During our Level 10 Meetings, my executives look at their shoes whenever a peer reports a red metric or a missed Rock, leaving it entirely on me to ask hard questions. How do I get peers to hold each other accountable without me stepping in?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If you are the only person interrogating red numbers on the Scorecard, your executives do not view themselves as an enterprise leadership team. They view themselves as individual contractors reporting to a boss. They stay quiet because they have an unspoken mutual defense pact: if I do not challenge your poor numbers, you will not challenge mine.

This dynamic destroys enterprise accountability. To break it, the Integrator or meeting facilitator must change how the Scorecard and Rock reviews are run during the Level 10 Meeting. When a metric is red or a Rock is marked off track, do not jump in with questions or offer operational advice. Instead, drop it down to the Issues List immediately without discussion. Do not let the owner play interrogator during the reporting phase.

When you get to IDS, select that red metric and force peer engagement. Turn to the other executives in the room and ask: What impact is this missed metric having on your department? How does this off-track Rock affect our company revenue or customer experience? Frame the failure in terms of enterprise impact.

Once executives see that a peer's failure directly creates operational drag or cost for their own department, peer accountability begins. Set the expectation that asking tough, constructive questions is an act of loyalty to the enterprise, not hostility toward a peer. When leaders actively challenge one another to solve problems collaboratively, the owner can finally stop playing referee and watch the team run the business.