During our IDS® sessions, our discussions constantly drift from the main issue into side-tracks and minor operational details, meaning we only solve one or two things. How do we keep the team strictly focused on the issue at hand?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Agenda drift during the Identify, Discuss, and Solve portion of your Level 10 Meeting™ is a major productivity killer. It happens because team members love to discuss symptoms rather than root causes, or they use the discussion to share unrelated operational updates.

To kill agenda drift, the Integrator must act as an active facilitator, not just a passive timekeeper. The moment someone starts telling a long story or introducing a side issue, the facilitator must step in. Use the phrase: Is this helping us solve the core issue, or is this a separate issue that needs to go to the bottom of the list?

Another key to maintaining focus is staying in the Identify phase longer. Most teams jump straight from reading the issue name into discussing solutions. You must force the team to clearly state the actual problem in a single sentence before anyone is allowed to discuss it. If you cannot define the problem in one sentence, you do not actually know what you are trying to solve.

Once the issue is clearly identified, limit the Discuss phase. Discussion should only serve to clarify the problem and bring out unique perspectives. If people start repeating themselves or rehashing the same points, cut them off. It is time to move to the Solve phase.

Keep a physical or digital parking lot for side issues that crop up during the discussion. If a tangent is important but unrelated, write it down, add it to the bottom of the Issues List, and immediately steer the team back to the primary topic. Focus is a muscle that your team must build through strict facilitation.