Meetings Don't Have to Suck

There’s no denying that poorly executed meetings can be a colossal waste of time. Unfortunately, ineffective meetings are so common that many professionals have simply accepted their fate.?

When done wrong, meetings become a source of irritation, waste valuable resources, and create dissatisfaction due to a lack of progress. But when done right, meetings provide clarity, align everyone, and generate positive, forward momentum for the team.?

When Adrian Dayton came on the podcast, he told me about his LinkedIn poll where he asked people to rate their typical meetings on a scale of 1-10. He said 66% of the respondents gave their meeting a score of just 6.?

Without mincing words, he put it this way:

“If you go to a restaurant and you give it 6 out of 10, would you ever go back to that restaurant again? No. Then why do we keep going back to subpar meetings?” Adrian Dayton, on Confessions of an EOS Implementer podcast

Perhaps, because we’ve normalized mediocrity in meetings, tolerating inefficiency and missed opportunities for progress. But no more. It's time to change meetings in your organization.?

This is how you need to spend the most important 90 minutes of your week.

Hi there??, thanks for dropping by. I learned a ton scaling Hunt A Killer to $205M and wanted to document and share those lessons here. We talk about business management (EOS!), talent optimization, and workplace culture. Click the “subscribe” button above to receive notifications when new articles drop.

Don’t Accept Mediocre Meetings

Just because unproductive meetings are the norm, doesn’t mean you should accept them in your organization.?

Traditionally, the advice for better meetings is to “clarify expectations, set clear agendas, and ask open-ended questions.”?

While all of these things are important, they are also incredibly vague. If new Visionaries, Integrators, and Founders need to improve their meetings, they need a solid framework – and that’s exactly what EOS provides in the form of the Level 10 Meeting.

Named for its goal, the Level 10 Meeting is a framework for weekly leadership meetings where Visionaries, Integrators, core function leaders, and department leadership shoot for a 10 out of 10 rating from all participants.

Typically, meetings exert downward pressure from management towards their subordinates. In other words, traditional meetings often exist only to bring the leadership team members up to speed with what’s happening in the business, when meetings should be so much more.

The Level 10 Meeting aims to flip this power dynamic, making meetings a two-way street, giving participants the ability to provide feedback, and show their agreement (or disagreement) with how meetings are conducted.?

Adrian expands on this sentiment:

“Why is rating the meeting at the end so powerful? Because it completely flips the power dynamic on its head. Everyone goes to meetings because their boss asked them to. And if they don't show up and perform, they'll be fired...

...The Level 10 Meeting structure flips that upside down. Now the boss may be running the meeting, but they've got to perform. Because if everyone gives low scores, what everyone's saying is, we all sat here for an hour, and you just wasted our time. And you wasted the company's time.” Adrian Dayton, on Confessions of an EOS Implementer podcast.

The Level 10 Meeting Agenda

For leadership teams operating on EOS, this is what the ideal Level 10 Meeting looks like:

1. Segue/Good News? (5 Minutes)

Starting the meeting off on the right foot is crucial because that will set the tone for the next 90 minutes.?

When you start the meeting, take five minutes to mentally disconnect from whatever you were doing before and ensure everyone is in a shared, happy headspace. One of the most effective ways to do this is through the good news.

Have everyone share a piece of happy news, personal or professional, from the past week to set a positive atmosphere.

2. Reporting and Review (20 Minutes)

Traditional meetings are often entirely about reporting and getting leadership up to speed. Discussing ways to address issues becomes a lower priority. This is not ideal and leaves little time for meaningful problem-solving.

For this reason, L10 meetings dedicate 15 minutes to only reporting current performance based on key performance indicators and measurable from:

1/ Scorecard (5 Minutes)

A high-level review of the 5 to 15 most crucial performance metrics to ensure they are on track. Any off-track numbers are moved to the IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) list without discussion.

2/ Rocks (5 Minutes)

A quick review of both company and individual Rocks. Every person will say their Rock out loud and whether or not they are on track to accomplish it by the of the 90-day timeline.

Off-track Rocks are moved to the IDS without discussion. If a person feels they are on track with their Rocks but still have questions or concerns, those Rocks will be moved to the IDS as well.

3/ Customer/Employee Headlines (5 Minutes)

Take this time to share one-sentence news about what’s happening with your clients and employees. Be swift, recognize and congratulate achievements but note concerns for the IDS part of the meeting.

2. To-Do Lists Review (5 Minutes)

After everyone has shared their deliverables, the team will spend five minutes reviewing their To-Do List from the previous week.?

As a general rule of thumb, 90% of the action items should be completed each week. If that’s not happening, you need to find out why that’s happening.

The goal is to quickly assess whether the company is on track with its objectives or running behind. This is not the time for problem-solving. At this stage, everyone should only be concerned with getting a complete and clear picture of the current performance.?

All points of discussion are noted for the IDS.

3. IDS? (60 Minutes)

Over the course of the previous 20 minutes, your team provided concise updates on various KPIs, some of which were noted as possible issues.

Now is your time to dive deeper. Typically, you’ll have 5-15 issues at the start of IDS but you should once again ask if any other issues need to be added. From this list of issues, identify the three most important issues that need to be solved before next week.

You don’t know how many of the issues you’ll find a solution to in the next 60 minutes so it’s important to prioritize issues in the order of impact. That way, you’ll make the most progress.

You can now begin the process of IDS – possibly the most important one hour for your company each week.

4. Conclusion (5 Minutes)

The final five minutes of the meeting should always be reserved for:

• Recapping to-do list and ensuring everyone knows their action items?
• Creating a clear plan on what information will be shared with the rest of the organization and how it will be shared
• Rating the meeting out of 10. Any ratings under 8 need to be discussed (in brief) to find room for improvement

The Heart of the Level 10 Meeting

"Knock things down that are holding your business back… By IDSing — identifying, discussing, and solving things at the root cause, you’re making sure whoever said they were going to do that thing, next week, they did it. It's a powerful way to get traction." Bruce Sheridan, on the Confessions of an EOS Implementer podcast.

Unsurprisingly, solving issues is one of the most difficult and time-consuming parts of any meeting. The IDS? aims to simplify this process by providing a clear 3-step process that helps leadership teams remain focused, disciplined, and committed to solving issues.

1. Identify

The first step to solving problems is identifying their root causes.?

It’s far too common for leaders to get hyper-focused on solving the symptoms, rather than the root cause of the issue. Regardless of why this happens, the end result of solving symptoms (instead of the root cause) is that the same problems continue to arise.

The key to finding the root cause is asking questions and answering honestly. In addition to this, try to follow these 3 rules for identifying issues:

• Ensure everyone agrees on the root cause (ask: "why" 3x's usually does the trick)
• Avoid jumping to conclusions or proposing solutions too early
• Ensure everyone agrees on the solution

2. Discuss

Once the root cause of an issue has been identified, it’s time to have an open, constructive conversation where all parties are involved. Despite being self-explanatory, the Discussion phase can be complex because this is when IDS is most likely to derail as people go on tangents.?

Another challenge is ensuring all team members feel empowered to share insights, concerns, and solutions without any fear. This is another reason why trust and vulnerability in the workplace is so important. It won’t happen on the first L10 Meeting but founders must remain committed to creating an environment where everyone feels heard and participates wholeheartedly.

The goal is to strike a balance between restricting the conversation to only the necessary information and avoiding tangents while promoting open and healthy discussion from all angles.

3. Solve

It’s now time to develop a concrete plan to address the issue, assign responsibilities, and set deadlines. The goal is to create action items that end up on this week’s To-Do List. Each action item should be specific, actionable, and measurable to ensure accountability and track progress.

Sometimes, the solution will be larger in scope and action items may become part of your quarterly Rocks (but this shouldn’t be happening very often).

You should know what the expected outcome of each solution is so you know when it’s been seen through completion.

Now repeat these steps for the remaining problems until your 60 minutes run out.

It’s important to note that while I am talking about IDS? only in the context of the Level 10 Meeting, it also exists as its own tool, called the Issues Solving Track? and is used all the time within EOS companies to solve organizational issues.?

Identify, Discuss, and Solve (IDS?) are the steps and Issues Solving Track? is the name of the tool, but they are sometimes used interchangeably – don’t get confused.

"As you move forward in mastering the Six Key Components, IDS will become an important aspect of your day-to-day running of the business. From now on, when faced with an issue, you simply “IDS it." Gino Wickman, Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business

A big part of the success behind L10 Meetings is the sense of accomplishment each member feels when ticking items off their To-Do List every week. No one wants to see the same action item on their To-Do List for weeks on end. Reserve these bigger issues for your Quarterly Rocks.?

Two People to Run an L10 Meeting

Perhaps the only major change you’ll see as you transition to Level 10 Meetings is that it is designed around two roles:?

1. One person to run the meeting, who is responsible for:

• moving the team through the agenda while keeping everyone on track
• ensuring each segment of the meeting stays within its allotted time
• creating an environment where issues are addressed efficiently

2. One person to manage the agenda, who is responsible for:

• ensuring all necessary materials are prepared and available
• updating the To-Do Lists and noting down Issues in real time
• keeping a record of what was discussed and what action items were assigned

Both of the roles are crucial and dividing the responsibilities ensures a smoother, more productive meeting.

Typically, both of these roles are performed by members of the Senior Leadership Team (generally, the founder and the Integrator) but other team members can step up as and when needed (it can also be a great training exercise).

The Case for the Level 10 Meeting

It’s natural to ask if there is a need for a “special” meeting. If you’re already having productive meetings, why make things more complicated? Let’s break it down.?

It’s not really a “special” meeting.

The Level 10 Meeting is a framework and a clear outline for your weekly leadership team meetings to ensure every important topic is addressed.?

There are no fancy requirements. You can still do them virtually or in person, you don’t need any external facilitators, and you don’t need any special tools or technology beyond what you already use.

The Level 10 Meeting is about consistent structure, not complexity. It provides a clear agenda to keep meetings focused and productive, ensuring that key issues are identified, discussed, and resolved efficiently.?

How do you know your meetings are productive?

Depending on the nature of the meeting, there can be a big power gradient between the person conducting the meeting and its participants.

This power imbalance can create an environment where participants feel pressured to agree or avoid voicing their true opinions, leading to a false sense of productivity. Even if attendees say they like the meetings, it may not reflect their true feelings or the meeting's effectiveness.

It’s also very common for traditional meetings to become dominated by a few voices. Whereas, equal engagement is a crucial tenet of the Level 10 Meetings and unproductive meetings quickly become apparent.?

L10 Meetings aren’t more complicated. In fact, they are simpler.?

Standardization and codifying processes are at the core of EOS and looking at a typical L10 meeting agenda, you might feel that it’s unnecessarily complex.

But the truth is, Level 10 Meetings are all about keeping things on track, maintaining laser focus, and working towards a solution. The standard agenda helps team members understand their roles and expectations while reducing confusion. It ensures team members come prepared and have a shared language for resolving issues.

Once you implement Level 10 Meetings and see it deliver results, you’ll wonder how you ran your business for so long without it.

With that, we wrap up this in-depth look into the most important 90 minutes of your week. And I am going to leave you with this one final quote from Bruce Sheridan (who, by the way, has conducted almost 300 EOS sessions):

"You got 40 hours a week. I'm asking for one and a half hours. You got 38 and a half hours the rest of the week to deal with all that other minutia. Take this 90 minutes — it's sacred, and think of it as a gift you're giving yourself." Bruce Sheridan, on Confessions of an EOS Implementer podcast.

P.S. Want to work together? Here are a few ways:

1/ Already running on EOS? I am putting together a small vetted group of business leaders who operate on EOS. Apply for the Spring Cohort here . (only open to Visionaries, Integrators and Core Function Leaders)

2/ Need an Integrator or Core Function Leader expertise without the FTE budget? Schedule a Zoom with me here to learn about Talent Harbor’s fractional and professional staffing for businesses operating on EOS.

3/ Are you an EOS Implementer and want to be a guest on our show? Submit a guest form here.

4/ Vetting Certified EOS Implementers and want to know who’s the perfect fit for you and your team? Send me a DM.