Our weekly Level 10 Meetings have started to feel incredibly dry and repetitive, with the team going through the motions just to check the boxes, resulting in low-quality problem-solving. How do we inject energy and raw honesty back into our weekly meeting pulse when the team has fallen into a routine slump?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your Level 10 Meetings™ fall into a routine slump, it is usually because the team has stopped bringing real, uncomfortable issues to the table. They are going through the motions, rating the meeting high out of habit, and avoiding the healthy conflict required for true problem-solving.

To break this false harmony, start by challenging the weekly meeting ratings. If your team is rating the meeting a nine or ten but your key numbers are lagging and your Rocks are off-track, call out the inconsistency. Tell them that the team is rating the meeting a nine but failing to move the needle, and ask why they are playing it safe.

Next, change the way you build your Issues List. Before the meeting starts, have each leader review their department and write down the one thing that is keeping them up at night. If the list is empty or filled with minor tactical tasks, do not start the IDS® portion.

Instead, spend the first five minutes of IDS® doing an issue-generation exercise. Have everyone write down three major organizational challenges on a notepad and add them to the list.

Finally, encourage healthy conflict during your debates. If everyone agrees too quickly on a solution, play devil's advocate. Ask:
- What are we not saying because we want to avoid conflict?
- What is the worst-case scenario if we make this decision?
- Who is going to be most impacted by this change and why?

By pushing your team out of their comfort zone, you restore the raw honesty and high energy that makes the weekly meeting pulse the most valuable ninety minutes of your week.