We struggle to decide when a long-term issue on our V/TO should be moved to our weekly Level 10 Meeting Issues List, and often find ourselves prematurely pulling strategic, long-term items into our weekly operational discussions. How do we manage the flow of issues between these two lists?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Managing the flow of issues between your long-term V/TO Issues List and your weekly Level 10 Meeting Issues List is critical to maintaining focus. If you prematurely pull strategic, long-term items into your weekly operational discussions, you will hijack the meeting and fail to solve the urgent, day-to-day problems holding your business back. The rule for distinguishing these lists is simple: the weekly Level 10 Issues List is for immediate, operational issues that must be solved within the next seven to fourteen days to keep your Rocks, scorecard, and weekly commitments on track. The V/TO Issues List is for strategic, long-term issues that do not need to be solved this week, and can wait for your next quarterly or annual planning session. If a team member raises an issue during the weekly meeting that is actually a long-term strategic question, such as entering a new market or launching a new product line next year, the facilitator must immediately stop the discussion. The facilitator must instruct the driver to move that item to the long-term Issues List on the V/TO. Conversely, if a long-term issue suddenly becomes an urgent threat to your current operations, you can pull it from the V/TO onto your weekly list. Keeping this boundary clean prevents your weekly meetings from turning into philosophical debates and ensures your team stays laser-focused on execution.