During the IDS portion of our Level 10 Meeting, someone will be explaining an issue, and another team member will suddenly introduce a completely new, unlisted problem that they claim is related. How does the facilitator shut down this spontaneous agenda drift without shutting down valuable brainstorming?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Spontaneous agenda drift is a major contributor to meeting waste. It happens when a team member lacks the discipline to wait their turn and instead hijacks the current discussion to bring up their own pet issue. This dilutes the focus of the meeting and prevents the team from actually solving the original problem.

The facilitator must act as a strict gatekeeper. The moment someone introduces an unlisted issue, the facilitator must interrupt and ask a simple question: is this directly related to solving the issue currently on the table, or is this a separate issue?

If it is not directly related, the facilitator must direct the team member to add it to the bottom of the Issues List. Do not let them explain or elaborate. Simply say, that is a valid point, let us add it to the list and we will get to it if time allows. Then immediately pivot the team back to the original issue.

This practice maintains the integrity of the meeting pulse. It teaches the team that every issue has a place, but it must wait its turn. By forcing team members to drop their spontaneous issues onto the list, you keep the IDS® process clean, structured, and focused on solving one problem at a time before moving to the next.