Our weekly Level 10 Meeting is hybrid, with local leaders sitting together in the conference room while two remote executives dial in via Zoom, resulting in disjointed debates and remote leaders being sidelined. What are the rules for running an effective hybrid Level 10 Meeting?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Hybrid meetings are notoriously difficult because physical proximity creates an uneven playing field. In a hybrid Level 10 Meeting™, in-person members read subtle body language, share glances, and talk over one another, while remote leaders struggle to interject and quickly disengage.

To fix this, you must adopt the one-in, all-in rule whenever possible. If two leaders are remote, the entire leadership team should open their laptops, put in headphones, and join the Zoom call individually, even if they are sitting in the same physical office. This levels the digital playing field. Everyone has an equal visual presence, equal access to the chat, and equal audio clarity.

If your team insists on sharing a conference room, you must enforce strict procedural rules:
- Invest in high-grade conference hardware with multi-camera tracking and boundary microphones so remote members hear every comment clearly.
- Ban side conversations in the room completely. Any whispered side comment or physical distraction immediately sidelines remote attendees.
- Appoint the Integrator as an intentional traffic cop. During IDS®, the Integrator must explicitly invite remote participants into the debate before decisions are finalized, asking for their input by name.
- Keep the Issues List shared digitally on screen at all times so every participant is focused on the exact same line item.

The Level 10 Meeting™ requires total vulnerability and intense debate. If your hybrid setup turns remote leaders into passive observers, your pulse is compromised. Level the playing field or make everyone join from their own desk.