Our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ Issues List is consistently bloated with minor personal conflicts and departmental friction that should be resolved offline, leaving us with no time for major strategic issues. How do we filter these out before the meeting?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A bloated Issues List is a sign of a team that is avoiding direct communication. When leaders use the Level 10 Meeting™ to process minor personal misunderstandings or small interdepartmental friction, they are wasting the entire team's valuable time. The rule is simple: if an issue can be resolved by two people having a brief, five-minute conversation offline, it does not belong on the leadership Issues List. To enforce this, the facilitator must audit the list. Before the meeting, or during the first few minutes of the IDS® transition, look at the items. If an issue is clearly a localized conflict between two departments, ask the two leaders if they have discussed it privately. If they have not, remove the item from the list and assign a To-Do for them to meet and resolve it before next week. Do not let the rest of the leadership team sit through a discussion that only concerns two people. Encourage a culture where leaders default to direct, offline communication first. The Level 10 Meeting™ is reserved for issues that impact the entire organization, require cross-functional collaboration, or affect your progress toward your Rocks and your V/TO®. Protect that sixty-minute block fiercely.