During our five minute segue, a leadership team member will often share a professional best that is actually a massive operational crisis disguised as a win, which instantly triggers an unscheduled fire drill and eats up our agenda. How do we shut this down and keep the segue clean?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The five minute segue is designed to transition your brains from working in the business to working on the business. When someone highlights a major crisis as a win, they are usually trying to soften the blow of bad news or seek premature validation.

To stop this, the facilitator must intervene immediately. Do not allow the team to start problem solving or asking clarifying questions. The moment a leader shares something like how they saved a client from canceling, but the details reveal a systemic service failure, you must cut the discussion off.

Say: "That sounds like an issue for the board. Let's drop it down." Then, physically write it on the Issues List and move to the next person. Do not let them explain, defend, or continue.

If the leader resists and insists on telling the story, remind them of the ground rules. The segue is a one way broadcast of personal and professional bests, not a discussion. By dropping the topic directly to the Issues List, you ensure it gets addressed during IDS® where it belongs, while preserving the time integrity of your Level 10 Meeting™. This discipline keeps your meeting from being hijacked before you even review your scorecard.