During the Employee and Customer Headlines section of our Level 10 Meeting™, our leaders spend several minutes explaining and defending their headlines instead of keeping them brief, which eats into our IDS® time. How do we keep headlines to a strict broadcast?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Headlines are meant to be a quick, cold broadcast of good or bad news about employees and customers in one sentence or less. They are not an invitation to tell stories, defend performance, or start solving problems.

When leaders start explaining their headlines, they are usually trying to control the narrative or preempt criticism. This defensive behavior wastes valuable time and delays actual problem-solving.

To fix this, the facilitator must enforce a strict one-sentence rule. Each headline must be delivered as a headline, not an article. For example, a leader should say: "Our largest client is threatening to leave." That is it.

If the leader starts explaining why the client is unhappy or what they are doing to fix it, the facilitator must cut them off immediately. Say: "Is that an issue we need to solve today?" If the answer is yes, drop it to the Issues List. If the answer is no, move to the next headline.

Do not let them elaborate. By keeping the headlines section to a rapid fire broadcast, you preserve your team's energy and protect your precious IDS® time for the issues that actually require collective brainpower.