During our Level 10 Meeting, my leadership team gets stuck in endless debate over issues, and we rarely solve anything permanently. How do we use the IDS process to make real, binding decisions instead of talking in circles?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your team is talking in circles during your weekly Level 10 Meeting, you are discussing symptoms rather than solving the real, underlying issues. This is a common trap that turns productive meetings into frustrating debate clubs.

To master the IDS process, you must be disciplined about the three steps: Identify, Discuss, and Solve.

Most teams fail at the Identify stage. Someone brings an issue to the list, like our sales numbers are down, and the team immediately starts debating sales strategies. That is a mistake. You must spend the majority of your time digging deeper. Ask why three or four times. The real issue might be that the marketing team is delivering poor quality leads, or the sales team has not updated their CRM in months.

Once the true root cause is identified, move to Discuss. Keep the discussion brief and focused on solving the problem, not complaining about it. Do not let people repeat themselves.

Finally, you must Solve the issue. A solution always results in a clear action item assigned to a specific person with a firm deadline. If the issue does not have an owner and a deadline, you have not solved it. It will just end up back on your Issues List next week.