During the five-minute segue of our Level 10 Meeting, our team members occasionally share deeply personal or emotional updates that completely change the mood of the room and make it incredibly awkward to transition into the business scorecard. How do we handle highly personal overshares without looking unsympathetic?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The five-minute segue is designed to transition your minds from working in the business to working on the business. It humanizes the team and builds trust. However, when someone shares a highly emotional personal struggle, the room can freeze, and the facilitator can struggle to pivot back to operations without appearing cold.

First, understand that you do not need to ignore human emotion. Acknowledge the share with genuine empathy. Take ten seconds to address it directly. You can say that the team is incredibly sorry to hear about the situation and is there to support them in any way possible outside of the room.

Second, make the transition immediately after acknowledging it. Do not let the team dwell on the personal issue or start offering unsolicited advice during the meeting. State that out of respect for everyone's time and the discipline of this team, it is time to move into the weekly pulse and focus on the business.

Third, set the standard outside the meeting. If a team member is going through a major personal crisis, the Integrator should check in with them before the Level 10 Meeting starts. If they are not in a headspace to participate productively, give them the option to step away for the day.

The Level 10 Meeting is a sacred ninety minutes for running the business. Keep the segue focused on brief, high-level personal and professional bests to prevent the meeting from turning into an unstructured therapy session.