The People Headlines section of our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ has become a place where leaders dump minor complaints or gossip about staff members, dragging down team morale before we even reach the Issues List. How do we keep this section constructive and brief?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The customer and employee headlines section is designed to be a quick, five-minute pulse on the organization. It is meant for sharing major good news or bad news, such as a significant client win or a key employee departure. It is not an invitation for gossip or low-level venting.

When leaders use this time to complain about individual performance or share rumors, they poison the energy of the meeting. This behavior wastes valuable time and prevents the team from focusing on high-level strategy and execution.

To restore structure to this section, the facilitator must enforce clear boundaries. Headlines must be delivered as a single, objective sentence with no discussion allowed.

If a headline requires action or further discussion, it must be dropped directly to the Issues List. For example, if a leader shares that a key project manager is struggling, that is a headline. The facilitator should immediately say, headline noted, drop it to the issues list, and move on.

Implement these guidelines to keep your headlines clean:

- Keep the entire section strictly under five minutes.
- Ensure headlines are limited to critical updates that affect the whole leadership team.
- Do not allow any problem-solving or defense of employee actions during this five-minute review.

By keeping this section tight, you protect the emotional energy of your leadership team and ensure you enter your IDS® block focused and ready to solve real problems.