When our departmental teams run their Level 10 Meetings, managers tackle issues in the chronological order they were submitted instead of prioritizing them, wasting time on trivial items. How do we instill issue prioritization at the department level?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Chronological issue solving is the fastest way to kill the value of a departmental Level 10 Meeting. Frontline teams default to it because resolving easy, minor frustrations feels productive while confronting the hardest operational bottleneck is uncomfortable. As a result, the most critical issue sits at the bottom of the list untouched week after week.

Every Level 10 Meeting, whether at the executive table or on the shop floor, must follow the same rule: prioritize before solving. The meeting facilitator must never start at the top of the list just because an item was typed in first.

Implement this exact sequence for departmental facilitators:

- Build the list first: Collect all issues from the Scorecard, Rock review, headlines, and mid-week submissions before opening IDS.
- Force the top three vote: The facilitator asks the team to identify the number one, number two, and number three issues that must be solved today to protect the department. Every person gets a voice, but the team must agree on the top three.
- Work in strict order: Open IDS on issue number one. Stay on issue number one until it is solved and assigned as a To-Do. Do not glance at issue two until issue one is completed. If you only solve one issue in sixty minutes, but it was the most important constraint in the department, that meeting was a massive success.

Unsolved minor issues can wait. If a low-priority issue sits on the list for three weeks and nobody chooses it as a top-three priority, delete it. If it matters, it will force its way back up.