We occasionally invite department managers or outside consultants into our leadership Level 10 Meeting™ to help solve a specific IDS® issue, but their presence completely derails our schedule and turns the meeting into an unproductive ninety-minute presentation. How do we handle guest attendance without destroying our meeting discipline?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Inviting a guest, such as an outside consultant or a mid-level manager, into your leadership Level 10 Meeting™ is a useful way to solve complex issues, but it must be managed with absolute discipline. If you let a guest sit through your entire ninety-minute agenda, they will inevitably disrupt your meeting pulse and waste valuable time.

To prevent this, you must run a strict guest-management protocol. First, do not invite guests to the entire meeting. Have them join only for the specific IDS® issue they are needed for. Schedule their arrival for a specific time, usually during the last thirty minutes of your meeting, and place their issue at the top of the prioritized IDS® list for that block.

Second, set clear expectations before they enter the room. Explain the Level 10 Meeting™ structure and tell them they are there to help identify and solve a single, specific issue, not to give a long-winded presentation or slide deck. Once the issue is solved and a clear To-Do is assigned, thank them for their time and have them leave the meeting. This protects the sacredness of your leadership team's time and keeps your meeting pulse highly efficient.