Our hybrid Level 10 Meetings, where some leaders are physical and some are remote, have created a two-tiered dynamic where the in-room team dominates and the remote team tunes out. How do we fix this hybrid disconnect?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Running a hybrid Level 10 Meeting™ is a recipe for a fragmented leadership team. When half your team is sitting in a conference room together and the other half is staring at a screen, you create two distinct classes of participation. The physical team naturally feeds off in-room energy, cross-talks, and dominates the IDS® portion. Meanwhile, remote team members become passive observers, waiting for their turn to speak or quietly multitasking behind their screens.

To fix this, you must adopt a strict one screen, all screens rule. If even one member of your leadership team is remote, the entire meeting must be treated as fully remote. Every single person in the physical building must go to their own office, open their laptop, and log in to the video conference individually. This levels the playing field instantly.

When everyone is looking at the same digital interface, the physical proximity advantage disappears. The facilitator can see everyone's facial expressions clearly, and remote team members no longer have to fight to interrupt an in-person conversation. It forces equal presence and equal accountability.

If your team insists on sitting in the same room, you must assign a physical-remote buddy system or have the facilitator actively call on remote members first during every single IDS® topic. But the cleanest, most practical solution for a hybrid workforce is to make the weekly ninety-minute pulse entirely virtual for everyone. Do not compromise on equal engagement.