During the IDS® portion of our Level 10 Meeting™, we often spend fifty of our sixty allocated minutes debating the very first issue on our list, leaving us with almost no time for the other two prioritized items. How do we budget our problem-solving time so we do not get stuck on one massive topic every week?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Getting stuck on the first issue is a classic facilitation failure. While some issues require deep debate, spending nearly your entire IDS® block on a single item means you are either failing to identify the root cause quickly or allowing the team to repeat themselves.

To prevent this, your facilitator must actively manage the clock and the flow of discussion. Before you begin solving, the team must agree on the top three issues. Once you start on issue number one, the facilitator should keep a tight leash on the Identify phase. Do not let people jump into discussing solutions before everyone clearly agrees on the exact problem.

If the discussion starts circling or people begin repeating their points, the facilitator must step in. Ask the team: Do we have enough information to solve this right now, or do we need to assign a To-Do to gather data and bring it back next week? If the issue is too massive to resolve in fifteen or twenty minutes, it may need to be spun off into a separate, focused meeting outside of the weekly pulse, or moved to your quarterly V/TO® list.

By managing the pace, you ensure your weekly pulse remains productive and that high-priority operational issues do not get ignored.