We want our departmental managers to stop looking to the leadership team for permission during our cross-departmental alignment issues in the Level 10 Meeting. How do we implement the leader-leader model to make them own their solutions before they bring them to IDS?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your departmental managers are bringing half-baked issues to your Level 10 Meeting and waiting for the leadership team to tell them what to do, you are running a leader-follower organization. To build a self-sustaining business that is ready for a clean exit, you must transition to a leader-leader model during your IDS sessions.

To implement this, require your managers to use the 'I intend to' framework before any cross-departmental issue is discussed. When a manager identifies a problem that affects another department, they must not simply drop it on the issues list and ask for help. Instead, they must do the legwork beforehand and present their plan of action.

The manager should state the issue, outline the context, and say: I intend to take these specific actions to resolve this bottleneck. This forces them to shift from passive observers to active problem solvers. The role of the leadership team during the Level 10 Meeting then shifts from giving permission to validating their decisions and ensuring alignment with the V/TO.

By enforcing this approach, you build high-velocity decision-making throughout your departments. You stop being the bottleneck, and your managers develop the operational muscles needed to run the business without your constant oversight.