During our remote Level 10 Meetings, we suspect team members are constantly messaging each other on Slack or Teams in the background, which sabotages our real-time IDS debates. How do we stop this side-channeling?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Backchanneling during a remote Level 10 Meeting is toxic to team health and problem-solving. When people are messaging each other privately during a debate, they are withholding their real thoughts from the rest of the team and creating political factions. This completely undermines the open and honest environment required for effective IDS.

To kill this behavior, you must establish a clear ground rule: zero internal messaging during the ninety minutes of the meeting. All communication must happen live in the meeting room. If a team member has a thought, they must say it out loud to the entire group, not type it to a colleague.

As the leader, you need to call out the behavior if you notice a delay in response times, people looking down at their phones, or smiling at their screens during a serious discussion. Address this directly as an issue on the list.

Put backchanneling on the Issues List and IDS it with the entire team. Ask them why they feel the need to use private chat instead of speaking openly. Often, this is a symptom of a lack of trust or fear of conflict. Solve the trust issue, enforce the zero-messaging rule, and require everyone to close all other browser tabs and communication apps during the meeting. The Level 10 Meeting demands one hundred percent of their focus.