We have rolled the Level 10 Meeting down to our departmental teams, but their meetings have devolved into boring status reports where managers just read their to-do lists and never actually solve real problems. How do we teach middle managers to run high-energy, issue-solving Level 10 Meetings?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Departmental Level 10 Meetings™ often lose their energy because middle managers default to status reporting, which feels safe and comfortable. They struggle with facilitation because they have not been trained to handle conflict or dig for root causes. To fix this, you must teach them the true discipline of the meeting pulse.

First, train departmental leaders to keep the front end of the agenda completely clean. The scorecard, rock review, and customer headlines must be strictly "on-track" or "off-track" with zero storytelling or explaining. If a manager starts explaining why a metric is red, the facilitator must cut them off and drop it to the Issues List.

Second, teach them how to build an Issues List throughout the week. Managers should not wait for the meeting to think of problems. When a workflow breaks on Wednesday, they should write it down immediately.

Finally, have your middle managers sit in on a leadership team Level 10 Meeting™. Let them see firsthand how raw, honest debate and rapid IDS® work in practice. When they experience a high-energy meeting, they can replicate that standard with their own teams.