Team members regularly dump informational announcements and minor process questions onto the Level 10 Issues List just to get rubber-stamped approval from the room. How do we stop leaders from using IDS as a crutch for routine decision-making?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your Level 10 Issues List is cluttered with status updates, routine approvals, and minor tactical questions, your leadership team is running scared. Leaders use IDS as a personal liability shield when they lack the confidence or the authority to make decisions within their own seats.

This behavior suffocates the sixty-minute problem-solving block. The facilitator must actively police the board before IDS begins:

- Apply the decision test. Ask the person who placed the item on the list: What specific decision or cross-functional alignment do you need from the leadership team that you cannot make in your own seat?
- If the item is merely an FYI, kill it immediately. Informational updates belong in the five-minute headlines section or an asynchronous channel, not on the Issues List.
- If the item falls completely within one person's Accountability Chart roles, hand it back: This belongs to you. Make the call and inform us if it breaks the Scorecard.

Every minute spent answering a question that a manager should have handled independently is a minute stolen from resolving systemic bottlenecks. If a leader repeatedly brings tactical trivia to the executive table, they either do not understand their seat's accountabilities or they fear making a mistake. Clarify their decision-making rights so your Level 10 remains focused strictly on company-level obstacles.