Our Scorecard and Rock reviews constantly run long because leaders justify missed numbers and explain off-track projects. How do we stop defensive storytelling during the reporting section?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The reporting section of the Level 10 Meeting is purely diagnostic. It is not an interrogation room, and it is not the place to explain yourself. When leaders defend missed numbers, they burn precious minutes that should be spent fixing the underlying problem in IDS.

Establish a strict reporting vocabulary. For the Scorecard, leaders read their measurable and state whether it is at goal or below goal. For Rocks, they state two words only: on track or off track. There is no middle ground, and there are no explanations.

If a leader says, Our marketing leads were down because Google updated their algorithm on Tuesday, the facilitator must cut them off immediately: Is that on track or off track? When the leader concedes it is off track, the facilitator says: Drop it down. The phrase Google lead volume drop gets placed on the Issues List.

Defensiveness comes from fear of looking incompetent. The leadership team must understand that dropping a red metric to the Issues List is not a disciplinary action. It is simply flagging smoke so the entire team can help locate the fire during IDS.

Train your facilitator to hold a firm hand during those first fifteen minutes. If you allow five minutes of storytelling on the Scorecard, you set a precedent that derails the entire ninety-minute agenda. Report the facts, drop the problem to the list, and use IDS to solve it.