During the IDS® portion of our Level 10 Meeting™, my highly opinionated department heads exhaust our ninety minutes by debating solutions they have no authority to implement. How do I facilitate our team to use leader-to-leader intent language so we stop discussing and start solving?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When opinionated department heads spend your Level 10 Meeting™ debating issues outside their authority, they are behaving like followers waiting for permission or trying to control other areas. To fix this, you must shift your leadership team to a leader-to-leader model. Instead of allowing open-ended debate where everyone shares an uneducated opinion on another department's problem, force the accountable leader to state their intent. Under the Accountability Chart, each seat has clear roles and metrics. When an issue is on the table, the leader who owns that seat must drive the solution. Instead of asking the room, what do you think we should do, that leader must state, I intend to take these three actions to resolve this issue. The rest of the team's job during the discussion phase is not to rewrite the solution, but to challenge assumptions, identify blind spots, and ensure the proposed action aligns with your V/TO® and company Charter. The facilitator must shut down any cross-departmental meddling by asking, who is accountable for this seat on the Accountability Chart? Once that is clear, the conversation must shift back to supporting that leader's intent. This focus keeps your IDS® sessions highly efficient, respects structural boundaries, and builds the decisive management layer required for you to step into the Owner's Box.