Our leadership team occasionally arrives at our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ with an empty Issues List, claiming that everything is running perfectly, even though our actual daily operations feel chaotic and disorganized. How do we force the team to identify and log hidden issues?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An empty Issues List is a symptom of a dangerous corporate culture. It usually means your team is hiding problems, suffering from meeting fatigue, or lacks the trust to speak openly. In any growing company, there are always issues; if you think you have none, you are simply not looking hard enough.

When your leadership team arrives at a Level 10 Meeting™ with an empty Issues List, the facilitator must not let them off the hook. Do not end the meeting early. Instead, use that time to dig deep. Start looking at your Scorecard. Are there any metrics that have been barely hitting their targets? Drop them to the list.

Review your quarterly Rocks. Are there any potential roadblocks on the horizon? Look at your V/TO® and check if your long-term plans are still on track. Ask open-ended questions to pull issues out of the team, such as: What is frustrating our clients right now? Where are we losing efficiency?

Remember your Charter commitment to a Grow or Die mindset. A healthy team is always looking for ways to improve from strong to superb. If your list is empty, it means you have stopped pushing. Force the team to find at least three issues to discuss before you adjourn.