Our department heads are running their weekly Level 10 Meetings™, but they complain that the meetings feel like repetitive administrative updates rather than productive problem-solving sessions. How do we train them to run these meetings effectively?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a Level 10 Meeting™ becomes a boring status report, it is because the team is violating the agenda. The reporting section of the meeting, which covers the Scorecard, Rock review, and customer or employee headlines, is designed to take only fifteen minutes. This is a quick verification of what is on track or off track, with absolutely zero discussion allowed.

If a metric is missed or a Rock is off track, the facilitator must immediately say drop it to the list. Do not allow the owner to explain why or start telling a story. The story belongs in the Identify, Discuss, and Solve, or IDS®, portion of the meeting, which must occupy a full fifty minutes of your agenda.

The team is likely spending too much time talking about problems without actually resolving them. To fix this, train your facilitators to be ruthless during IDS®.

First, spend the majority of your time on Identify. Ask what the real issue is until you get to the root cause, which is usually a people conflict, a broken process, or a lack of clear accountability.

Second, keep the Discuss phase brief. Avoid repeating the same points.

Third, focus on Solve. A true solution must result in a concrete action item with a single owner on the To-Do List. If an issue does not end with a clear action item to be completed by next week, you have not solved it. Once your teams experience the power of actually resolving their frustrating issues every week, the meetings will become the most valuable ninety minutes of their week.