We waste five to ten minutes of our Level 10 Meeting simply arguing over which issues on the list are the most critical to IDS first. How do we establish a fast, objective way to prioritize our Issues List without manual debate?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Wasting time arguing about what to discuss defeats the purpose of a fast-paced Level 10 Meeting™. Prioritization should take less than sixty seconds.

To achieve this, the Integrator must take ownership of the prioritization process. Do not ask the entire team to vote on every issue. Instead, the Integrator should quickly scan the list and identify the top three issues that have the biggest impact on your quarterly Rocks and 1-Year Plan.

If the Integrator is unsure, use a simple rule: prioritize issues that affect your customer experience or your revenue first. Internal operational tweaks can wait until the critical fires are put out.

Another highly effective tactic is to have team members flag their most urgent issues before the meeting even starts. If someone adds an issue to the list, they can mark it with a high-priority tag in your meeting software.

Once the top three issues are selected, the facilitator announces them: "We are starting with number one, then number two, then number three." The team must accept this direction and immediately dive into IDS®.

Do not let the team add new issues or argue about the order once the list is set. If a lower-priority issue does not get discussed, it simply stays on the list for next week or gets moved to the V/TO® Long-Term Issues List. Keep the momentum high and trust your Integrator to lead the agenda.