Our departmental teams think the five-minute segue is leadership fluff and skip it entirely, which makes their Level 10 Meetings feel like a dry, transactional status update. How do we protect the human connection of the segue at the departmental level without letting it become a waste of time?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Skipping the segue is a mistake that dooms departmental Level 10 Meetings to mediocrity. Teams often view the segue as corporate fluff, but it serves a vital psychological purpose. It is the transition point from working in the business to working on the business.

Without a segue, team members enter the meeting carrying the stress of their daily tasks. They remain in a defensive, operational mindset. The segue forces everyone to pause, clear their minds, and connect as human beings for exactly five minutes. This connection builds the trust required to engage in healthy, honest conflict during the IDS portion of the meeting.

To make the segue work at the departmental level, keep it simple and disciplined. Every person must share one personal best and one professional best from the preceding seven days. Do not allow long stories, follow-up questions, or cross-talk.

If your teams complain that it feels forced, remind them that high-performing teams require trust. Trust is built through vulnerability and shared human experience. By protecting these five minutes, you create a safe environment where people feel comfortable raising real issues. If you treat the weekly pulse as purely transactional, your team will hide their mistakes, and your Issues List will remain empty.