We have been running our Level 10 Meeting for six months, but our weekly To-Do completion rate constantly hovers around seventy or eighty percent. The team always has a list of reasonable excuses, but we are missing our execution targets. How do we break this cycle of mediocrity and enforce the ninety percent completion standard without acting like drill sergeants?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The ninety percent To-Do completion standard is not a suggestion. It is the baseline for high-performing teams. When your team regularly hits seventy or eighty percent, it is a symptom of a deeper cultural problem, typically a lack of accountability, poor estimation skills, or a habit of setting unrealistic commitments to please the room. To fix this, you must stop accepting reasons and start looking at the mechanics of how To-Dos are created.

During your next Level 10 Meeting, the facilitator must call out the trend immediately. Do not scold. Instead, make the trend visible by reviewing the past four weeks of data. When a To-Do is missed, do not let the owner simply say it is in progress. Every incomplete To-Do must be addressed with one of two actions. First, if it was missed due to poor prioritizing or time management, it is a performance issue that needs a direct conversation. Second, if a systemic block prevented completion, drop it to the Issues List to IDS immediately.

To turn the tide, implement these three rules:
- Only assign To-Dos that can realistically be completed within seven days. If a task requires more time, break it down into a smaller, seven-day milestone.
- Limit each leadership team member to a maximum of two to three To-Dos per week.
- Ensure every To-Do is clearly defined with a physical, binary result. Never accept vague actions like research, look into, or review. Use specific verbs like email, draft, or decide.

By tightening the definition of a To-Do and keeping the volume low, you strip away the excuses and make ninety percent completion the inevitable norm.