During our transition segue, our leadership team members frequently use their professional best update to pitch an ongoing strategic initiative or outline a new project plan, which stalls our launch before we even look at the numbers. How do we keep the segue strictly to high-level highlights and stop these pitches?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The transition segue is designed to do one thing: transition your brain from working in the business to working on the business. When leadership team members use the professional best update to pitch strategic initiatives, they are bypassing the Scorecard, Rock review, and prioritizing process, forcing the team to focus on their pet project before establishing context.

This behavior must be shut down instantly by the facilitator. A professional best is a high-level highlight of a win, such as closing a deal, launching a campaign, or a team member stepping up. It is a statement, not a discussion.

To fix this, implement the following rules:
- Limit each person's segue to sixty seconds.
- Ban the use of slides, documents, or data sharing during this block.
- Teach the team that if an update requires feedback, a decision, or action, it must be added to the Issues List.

The facilitator must actively police this transition. If a leader starts describing the scope of a new project, the facilitator should say, sounds like a great win, now put the project updates on the Issues List so we can prioritize it during IDS®. This maintains a high-energy start and ensures you protect the ninety-minute meeting pulse.