As an owner preparing my company for a clean exit, I notice my leadership team is bringing low level operational issues to our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ that their direct reports should be solving. How do we stop our weekly meeting from becoming a dumping ground for problems that belong further down the Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your leadership Level 10 Meeting™ is the most expensive ninety minutes of your week. When your team fills the Issues List with minor operational complaints or departmental tasks, they are wasting valuable leadership energy on things that should be solved lower on the Accountability Chart.

To stop this, the facilitator must challenge every single issue before the team begins to IDS®. Ask the person who raised the issue two questions:
- Who owns this seat on the Accountability Chart?
- Have the affected parties tried to solve this outside of this room first?

If the issue can be solved by a department head and their direct report, it has no business being on the leadership list. The facilitator must table the issue immediately and direct the owner to solve it with their team.

If your leaders struggle to identify what belongs on the leadership list, teach them the difference between leadership issues and departmental issues. Leadership issues are those that impact multiple departments, affect your core values, threaten your quarterly Rocks, or block your weekly scorecard metrics.

By ruthlessly filtering the list, you train your leaders to manage their own areas of the business. This builds the organizational capability you need to prepare the company for your eventual clean exit, ensuring they do not rely on you or the leadership group to make every minor decision.