During our weekly Level 10 Meeting, we consistently run out of time during IDS because we over-solve the first issue, leaving other high-priority issues completely untouched. How do we get our team to solve issues faster and make better use of our sixty-minute IDS block?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Running out of time during IDS is usually a sign that your team is spending too much time discussing symptoms rather than identifying the root cause of the problem. When you spend forty minutes on a single issue, you are likely over-solving, lecturing, or letting people repeat the same points over and over.

To maximize your sixty-minute IDS block, the facilitator must keep the team moving through the three steps of Identify, Discuss, and Solve.

First, spend the majority of your time on Identify. Do not let the team jump to solutions until the real, underlying issue is clearly defined in a single sentence.

Second, keep the Discuss phase brief. Once everyone has stated their perspective once, stop the discussion. Do not let team members repeat themselves or lobby for their preferred solution.

Third, move quickly to Solve. A solution is simply an action step that makes the issue go away forever. This action step must be assigned as a specific to-do to a single owner.

If the discussion starts circling, the facilitator must step in and ask, have we heard all the unique perspectives, and are we ready to make a decision? By maintaining this tight discipline, you will solve more issues each week and keep your operations moving at full speed.