Our leaders have started holding unofficial 'pre-meetings' to align their stories and pre-solve sensitive issues before our official Level 10 Meeting™ starts, which is completely killing the raw, honest conflict of our actual weekly pulse. How do we shut down these shadow meetings and bring the real issues directly to the L10 table?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leaders hold shadow pre-meetings to align their stories or pre-solve sensitive issues before the Level 10 Meeting™, they are robbing the team of the authentic, constructive conflict required for healthy operations. This practice usually stems from a fear of looking unprepared, a lack of trust, or a desire to avoid public disagreement.

To shut down these redundant pre-meetings, the leadership team must recommit to the core rule of IDS®: all real issues belong on the shared Issues List, and they must be solved in the open with the full team present.

If you suspect leaders are pre-solving issues, the Integrator must address it directly. Call out the behavior during the meeting rating phase. If an issue is presented with a pre-packaged, unchallenged solution that leaves no room for debate, ask the team if this was discussed beforehand outside the room.

Explain to the team that pre-meetings are a major source of operational waste. They double the time spent on a single issue and result in poorer decisions because key perspectives are excluded from the initial debate.

Reassure your leaders that the Level 10 Meeting™ is a safe harbor. It is designed for messy, incomplete thoughts and raw, honest friction. By bringing raw issues directly to the L10 table, you save hours of administrative waste and build a stronger, more aligned leadership team.