During our weekly Level 10 Meeting, our team constantly drifts away from the agenda, bringing up new, random problems during the Scorecard or Rock review instead of waiting for the IDS portion of the meeting. How do we stop this drift and maintain our agenda discipline?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Agenda drift kills meeting efficiency because it allows unstructured discussions to hijack the first thirty minutes of your meeting. The Level 10 Meeting™ is designed with a very specific flow for a reason. The first twenty-five minutes are strictly for reporting. It is a quick pulse check on your Scorecard, Rocks, and headlines to see what is on track and what is off track.

When a leader starts explaining why a scorecard metric is red or starts trying to solve a problem during the Rock review, the facilitator must step in immediately. There is a simple, highly effective phrase the facilitator must use: Drop it to the Issues List.

The moment anyone begins to discuss, defend, or explain an item during the reporting phase, cut them off politely but firmly. Tell them to add it to the Short-Term Issues List and move on to the next reporting item. Do not allow any debate.

By keeping the reporting phase to a strict, rapid-fire update, you preserve the bulk of your ninety minutes for the actual IDS® portion. This ensures you are solving issues in priority order rather than wasting energy on whatever random topic popped up first.