How We Took Meetings to the Next Level By Solving the Right Issues
Breaking the ceiling — or not breaking it — is a common problem for small and medium-sized companies. You’ve grown as much as you possibly can on your own, but now the business feels static.
There’s plenty to discuss when it comes to EOS — the self-styled ‘entrepreneurial operating system for small businesses’. Developed to help business owners take control of their business, I can’t sing the praises of EOS enough (ok, not literally ‘sing’ — the world’s not ready for my dulcet tones yet).
But today, I wanted to zero in on one particular aspect of EOS: The IDS factor of a Level 10 meeting.
Now, to anyone unfamiliar with EOS, that’s going to sound like a lot of words and letters that don’t go together (and I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I’d just made it up). So, I’ll explain…
For too many businesses, big and small, meetings are a time-consuming void of inactivity.
For your leadership team, it can be frustrating to regularly gather and communicate successes and problems, yet see no business growth. And for employees, a poorly run meeting can feel like a waste of time that distracts them from pressing work — especially if they walk away with no action points or key takeaways. That’s not necessarily a lack of caring, but rather a lack of engagement in the process.
But…
Now, imagine holding meetings that never over-run.
Meetings that stay on course, rather than veer off-track.
Meetings that offer solutions, not simply raise problems.
That’s what weekly EOS Level 10 meetings offer your business, just as they have here at accessplanit.
Wait, what is Level 10? The idea of Level 10 is for each member to rate the meeting a ‘10’ at the end. And, this is literally what we do. We go around the room and each person rates the meeting. If it is less than 10, we discuss how we could have reached that magic number so we know just how we can improve next time.
10 Out of 10
Level 10 meetings are a way of undertaking meetings that ensures, over the course of the meeting, everyone knows the most important priorities the business needs to address.
That starts with a list of issues, and in blocks of three, you and your team tackle each of the points on your list, in priority order. Some of them may result in a week long to-do, some may be put on the V/TO back-burner for next quarter, and others may need to be shared with other departmental L10 meetings.
So, how do you know what to do once you’ve compiled your issues?
That’s done through IDS.
IDS stands for…
· Identify
You and the whole team need to openly and honestly pin-point the core challenges of your business. Companies will undoubtedly have many different issues they wish to address, so it’s vital to prioritise those that have the most impact on the business. This starts with someone highlighting a specific issue. Next, ask yourselves ‘Is this issue the root cause or simply a consequence of a larger one’? Once you’ve hit upon the root cause of the challenge, you can move on to…
· Discuss
The next step is to talk your way through those priority issues. Again, I’ve found these sessions most productive when everyone engages in honest debate. This is an opportunity for everyone in the meeting to serve up opinions, thoughts, ideas and even potential solutions to the problem. The meeting leader should encourage a real deep dive into the why’s and how’s of the topic at hand, without going off on a tangent. Once you’ve thrashed it out, it’s time for…
· Solve
Only now, with a full understanding of the issues — and the challenges faced by your team — can you really attempt to solve the major problems within your business. Your open exchange of ideas has equipped you with plenty of ideas and thoughts surrounding the issue, but now is the time to nail down specific solutions. Focus on what’s best for the business. Even if it means a lot of hard work in the back-end. And it will mean hard work. Transforming a business isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would do it, right? Most importantly, someone needs to ‘own’ the solution, with a clear action point on their to-do list, even if that AP is to return to the topic next week armed with further data.
At the beginning of the meeting, we start with a list of issues, and by the end, we’re equipped with a priority to-do list that’ll address those issues before they become serious problems!
Challenges You May Face
It’s been a real learning curve since we implemented EOS here at accessplanit, as we refine the ‘operating system’ to make sure we get the most out of it. Here are a few challenges your business may face, ones we’ve come across and successfully managed to navigate.
· Time troubles
L10 meetings should be around 90 to 120 minutes long, but with a fairly rigid structure, some of you guys out there may find it difficult to IDS multiple issues in such a tight time-frame. Naturally, your meeting leader will be there to prevent anyone from going off-topic, but even so, you may find that you’re spending too much time on, for instance, discussing rather than solving issues. Your meetings will then be impacted, either knocking the schedule off-kilter or by letting those issues fester, week after week.
· Focus on the right issues
If you’re IDS-ing issues, you need to be the master of prioritisation. It’s ridiculously tempting to keep trying to clear those ‘easy issues’. Sure, it makes you feel like you’re being productive, but ultimately, the underlying problems in your business remain unresolved. One of the best ways of overcoming this is to recognise that there are multiple issue types you’ll likely cover in your L10 meetings…
There’s your classic IDS — those burning issues that needs identifying, discussing and solving during your meeting.
Then there’s on-going issues, which are often comprised of multiple factors that require individual work over time.
And finally, there’s the information cascade, which is a chance to communicate relevant info to the team, usually without the need to take action.
· Determining the root cause
Often, you’ll come across an item on your issues list that isn’t exactly an issue; it’s a symptom of another problem. It’s critical to swiftly identify symptoms as you don’t want to lose time discussing and finding solutions, only to discover your solutions are ineffective since they don’t address the actual root cause problem. During the discussion stage, look at the issue from all angles, to ensure you’re dealing with the root cause of an issue.
Benefits to Your Business
It’s been a thrilling ride for accessplanit. Just a couple of months since we introduced the EOS, I’ve seen tangible results in the way my business runs. Issues that might’ve previously occupied the minds and time of employees now fall away — discussed and solved by a skilled team who really understand what we do and how we can do it even better.
The headline benefits you’ll likely find from introducing a real structure to your meetings are…
· Efficient and effective operations
Once you place serious issues on the agenda on a weekly basis, you’ll immediately begin putting solutions into place that genuinely transform the way your company runs. Even if it’s bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece, over time, your performance as a business vastly improves.
· A better company culture
Culture is the foundation on which to expand your business — you want everyone on-board with your vision, right? You want each employee to know that they’re the right person, doing the right job, in the right seat — and they’re all pulling together in the same direction. In my previous article, I talked about how company culture ‘isn’t all about coffee, booze, dogs in office and ping pong.’ Sure, our lovely new office space helps solidify the existing culture of self-improvement, trust and a relaxed working environment, but it’s thanks to wide understanding and acceptance of dedicated processes, a culture is born.
· Improved communication across the business
All businesses look to improve communication (eliminating ambiguity and uncertainty). Some do so with a strict email policy, others integrate messaging tools like Slack. And, of course, there are those weekly or monthly company updates that all staff gather around for. However, one of the problems that arises from general meetings or weekly updates is that they frequently lack context, which makes it hard for staff to really engage. It’s great that the sales department has made a big sale, but why should the developers care about that in general? But if that big sale requires a specific feature, which ends up on the issues list, then that sale has greater importance to the development team. Rigorously IDS-ing offers a vastly improved way to communicate successes and failure and areas to keep your keen eye on — especially given that particular issues will be escalated or de-escalated to other departments during their own Level 10 meetings.
· Better forecasting
Because we’re holding laser-focused, weekly meetings, each department can see at a glance whether or not they’re on-track to achieve their objectives. But it also acts as an early warning signal for other issues likely to arise in the future. For instance, if we can see that leads are down in this quarter, we know the likely impact of that in the next quarter. On the other hand, if we can see that sales are up well beyond the target, we can adjust KPIs (or, in EOS parlance, ‘rocks’) for teams across sales, development and implementation. Essentially, it means we have a much better idea of where improvements have been made, where more is needed, and how to implement changes for the good of the business.
If your business has implemented EOS, or you’re considering introducing it, I’d love to know your thoughts and experiences, and share mine!
