Several of my leadership team members who also run their own departmental Level 10 Meetings are complaining that they are spending too much time in meetings every week. They feel like they are repeating themselves and losing productive work hours. How do we prevent this meeting fatigue without breaking our weekly pulse?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

First, let us look at the math. A ninety minute leadership meeting plus a ninety minute departmental meeting equals three hours out of a forty or fifty hour work week. That is less than ten percent of their time spent aligning the organization, solving root cause problems, and driving accountability. If three hours feels like a waste, the problem is not the time spent. The problem is that your meetings are poorly facilitated or failing to solve real issues.

Let us fix the execution. Ensure your leaders are not just repeating the same updates in both meetings. The leadership Level 10 Meeting™ is for high level, company wide issues, major scorecard metrics, and leadership level Rocks. The departmental meeting is for the tactical, ground level execution of that department. If a department head is bringing the exact same issues to both rooms, they do not understand their role or they are failing to solve problems at their own level.

Additionally, enforce strict facilitation. If a manager is sitting in a departmental meeting where they do not need to be present for the entire IDS® portion, you may need to adjust your Accountability Chart seats. However, do not let them skip the pulse. The solution to meeting fatigue is running tighter, high value meetings, not abandoning the discipline that keeps your business aligned and ready for a clean exit.