During IDS, our team drifts into tackling issues sequentially from top to bottom instead of ruthlessly prioritizing items one, two, and three, leaving high-stakes operational threats unaddressed. How do we stop this drift?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Working an Issues List sequentially from top to bottom is one of the most common ways leadership teams drift from the Level 10 Meeting agenda. It feels productive because items get crossed off quickly, but it is an avoidance mechanism. Teams naturally tackle easy, comfortable administrative tasks while existential operational risks sit untouched at the bottom of the list.

The rule in EOS is unambiguous: you never start IDS until you have prioritized your top three issues. The Integrator must actively facilitate this selection process before anyone begins discussing a problem.

The protocol requires the Integrator to scan the list with the team and ask: What are our top three most critical issues for the business today? Leaders nominate items, and the Integrator marks them number one, number two, and number three.

Once those three are set, the team begins with number one. You do not touch number two until number one is completely solved and has a documented To-Do. You do not touch number three until number two is solved. If you only solve one issue during the sixty minutes of IDS, but that issue was your number one operational bottleneck, your meeting was a complete success.

When the clock runs down, any remaining issues remain on the list for next week. At the next Level 10 Meeting, you reprioritize one, two, and three from scratch. Never assume last week unaddressed items are automatically this week top priorities.