As the facilitator, I struggle to keep our IDS® session moving when our leadership team gets stuck in endless debate over minor details of a single issue, leaving us with zero time for the remaining critical items. How do I dynamically manage the clock during IDS® without cutting off valuable discussion?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Managing the clock during IDS is the primary job of the facilitator, and it requires being comfortable with healthy interruption. When a debate begins to loop, meaning people are repeating their points using different words, the discussion is no longer productive.

To keep things moving, use the three-strikes rule. Once you hear the same point made three times by different people, step in. Interrupt the team and ask, Are we still identifying the issue, or have we moved to discussing and solving?

Often, teams get stuck because they have not truly agreed on the root problem. Bring them back to the Identify phase. Ask the owner of the issue to state the real problem in one sentence.

Additionally, you do not have to solve every issue on the list in one meeting. Prioritize your top three issues at the start of IDS. Focus entirely on number one, then number two, then number three. If you spend sixty minutes solving your most critical issue and do not get to the rest, that is a highly successful meeting. It is far better to solve one major issue forever than to skim the surface of ten minor ones.