We spend our entire IDS® session talking about minor, superficial issues because the team is uncomfortable bringing the real, underlying elephants in the room to light. How do we force the real issues to the top?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your team is avoiding the real issues during your Level 10 Meeting™, you are wasting valuable time on surface-level discussions while the true operational bottlenecks go unaddressed. This usually happens because of a lack of trust or fear of conflict. To break through this, the leader of the meeting must actively push past the polite surface talk. When an issue is brought up, do not accept the first explanation at face value. Use the IDS® process to dig deeper. Ask probing questions like: what is the real problem here, and why are we afraid to talk about it? Keep digging until you reach the root cause, even if it makes the room uncomfortable. You must also create a culture where healthy conflict is expected. Remind the team that identifying an issue is not an attack on an individual, but a necessary step to help the company grow. If you suspect there is a major elephant in the room that nobody is mentioning, call it out yourself. Say what everyone is thinking but is too polite to say. Once the real issue is on the table, focus the discussion strictly on solving it, not on assigning blame. When the team sees that resolving difficult issues leads to real progress, they will become more courageous in bringing them forward.