My team gets confused about the difference between a simple informational headline and an actual issue that needs to go to IDS. How do we draw a clear line during our weekly pulse?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The core difference between a headline and an issue in a weekly Level 10 Meeting lies in the need for action.

• Headlines are purely informational updates. Their purpose is to keep the leadership team informed and on the same page. They do not require discussion, decision-making, or conflict resolution.
• Issues require attention. They demand discussion, a decision, or the resolution of a conflict.

Drawing the Line

To clearly distinguish between the two, especially during the five-minute Customer and Employee Headlines section, facilitators should use a simple filtering question.

When a team member shares a headline, the facilitator asks:
"Is this just a heads-up, or do we need to solve something?"

• If the response indicates it's just a heads-up, the team acknowledges it and moves on. This preserves the flow of the meeting and ensures that informational updates are quickly disseminated. To maintain this brisk pace and prevent meetings from dragging, it's crucial to [rein in the segue](/qa/rein-in-level-10-meeting-segue) if team members tend to share long-winded personal updates.
• If the item requires action, a decision, or if it impacts another department, the facilitator must immediately instruct the coordinator to drop it onto the short-term Issues List.

It is critical to enforce the rule of no discussion of the topic during the headlines section. By maintaining this strict separation, you teach your team to compartmentalize information effectively:

• Headlines are for awareness.
• The Issues List is for action.

Keeping these elements separate preserves the efficiency of the ninety-minute meeting and ensures that valuable time is not wasted debating updates that require no immediate solution. This approach also helps prevent scenarios where the team starts [pointing fingers at other departments](/qa/using-accountability-chart-to-stop-blame-in-ids) when discussing problems, as the Issues List is the designated space for collaborative problem-solving.

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