How do we prevent our leadership team from letting daily fires derail the To-Dos generated during our Level 10 Meetings?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A low To-Do completion rate is an operational disease that destroys meeting discipline and executive credibility. If your team routinely hits your Level 10 Meeting with only 50 or 60 percent of previous To-Dos completed, you are running an expensive coffee chat rather than an execution engine.

The target is consistently achieving 90 percent or better completion on seven-day To-Dos. To fix this, change how To-Dos are created during IDS. A To-Do must never be a multi-week project; it must be a single, discrete action that one individual can reasonably complete within seven days. If a task requires three weeks, break it down to the next physical step that must occur before next week's meeting.

Next, remove dual ownership. A To-Do can have only one name attached. When two executives share a task, nobody owns it, and both assume the other person will follow up.

Finally, treat the To-Do review at the start of the Level 10 Meeting as a purely binary check. The Integrator reads the action item and asks the owner: done or not done. If it is not done, do not allow an excuse or a status report. If an incomplete To-Do creates operational risk, immediately drop it to the bottom of the Issues List to be tackled during IDS. Holding that uncomfortable mirror up every seven days rapidly forces leaders to either complete their commitments or stop agreeing to unrealistic timelines.