We want to make our quarterly leadership team offsites more productive, but we struggle to decide which issues are big enough for the offsite and which should be handled in our weekly Level 10 Meetings™. How do we draw the line to keep our offsites truly strategic?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your offsites are bogged down by tactical details, you are wasting valuable strategic planning time. The weekly Level 10 Meeting™ is designed to solve short-term, tactical problems that can be resolved in seven days. Your quarterly offsite is designed to address long-term, systemic issues that affect the entire company over the next ninety days and beyond.

To separate these issues, look at your Issues List. If an issue can be solved by a quick departmental adjustment or a minor operational tweak, it belongs on your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ agenda. If the issue requires a change to your V/TO®, restructuring your Accountability Chart, or aligning on a major strategic initiative like AI implementation, it must be saved for the offsite.

During the quarter, keep a separate list for long-term issues that are too big for the weekly meeting. When you arrive at your quarterly offsite, your first task is to review your V/TO® and evaluate your progress on your previous Rocks. Only then do you dive into the quarterly Issues List, using the IDS® process to solve them. This discipline ensures your offsites remain focused on building a healthy, cohesive, and functional leadership team rather than micro-managing daily operations.