A Powerful Pause

All of our clients follow the practice of having a weekly Level 10 Meeting. Click here to download the Level 10 agenda. I’ve seen many companies do these meetings, and one huge mistake keeps rearing its ugly head when clients get to the Customer/Employee Headlines, and again when they get to the Issues List: They launch right in and wind up missing the real stuff.

What I’m suggesting is this: Take a short pause before you move ahead with the Customer/Employee Headlines. Let your brain catch up with the meeting on a subconscious level. Simply start that part of the Level 10 meeting by saying, “Okay, everyone take just 30 quiet seconds to think about any customer and employee headlines you’d like to share.”

This powerful pause lets everyone look back and remember the week’s activity. If you do this, you’ll get everything out every time.

Now, do the same thing for your Issues List. Start that portion of the meeting with “Are there any issues from the previous seven days you want to see on the Issues List? Think about it for 30 seconds.” Sometimes the best issues – those golden nuggets – come from this powerful pause.

This simple little discipline takes your rating from 8.5 to 9 – half a point’s improvement.

Imagine it: getting every single issue and every single Customer/Employee Headline out every single week. Then imagine your leadership team being crystal clear on each and having resolution on those issues. You will, just from a powerful pause.

Try the powerful pause in your next Level 10 meeting. It works.