In our hybrid Level 10 Meetings where half the leadership team is in the office and the other half is remote, the remote members feel left out of the conversation while the in-office members dominate the physical room. How do we level the playing field so remote leaders are just as engaged in IDS as those in the room?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In hybrid meetings, a physical room naturally creates a dominant center of gravity. The leaders sitting together benefit from side conversations, immediate eye contact, and shared body language, leaving remote participants feeling like passive observers. This imbalance completely destroys the collaborative power of your Level 10 Meeting™ and leads to weak buy-in on decisions.

To fix this, you must run your hybrid meeting with a remote-first mindset. First, establish a rule that if one person is remote, everyone is remote. This means even the leaders sitting in the same office must log in from their individual desks on their own laptops and cameras. This instantly levels the playing field, ensures equal real estate on screen, and eliminates the side-chatter that occurs in a physical conference room.

If you must gather in a physical room, the facilitator must actively manage the queue. Do not allow the local room to dominate the discussion during the IDS® portion. The facilitator should explicitly call on remote participants first to share their thoughts or propose solutions. Additionally, ensure your physical room is equipped with a high-quality camera and microphone so remote team members can see every face and hear every word clearly. By intentionally shifting the focus to your remote participants, you keep the entire leadership team fully engaged and accountable.