Our leadership team members consistently rate our Level 10 Meetings as an eight or nine out of ten, but we can all feel the underlying frustration and lack of real resolution. How do we force the team to rate the meeting honestly instead of just being polite?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Polite ratings are a symptom of low trust and artificial harmony. When everyone automatically throws out an eight, they are avoiding the conflict that comes with telling the truth. They just want to close the meeting and get back to their day.

To break this cycle, you must change how you handle any score below a ten. The rule of the Level 10 Meeting™ is that if you rate the meeting anything less than a ten, you must immediately state what would have made it a ten. This is not an invitation to complain, but a specific tool to drive continuous improvement.

As the leader, you must go first and show vulnerability. At the next meeting, rate it a five or a six if it felt unproductive. Explain exactly why. You might say, "I rate this a six because we spent thirty minutes debating a minor administrative task and avoided talking about our missed revenue goal."

This gives the rest of the team permission to be honest. If someone gives an eight, do not let them move on. Ask them directly, "What was missing that would have made this a ten?" If they say they do not know, challenge them. A rating without feedback is useless data. Make it clear that an honest five is infinitely more valuable to the organization than a fake eight, because a five gives you something to solve.