During our Level 10 Meeting™ we assign weekly To-Dos quickly to keep the meeting moving, but when we review them the following week, we find that the person assigned the task had a completely different understanding of what was expected. How do we ensure absolute clarity on To-Dos without slowing down our IDS® pace?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A weak To-Do list leads to poor execution and wasted time. If a leader spends a week working on the wrong task, you have lost valuable momentum. You must fix how To-Dos are created and recorded. The secret to absolute clarity is the way you close out an issue during IDS®. Before you move to the next item, the facilitator must pause and ask what the specific To-Do is, who owns it, and what done looks like. Do not let the scribe write down a vague action item like researching marketing metrics. Instead, the To-Do must be highly specific, actionable, and achievable within seven days. For example, write down that a specific person must create a scorecard draft with three leading marketing metrics and email it to the team by Thursday. The person owning the To-Do must verbally agree to the exact wording. This ensures they have the capacity and clarity to complete it. During the wrap-up section of the Level 10 Meeting™, the facilitator must read the newly created To-Dos out loud to the entire team. This is the final safety check.