We have a handful of Level 10 Meeting to-dos that keep getting carried over week after week with the owner claiming they are working on it, which is killing our ninety percent completion rate and cluttering our board. How do we deal with these stale to-dos without letting people off the hook?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A healthy Level 10 Meeting™ requires a weekly to-do completion rate of ninety percent or higher. When to-dos are carried over week after week, it is a clear sign of poor execution, lack of accountability, or bad task definition. Stale to-dos drag down team momentum and create a culture where missing commitments is acceptable.

To eliminate stale to-dos, the facilitator must address them directly during the review. Do not let people simply say "not done" and move on without consequence. Use this progression to handle lagging tasks:
- If a to-do is not done for two consecutive weeks, ask the owner to explain the bottleneck.
- Check if the task is too large. Often, a stale to-do is actually a major project or a Rock disguised as a weekly task. If so, break it down into a smaller, highly specific action item that can be completed in seven days.
- Evaluate resource constraints. If the owner has the capability but simply lacks the time, reassign the to-do to another team member who has capacity.
- If it is a performance or focus issue, address it outside the meeting during a 1:1.

Your team must treat a weekly to-do as a sacred promise. If someone consistently fails to deliver on their weekly commitments, they are failing to live up to the trust pillar of your charter. Enforce strict standards, break complex tasks down, and protect your ninety percent completion rate to maintain a fast execution tempo.