During our Level 10 Meetings, our team continually jumps to solutions before we finish identifying the issue during IDS. How do we force the room to stay in the Identify phase?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Jumping straight to solutions is the most common failure point in the IDS process. Leaders are wired to fix things, so when an issue is stated, three people immediately propose solutions. That instinct wastes time because they are almost always solving the symptom, not the root cause.

The Integrator must police the room by enforcing one rule: no one is permitted to offer a solution while the team is still in the Identify phase. If someone starts pitching a fix, interrupt them and say, we are still identifying.

To stay disciplined, the person who brought the issue must first state it in one or two clear sentences. Avoid long backstories. Once stated, the team asks clarifying questions, not solutions. The team must dig until they discover the root cause, which usually lands in one of three places: an Accountability Chart gap, a broken or absent Core Process, or a right person in the right seat issue.

You only move to Discuss once everyone agrees on the root cause statement. When the team reaches consensus on the real problem, the Discuss phase becomes fast, and the Solve phase is often brief. Solving is simply assigning a specific To-Do to one owner or establishing a Rock for the upcoming quarter.

If your team cannot hold this discipline, have the Integrator write the word Identify on the whiteboard. Do not erase it or move on until the root cause is written directly underneath.