Our weekly segue has become a robotic, meaningless ritual where people just say 'everything is fine' to save time, resulting in zero trust building. How do we make the segue authentic without allowing it to run over the five-minute limit?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A robotic, disingenuous segue is just as dangerous as one that runs twenty minutes over time. If your leadership team is merely checking a box by saying 'good weekend, work is busy,' you are missing the entire purpose of the segue, which is to transition out of the daily grind and build the vulnerability-based trust needed for healthy IDS®. To fix this without breaking your five-minute timebox, the facilitator must inject intentionality into the prompt. Instead of a generic check-in, rotate a specific, high-impact prompt each week. For example, ask each person to share one personal win from the weekend and one thing they are grateful for. Alternatively, ask them to name their biggest professional win of the week and one person on the team they want to appreciate. Keep the responses strictly structured. Each person gets exactly forty-five seconds to share their good news. If someone starts to elaborate or drift into a long story, the facilitator must gently guide them back by thanking them and moving to the next person. By keeping the prompts specific and the timing tight, you force brevity while encouraging genuine sharing. Trust is built in the small, consistent moments of vulnerability. A crisp, authentic five-minute segue sets a focused and collaborative tone for the rest of the ninety minutes, ensuring the team is fully present and emotionally aligned to solve the business's toughest problems.