting™ as a performance evaluation instead of a problem-solving space. How do we correct this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you cascade the Level 10 Meeting™ down to your departmental teams, it is common for employees to feel defensive. They often view the weekly meeting as a performance evaluation where they will be punished for red numbers or off-track status, rather than as a cooperative, problem-solving environment designed to help them succeed.

To break this fear, the leadership team must model the correct behavior and reinforce the true purpose of the meeting. The Level 10 Meeting™ is designed to bring issues to the surface so the team can solve them together. It is a support system, not a grading system. If team members feel they will be penalized for dropping an issue on the list, they will hide their mistakes until it is too late.

As the facilitator, you must actively praise transparency. When a departmental manager admits a scorecard metric is red and immediately drops it to the issues list, thank them for their honesty. Make it clear that having an issue is normal, but hiding an issue is unacceptable.

Use these strategies to reset the culture in your departmental meetings:
- Explicitly state at the start of each meeting that red numbers are simply data points that require help, not personal failures.
- Ensure managers do not use the Level 10 Meeting™ to deliver performance feedback or disciplinary warnings.
- Keep the focus on solving the issue together during the IDS® portion rather than assigning blame.