We want to build deeper trust and vulnerability on our leadership team to improve our collaborative problem-solving, but we do not want our Level 10 Meetings to turn into therapy sessions. How do we weave trust building into our weekly operational pulse?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Building team trust is a prerequisite for highly effective IDS® sessions. If your leaders do not trust each other, they will not engage in the unfiltered, healthy conflict required to identify the root causes of your business problems. However, you cannot let personal team building hijack your weekly ninety-minute operational pulse.

The best place to integrate trust building into your weekly routine is within the five-minute segue at the very start of the meeting. The segue is designed to transition your minds from working in the business to working on the business. Instead of simply asking for a generic personal best, occasionally rotate a structured, low-stakes trust builder.

For example, ask each team member to share one thing about their upbringing or their first job. This is a mini version of the Personal Histories Exercise, which helps team members build empathy and understand each other's perspectives. Keep this strictly limited to one sentence per person to protect your schedule.

Additionally, you should run a quick annual review of each team member's most admirable trait during your quarterly meetings, rather than your weekly L10. Keep the weekly meeting focused on execution. Deeper trust should make your IDS® sessions faster and more direct, not slower. When trust is high, leaders can challenge each other's ideas without triggering defensiveness.