We enter the IDS portion of our Level 10 Meeting with over thirty items on our short-term Issues List, and we spend the first fifteen minutes just arguing about which three are the most important. How do we streamline the prioritization process?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having thirty items on your weekly Issues List is normal, but spending fifteen minutes arguing about prioritization is a waste of precious time. This friction happens when your leadership team lacks a shared filter for what constitutes a high-priority issue.

To streamline this, the facilitator must take control immediately when the clock strikes the IDS® portion. The facilitator should read through the list and ask the team to quickly identify the top three issues that must be solved today. Do not allow a debate on why an issue is important. Simply ask for a quick vote or consensus on numbers one, two, and three.

If the team cannot agree, the Integrator must step in and make the call. The Integrator is the tie-breaker and the driver of the meeting pulse. They must prioritize issues based on their impact on your quarterly Rocks, your weekly Scorecard metrics, and your V/TO® goals.

Once the top three are selected, you focus one hundred percent of your energy on number one. Do not look at number two until number one is completely solved and a To-Do has been assigned. This prevents your team from getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of issues and keeps them focused on execution.