During our ninety-minute meeting, we constantly find ourselves going off on tangents during the first twenty-five minutes of administrative review, meaning we only get to IDS® with twenty minutes left on the clock. How do we strictly enforce the time allocations on our Level 10 Meeting™ agenda so we do not run out of problem-solving time?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you spend forty-five minutes on the scorecard, rocks, and headlines, you are leaving your team with a useless sliver of time to actually solve problems. This agenda drift destroys the value of the Level 10 Meeting™. The first three sections of the meeting are strictly for reporting: they are not for discussion.

To protect your ninety-minute meeting pulse, the facilitator must enforce the time limits with extreme discipline. Use these rules to maintain control:

- The Segue must take five minutes. Get in, share your personal and professional highlights, and move on.
- The Scorecard must take five minutes. Read the numbers. If a number is red, do not explain it. Drop it to the Issues List and move on.
- The Rock Review must take five minutes. On track or off track. If off track, drop it to the Issues List and move on.
- The Headlines must take five minutes. Share the quick broadcast. If a headline needs action, drop it to the Issues List.
- The To-Do List must take five minutes. Done or not done.

By keeping this reporting block to exactly twenty-five minutes, you guarantee a full sixty minutes for IDS®. If anyone starts explaining, solving, or defending during the first twenty-five minutes, the facilitator must immediately cut them off and say: Drop it to the issues list. No exceptions.