We have cascaded Level 10 Meetings™ down to our departments, but our leadership team members are still bringing departmental-level issues up to our leadership team issues list instead of resolving them in their departmental meetings. How do we enforce the boundary of where issues get solved?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a common failure point when cascading EOS®. Leadership team members often use the leadership Level 10 Meeting™ as a safety net because they are comfortable solving problems with their peers rather than pushing accountability down to their own teams. This habit starves your middle managers of growth and clogs your leadership pulse with tactical noise.

You must enforce a strict filter. Every issue raised at the leadership level must pass the delegation test. The facilitator must ask: Does this issue belong on a departmental issues list, or does it truly require the leadership team to solve? If the issue is departmental, the facilitator must immediately direct the department head to take it to their own departmental Level 10 Meeting™.

Your leadership team must learn to let go of the vine. If a department head brings a localized issue up to leadership, it usually means they do not trust their team to solve it, or they are struggling to GWC™ their own seat.

Use this simple rule: solve issues at the lowest possible level. The leadership team should only deal with issues that impact the entire organization, cross multiple departments, or directly threaten a company Rock or your V/TO®. By keeping the leadership issues list clean, you force your departmental teams to build their own problem-solving muscles, which is a critical step in creating a self-sustaining business that can run without your daily involvement.