Our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ Issues List is frequently empty or contains only minor tactical items, yet our business is experiencing clear operational friction. How do we break through this false sense of security and surface our real challenges?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An empty or shallow Issues List in your Level 10 Meeting™ is a major red flag. It rarely means your business is running perfectly; instead, it indicates a lack of trust, fear of conflict, or simple complacency. When your team brings no issues to the table, they are failing to use the weekly pulse to protect the business. To break through this false sense of security, the Integrator must become an active miner of conflict. You must look at your weekly scorecard and Rock review as the primary sources for issues. Every red metric on your scorecard and every off-track Rock must automatically drop down to the Issues List. There are no exceptions. Additionally, the facilitator must ask probing questions during the meeting. If everything is reported as on track but your overall revenue is flat, ask the hard questions. Encourage your team to add issues to the list throughout the week as they occur, rather than trying to remember them five minutes before the meeting starts. You can use your software or a shared document to capture these items in real-time. If the list remains empty, dedicate the first five minutes of the IDS® portion to a silent brainstorm. Have every leader write down two things that are holding their department back or causing friction. This forces the team to reflect and ensures that you are solving real operational bottlenecks rather than ignoring them.