Our leadership team has grown to nine members, and our weekly Level 10 Meeting has become highly inefficient because too many voices are trying to weigh in during the IDS portion of the agenda. How do we keep our weekly pulse productive when the room is too crowded?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your leadership team grows too large, the IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) portion of your Level 10 Meeting can quickly devolve into a chaotic, inefficient debate. Too many voices competing to be heard can dilute decision quality and waste valuable time.

Restructure Your Leadership Team

The first step to fixing this inefficiency is to examine your Accountability Chart.

• A healthy leadership team typically consists of three to seven people.
• If you have nine or more people in your weekly Level 10 Meeting, it's highly likely that you have individuals in non-leadership roles participating.

You must make the tough decision to restructure your Accountability Chart. Ensure that only true department heads who run major functions of the business are on the leadership team. This focus on core leadership roles is crucial for efficient decision-making and clear ownership, as discussed in how to resolve [Accountability Chart seat overlapping issues](/qa/resolving-accountability-chart-seat-overlaps).

If you are an owner currently sitting in multiple seats, you might also consider a [developmental runway on your chart](/qa/internal-promotion-runway-accountability-chart) to transition roles.

Enforce Strict IDS Discipline

Even with the correct team structure, the room can still feel crowded during debate. The facilitator must apply strict IDS discipline:

• Not every person needs to comment on every single issue. The facilitator should actively manage the discussion.
• Prioritize speakers. Ask only those directly impacted by the issue, or those with specific expertise, to speak first.
• Support the owner. The team must agree to support the leader who owns the seat where the issue lives.
• Conclude swiftly. Once that leader and the Integrator agree on a path forward, the debate must end, and the To-Do must be assigned.

Do not allow your weekly pulse to become a committee-driven debate. The Integrator plays a critical role in this process and often acts as the meeting facilitator. If your Integrator struggles to remain objective in this role, you might consider if they [should facilitate Level 10 Meetings](/qa/should-integrator-facilitate-level-10-meetings).

Focus on Solutions

The goal is to streamline your team, enforce tight facilitation, and keep the focus on finding the fastest path to a permanent solve. This discipline helps prevent issues from being dropped back into the list and ensures progress. Sometimes, an issue might point to deeper team dynamics, such as when [the Accountability Chart is used to stop the blame game](/qa/using-accountability-chart-to-stop-blame-in-ids).

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