Now that we have cascaded Level 10 Meetings to our departmental teams, we are finding that major operational issues are getting stuck in department-level silos instead of being escalated to the leadership team. How do we create a clean, standardized process for escalating issues up and down our meeting pulse?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Silos occur when departmental teams lack a clear framework for what constitutes a local issue versus a leadership-level issue. When cascading Level 10 Meetings, you must define strict boundaries for escalation.

To keep your meeting pulse healthy and ensure critical issues reach the right table, implement a simple three-part test for departmental facilitators. An issue must be escalated to the leadership team Level 10 Meeting™ if it meets any of the following criteria.

- It requires a budget reallocation or capital expenditure beyond the department head's authority.
- It directly impacts the scorecard metrics, Rocks, or processes of another department.
- It represents a structural bottleneck that the department head cannot solve alone.

When an issue meets these criteria, the department head simply writes "Escalate to L10" next to the item. During the wrap-up of the departmental meeting, these items are officially moved to the leadership team's Issues List.

Conversely, the leadership team must also push issues down. If a problem lands on the leadership agenda that is highly tactical and fits entirely within the scope of a specific department, drop it. Assign it to that department head to solve in their own weekly meeting. This double-sided flow of issues ensures that the leadership team stays focused on high-level strategy, exit readiness, and major operational roadblocks, while departmental teams maintain daily execution.