During the IDS portion of our Level 10 Meeting, our leadership team frequently gets distracted and jumps to easier issues lower down on our list before fully resolving our top-ranked priorities. How do we keep our focus locked on our number one priority until it is solved?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Agenda drift during IDS is a discipline problem that wastes valuable leadership team energy. When your team skips the hard, uncomfortable issue at the top of the list to solve a quick, low-impact item at the bottom, you are hiding from conflict and delaying your progress.

To stop this drift, the facilitator must strictly enforce the ranked order of your Issues List. Once your top three issues are prioritized, you do not look at number two until number one is fully solved. If a team member tries to pivot to another topic, the facilitator must immediately call a timeout. Use a simple, non-confrontational phrase like: That sounds like a valid issue, let us add it to the bottom of the list, but we are currently solving number one.

If the team gets stuck on number one because they lack the necessary data to solve it, do not let them drift. Instead, create a fast, specific To-Do for a team member to gather that data by next week, drop that issue to the bottom of the list, and then formally move to the next prioritized item. This keeps the meeting moving with clear momentum and stops your team from self-selecting easier, low-value topics.