We rely heavily on an external marketing agency and a contract software development team to run our day-to-day operations. Should we invite these external partners into our weekly Level 10 Meetings, or will that destroy our internal meeting discipline?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Inviting third-party vendors and contractors into your leadership Level 10 Meeting™ is a mistake that will dilute your focus and slow down your decision-making. Your leadership meeting is reserved for the people on your Accountability Chart who own the vision and execution of the company.

However, you can and should establish a separate, focused weekly meeting pulse with your key external partners. To do this, create a modified, shorter Level 10 Meeting™ specifically for managing these relationships.

This meeting should be led by the internal leader who owns that vendor relationship on your Accountability Chart. It should include a scorecard tracking the agency's key deliverables, a review of their weekly commitments, and a targeted IDS® section to resolve operational roadblocks.

By keeping these vendor meetings separate from your core leadership pulse, you maintain the confidentiality and high strategic alignment of your leadership team. At the same time, you hold your external partners to the exact same high standard of accountability that you expect from your internal staff. This structure keeps your operations running cleanly and ensures your vendor relationships are documented and manageable, which is a major asset when preparing for a business exit.