Our weekly leadership meetings frequently run over time and dissolve into status updates rather than actual problem-solving. How do we change the language and structure of these meetings so our team takes immediate ownership of their numbers?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Status meetings are a waste of your team's valuable energy. To fix this, we implement the strict Level 10 Meeting™ cadence, which is designed to be ninety percent problem solving and ten percent reporting. We start by shifting the language your team uses. We move away from passive reporting and encourage active ownership.

For example, instead of saying "we are trying to hit our sales target," we say "we are on track" or "we are off track." If a metric is off track, we do not discuss it during the scorecard review. We drop it to the Issues list immediately. The bulk of the meeting must be spent using the IDS® tool to identify, discuss, and solve these issues.

We also encourage your leaders to change how they frame their actions. We want them to speak with a sense of identity and personal responsibility. Instead of saying "I will try to get this done," they state "I am the owner of this deliverable." By holding each other accountable to their numbers in real time, the meeting becomes a highly productive, energetic environment. Your team stops waiting for the owner's approval and starts behaving like true business owners.