Our departmental Level 10 Meetings™ are running way over ninety minutes because team members are bringing personal performance issues and HR grievances into the group IDS® session. How do we coach departmental managers to keep these meetings strictly focused on operational team issues?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Departmental Level 10 Meetings™ exist to solve operational issues that impact the team's ability to execute weekly tasks, hit scorecard numbers, and complete Rocks. They are not a forum for individual performance management or human resource disputes. When a departmental meeting devolves into a therapy session or a performance review, it destroys the efficiency of the weekly pulse.

To correct this, you must train your departmental managers on how to guard the agenda. The manager, acting as the facilitator, must maintain a strict boundary between team issues and individual issues. If a team member brings up a grievance regarding a peer or a personal performance struggle, the facilitator must immediately stop the discussion. They should instruct the team member that this is a private matter and must be handled in a one on one meeting, not in the Level 10 Meeting™.

Managers should use the tools of EOS® to guide these boundaries. They must explain that the weekly pulse is for solving issues that affect the entire department. Personal development, coaching, and behavioral alignment belong in regular one on one conversations, or in quarterly reviews. By establishing this clear separation, your managers will protect the group's time, maintain a high level of psychological safety, and ensure the departmental Level 10 Meetings™ remain focused on driving execution and productivity.