We run hybrid Level 10 Meetings™ where half the team is together in our physical conference room and the other half is remote on Zoom. The in-person team naturally dominates the conversation, while the remote leaders sit in silence, feeling disconnected. How do we balance this hybrid dynamic?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Hybrid meetings are notoriously difficult to facilitate because the physical presence of the in-person team naturally creates a dominant center of gravity. The side conversations, body language, and immediate feedback loops in the physical room leave your remote leaders feeling like second-class citizens. To fix this, you must deliberately level the playing field. The golden rule for hybrid Level 10 Meetings is simple: if even one person is remote, everyone is remote. This means every single person in the physical conference room must open their own laptop, log into the meeting link, and look at their individual camera. This eliminates the "us versus them" dynamic and puts everyone in the same digital space. Additionally, your facilitator must actively manage the queue. When you move to the IDS portion of the meeting, the facilitator should intentionally call on the remote participants first to share their thoughts on the prioritized issues. This forces the physical room to listen before dominating the airtime. Ensure your audio setup is flawless, as bad sound is the fastest way to make remote team members check out. By committing to a remote-first protocol, you maintain high engagement, drive absolute accountability, and build a highly disciplined operation. This operational discipline is crucial for proving to potential buyers that your business can run seamlessly across distributed teams, which is a major value driver for an exit.