Our weekly Issues List has ballooned to over fifty items, making it impossible to review or prioritize effectively, and creating a sense of overwhelm before we even begin IDS®. How do we clean up and manage a bloated Level 10 Meeting™ Issues List without losing track of important departmental problems?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A bloated Issues List is a symptom of a team that is hoarding problems rather than solving them. When your list grows to fifty items, it ceases to be a tool for execution and becomes a graveyard of ignored tasks. This overwhelm drains the energy of the leadership team before you even start the meeting.

To regain control, you must clean up and manage your list using three strict rules. First, review your Issues List before the meeting starts. The facilitator and the Integrator should look at the list and identify duplicate issues, outdated problems, or items that can be solved with a quick conversation outside the room.

Second, push departmental issues down. Often, leadership teams keep issues on their main list that actually belong on a departmental Level 10 Meeting™ list. If an issue can be solved by the marketing team or the operations team without leadership intervention, move it to their local list immediately. Trust your team and the Accountability Chart™ to handle it.

Third, move long-term issues to your V/TO®. If an issue is not critical to solve in the next ninety days, it does not belong on your weekly active list. Move it to your long-term issues list on the V/TO® so you can address it during your next Quarterly Planning Session. This keeps your weekly list focused strictly on immediate, tactical execution.