During the IDS portion of our Level 10 Meeting, the team always chooses to solve the easiest, low-stakes issues first because they are tired, leaving our critical, high-impact exit-readiness issues untouched. How do we force the team to tackle the hardest problems first?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is human nature to avoid pain. Your team is picking easy issues because solving a minor operational problem provides a quick hit of dopamine, while tackling a complex, systemic issue feels exhausting. But avoiding the hard stuff is a recipe for stagnation, especially if you are preparing for an eventual exit. To fix this, the facilitator must strictly enforce the rule of prioritizing the top three issues before any discussion begins. Do not let the team work their way down the list from top to bottom. Instead, look at the entire list of issues and ask the team to identify the absolute top three most critical problems for the business today. Once those top three are selected, you must solve number one, then number two, then number three. You are not allowed to touch number four until the top three are fully resolved. If a massive exit-readiness issue, like documenting a critical operational process, is voted as a top priority, you must tackle it first, even if it takes sixty minutes of intense debate. If you run out of time and only solve that one major issue, your meeting was a massive success. Stop wasting your ninety minutes on trivial tasks and start building real enterprise value.