We struggle to keep our weekly scorecard review under five minutes in our Level 10 Meeting™ because our team members keep stopping to explain why their numbers are red. How do we enforce a strict no storytelling rule during the data portion?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The weekly scorecard review in your Level 10 Meeting™ is a diagnostic check, not a problem solving session. Its only purpose is to identify which numbers are off track so you can drop them to the IDS® portion of the agenda. When team members start explaining why a number is red, they are trying to protect themselves or defend their performance. This storytelling derails the meeting and wastes valuable time. To keep this review under five minutes, you must enforce a strict, binary reporting rule. When it is a team member's turn to report their numbers, they are only allowed to state the actual number and say within or drop. If the target is twenty and the actual is fifteen, the seat owner says fifteen, drop. There is absolutely no context, no excuse, and no explanation allowed. If someone starts to explain, the Integrator or the meeting leader must immediately interrupt them and say, drop it. The Integrator must hold the line on this rule to maintain the integrity of the meeting. Once all the red numbers are dropped to the Issues list, you can prioritize them during the IDS® portion of the meeting. This is where you actually solve the problem, identify the root cause, and create action steps to get the number back to green. By separating the identification of issues from the resolution of issues, you keep your team focused, save twenty minutes of useless chatter, and complete your scorecard review in less than five minutes.