Our leadership team members consistently grade our weekly Level 10 Meetings™ as an eight or nine, but our execution is sluggish and we are not solving our biggest problems. How do we get the team to grade the meeting honestly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Grading the Level 10 Meeting™ is the final step of the agenda for a reason. It is your weekly quality control mechanism. When a team consistently gives eights, nines, or tens to a meeting that was actually a boring, unproductive waste of time, they are practicing artificial harmony. This dishonesty protects feelings but kills performance.

To get honest grades, you must define what a ten actually looks like. A level ten meeting starts on time, ends on time, covers all administrative reviews in twenty-five minutes, and spends sixty minutes of high-intensity, healthy conflict solving the most critical issues on the board. If you did not resolve your top three issues, the meeting is not an eight.

As the leader, you must go first in breaking the polite consensus. If a meeting was slow, unfocused, or avoided tough conversations, grade it a five or six and explain exactly why. This gives the rest of the team permission to be honest.

When someone gives a grade below an eight, do not get defensive. Ask them one simple question: What would it have taken to make this meeting a ten? Their answer will tell you exactly where your meeting discipline is failing. Use the grade to drive continuous improvement, not to make everyone feel good.