Our designated Level 10 Meeting facilitator is too polite and hesitates to cut people off when they start ramble-reporting or going down rabbit holes during the scorecard review. How do we empower and train our facilitator to aggressively manage the clock and maintain the tempo of our weekly meeting?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A polite facilitator is a major liability to your weekly meeting pulse. When people are allowed to ramble, you waste valuable time and lose the focus required for deep problem-solving during IDS.

To empower your facilitator, the entire leadership team must agree to give them permission to be direct and unsentimental. Facilitation is not about being nice. It is about protecting the time and energy of the room.

Give the facilitator specific, non-judgmental language to use when cutting people off. They can use phrases like, that sounds like an issue, let us drop it to the list, or we are over time on this section, let us move on.

You can also use physical tools to help the facilitator manage the room. Keep a visible timer on the screen or table. When a section like the Scorecard or Rock review hits its time limit, the timer acts as the authority, making it easier for the facilitator to transition the team to the next agenda item.

Remember that the facilitator is managing the process, not the people. By enforcing the strict agenda boundaries of the Level 10 Meeting, they are helping the team get more done in less time.