In our departmental Level 10 Meetings, the team members frequently report that they have no issues to add to the list, which results in twenty-minute meetings where nothing gets solved. How do we get our front-line employees to actually bring their problems to the table?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a departmental team claims they have no issues, it is rarely because their operation is running flawlessly. More often, it is a sign of low trust, fear of looking incompetent, or a lack of understanding of what constitutes an issue.

In the EOS® framework, an issue is not just a disaster. An issue is any obstacle, opportunity, system failure, or idea for improvement. If a metric on their scorecard is in the red, that is an issue. If a process is clunky, that is an issue.

To break this silence, the manager facilitating the departmental Level 10 Meeting™ must proactively mine for issues. Do not just ask: Are there any issues? Instead, look at the scorecard and the Rocks.

If a weekly metric is missed, say: That number is off track, let is drop that to the Issues List. If a team member is struggling with a specific customer, drop it to the list.

You must also teach your team that bringing issues to the table is a core value. It aligns with our Grow or Die mindset. If people are hiding issues to protect themselves, you have a trust problem that must be solved.

By consistently identifying and resolving small problems during the weekly pulse, the team will realize that the Issues List is a tool for support, not a list of complaints. Once they feel safe, the list will grow, and your operations will run much smoother.