During the IDS® portion of our Level 10 Meeting™, we often waste time discussing operational process issues when the real bottleneck is a specific person who does not GWC™ their seat. How do we pivot the meeting to address the underlying people issue directly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leadership team avoids naming a people issue, they waste precious meeting time designing complicated operational workarounds to bypass a low-performing employee. If someone lacks the core values or does not GWC™ their seat, no amount of process adjustment will fix the problem. You must have the courage to identify the root cause as a human issue rather than a structural one.

To pivot the conversation during IDS®, the facilitator must listen for the true source of the operational bottleneck and call it out immediately.

- First, ask the team directly, are we trying to solve a broken process, or do we have the wrong person in the seat?
- Second, refer back to your Accountability Chart and your Core Values to ground the discussion in objective, pre-defined standards rather than personal attacks.
- Third, if the issue is indeed a people problem, assign a To-Do for the direct manager to have a formal one-on-one meeting with the individual outside the Level 10 Meeting™.

Do not allow the leadership team to debate an employee's career path or performance details in front of the entire group. Solve the issue by creating clear, offline action steps. This keeps your meeting efficient while maintaining the healthy, high-trust environment required for organizational growth.