The Good News segment at the beginning of our Level 10 Meeting is supposed to take five minutes, but our leadership team gets chatty, starts catching up on weekend stories, and suddenly we are fifteen minutes in before we even touch our Scorecard. How do we rein this in without killing the team vibe?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The five minute segue is designed to transition your team from operational chaos into the meeting environment. It is not a social hour. Allowing it to eat fifteen minutes of your meeting is a discipline leak that compromises the high-value IDS® time later in the agenda.

You must enforce a strict, fast-paced format for the segue. Every leader should share one personal piece of good news and one professional piece of good news in thirty seconds or less. There is no room for follow-up questions, side stories, or collaborative banter. If someone shares that they went to a concert over the weekend, the rest of the team nods, says congratulations, and the next person immediately goes.

If your team struggles with this, use a physical or digital timer. Set it for five minutes and place it where everyone can see it. When the timer hits zero, the facilitator must immediately move to the Scorecard review, regardless of who is still talking.

Remind your team that the best way to honor each other is to protect their collective time. Healthy team relationships are built on trust and respect, which are demonstrated by running a tight, disciplined meeting. Keep the social catching up for lunch or happy hour, and keep your Level 10 Meeting™ strictly focused on execution.