During our IDS® sessions, our team gets bogged down in long-winded stories and personal updates instead of tackling the root issue. How do we enforce a strict discipline that stops storytellers from hijacking our problem-solving time?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Storytelling is the enemy of effective problem-solving. When team members share long histories, personal anecdotes, or irrelevant details, they waste valuable time and cloud the actual issue.

To stop this behavior, you must master the IDS® process. The meeting leader must enforce a strict discipline of getting to the root cause quickly. When someone starts telling a story during the Identify phase, the leader should gently but firmly interrupt and ask: what is the core issue we are trying to solve right now?

Encourage your team to state the issue in a single sentence that focuses on the root cause, not the symptoms. Once the issue is clearly defined, move to the Discuss phase. Here, the rule is that everyone gets to say their piece once. Do not allow team members to repeat themselves or repeat what others have already said.

If the discussion starts to loop or go off-topic, the leader must step in and redirect the conversation back to the core issue. Once the issue has been thoroughly discussed, move immediately to the Solve phase. A permanent solution always results in a clear action item on the To-Do list. Managing this discipline creates a highly efficient problem-solving environment.