During the IDS portion of our Level 10 Meeting, we frequently start solving one issue only to drift into three other unrelated operational problems, leaving the original issue unresolved. How do we stop this drift?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This type of agenda drift during the Identify, Discuss, Solve portion of your Level 10 Meeting™ occurs when your team fails to define the real issue before trying to solve it. When you jump straight into discussion, the conversation naturally wanders, and team members start bringing up tangent problems or pet peeves that are completely unrelated to the main obstacle.

To stop this drift, the facilitator must enforce the three distinct steps of IDS® with absolute discipline. First, spend more time in the Identify phase. Do not allow anyone to start discussing or proposing solutions until the actual root cause of the issue is clearly stated in one short sentence and agreed upon by the team.

Second, during the Discuss phase, the facilitator must act as an active referee. If a team member introduces a new topic or a separate operational bottleneck, the facilitator must immediately call it out and say that it is a separate issue. Drop that new issue to the bottom of the weekly Issues List and bring the team's focus right back to the active problem. Solve the current issue completely, document the resulting To-Do, and only then move to the next item on your list.