Our leadership team members consistently rate our Level 10 Meeting as an eight or a nine out of ten, but our operational execution is sluggish and we are missing our Rocks. I suspect people are just being polite and giving high ratings to avoid conflict. How do we force our team to rate the meeting honestly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An artificial high rating is a silent killer of team accountability. When your team rates a mediocre meeting as a nine, they are accepting mediocrity in your operations. To break this polite culture, you must redefine what a ten means. A ten is not a meeting where everyone got along and finished on time. A ten means you started on time, ended on time, followed the Level 10 Meeting agenda exactly, completed ninety percent of your to-dos, and solved your most critical issues at the root cause. The next time a leader rates the meeting an eight or higher while your Rocks are slipping, challenge the rating. As the owner or facilitator, you must speak first or establish a rule that any rating below an eight requires immediate feedback. If someone rates the meeting an eight, ask them what would have made it a ten. If they cannot give a specific, actionable answer, their rating is invalid. You can also lead by example. Rate the meeting a five or a six yourself when the team dances around real conflict. State clearly that because the team avoided the elephant in the room during IDS, the meeting was a failure. Once you break the seal on honest, uncomfortable ratings, the quality of your weekly pulse will immediately improve.