How to Run Level 10 Meetings in Ninety
A Level 10 Meeting™ is a weekly, structured meeting designed to help leadership teams stay focused, solve Issues, and drive accountability. It follows a strict agenda and is a key to running on EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating System®). Integrating these meetings into your weekly routine with Ninety's platform streamlines processes and enhances team collaboration.
Important: The Meetings tool is not available on the Free plan, so running a Level 10 Meeting in Ninety requires a paid subscription — Essentials, Accelerate, Thrive, or Legacy. See What's Included on Ninety's Free Plan for the full list of what the Free plan does and does not cover.
Video: running a Level 10 Meeting
Watch the video below for a full walkthrough of a Level 10 Meeting in Ninety, from setting up the agenda through scheduling, facilitating, and concluding, including how to run a practice meeting first.
The video covers:
Setting up and adjusting the agenda. The standard 90-minute Level 10 agenda gives five minutes to each section and 60 minutes to IDS. You can change any section's duration, hide sections you don't use, and add a custom section that embeds an outside tool, which is useful for department teams who want a content calendar or dashboard on screen while identifying Issues.
Scheduling for consistency. Same day and time every week, set to repeat, with a facilitator who guides the discussion and a scribe who shares Ninety on screen. Once you save, Ninety offers to add the meeting to your work calendar.
Working the agenda live. One person starts the meeting and everyone else on the team gets a notification to join. Right-clicking an off-track Measurable creates an Issue that carries over its goal and the last three weeks of scores, Rock statuses can be updated during the Rock Review, and past-due To-Dos sort to the top using Due By.
Running IDS. Adding Issues that surface in the moment, prioritizing with voting or the 5-to-1 priority sort, and solving an Issue into a To-Do that carries your meeting notes with it, so whoever takes it has the full context. An Issue can also be moved to the long-term list or sent to another team.
Concluding. Recapping new To-Dos, rating the meeting from one to ten, archiving everything the team worked through, and sending the recap email. The same information stays available afterward under Past Meetings.
Practicing first. You can start a meeting at any time to explore how it flows, then click Suspend and delete it without affecting your team's meeting history.
Introduction to Level 10 Meetings
Level 10 Meetings are designed first and foremost for leadership teams. Still, any team can use their framework and agenda — many department-level teams reduce meeting length from 90 minutes to 60 minutes.
Forming your team's meeting cadence around weekly Level 10 meetings is essential for providing a consistent forum to evaluate key metrics, review goals, address pressing Issues, and ensure everyone is aligned with the company's Vision. The ultimate aim is to make these meetings so effective that participants would rate them a "10" on a scale of 1 to 10.
Key features of Level 10 Meetings
Consistent scheduling: Teams should hold their Level 10 Meetings on the same day and time each week to establish a reliable rhythm.
Structured agenda: A standardized agenda ensures all critical topics are covered efficiently.
Time management: Each meeting segment is time-boxed to maintain focus and productivity.
Issue prioritization: Emphasis on identifying and resolving the most pressing Issues affecting the team or the organization.
Accountability: Regularly review action items and goals to track progress and hold team members accountable.
Running Level 10 Meetings with Ninety
We've designed our platform to facilitate seamless Level 10 Meetings by automating agendas, tracking time, and documenting outcomes. Here's how to effectively run these meetings using Ninety:
Schedule your meetings ahead of time.
Prepare for your L10 by keeping Ninety's tools up to date.
Conduct your meetings on Ninety.
Scheduling your Level 10 Meetings
To schedule a Level 10 Meeting™ for your team:
Click Meetings from the left navigation.
Click Schedule a Meeting.
Select Level 10 Meeting™ from the Agenda dropdown.
Click the calendar icon to select a meeting date.
Enter the start time for the meeting based on your time zone in Ninety.
(Optional) Choose when to repeat the meeting from the Repeating Meeting Cadence dropdown.
(Optional) Choose a facilitator and scribe from the respective dropdowns.
Click Save.
(Optional) Add the meeting to your work calendar.
Preparing for your Level 10 Meeting
To prepare for an upcoming Level 10 Meeting on Ninety, ensure the items you're accountable for are up to date, including:
Measurables in the Scorecard tool.
Quarterly goals and Milestones in the Rocks tool.
Action items in the To-Dos tool.
Problems, obstacles, and opportunities are documented in the Issues tool.
Announcements in the Headlines tool.
Conducting your Level 10 Meeting
We've pre-populated the tried-and-true Level 10 Meeting™ agenda in our Meetings tool. To start your Level 10 Meeting on Ninety:
Click Meetings from the left navigation.
Click the Start a Meeting button.
Select Level 10 Meeting™ from the Agenda dropdown.
Note: If your meeting was previously scheduled, click Start for the meeting in the Upcoming Meetings section.
The Level 10 Meeting™ agenda
Here's a breakdown of the agenda:
Segue (5 minutes): Each participant shares personal or professional good news to build rapport and transition into the meeting mindset.
Scorecard Review (5 minutes): Assess key Measurables. Any off-track metrics are added to the Issues List for deeper discussion.
Rock Review (5 minutes): Evaluate the status of quarterly goals. Any goals not progressing as planned are noted as issues. Use the Show people without Rocks toggle in the Rock Review filters to reveal or hide team members who have no Rock this quarter as you review.
Customer/Employee Headlines (5 minutes): Share significant updates or feedback. Positive news is celebrated, while concerns are moved to the Issues List.
To-Do List Review (5 minutes): Verify the completion of action items from the previous meeting. Incomplete items are examined to understand obstacles.
Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS®) (60 minutes): Prioritize and address the top Issues. Utilize Ninety's tools to document discussions and assign actionable steps.
Conclude (5 minutes): Recap new action items, determine any messages to cascade to the broader team, and rate the meeting's effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 10.
Customizing the Level 10 Meeting agenda
Teams can customize their agendas in the Meetings tool by selecting the Agendas tab. Owners, Admins, and Implementers can adjust agendas for the whole organization in Company Settings > Meetings.
Teams on the Essentials subscription plan can customize their Level 10 Meeting agenda.
Teams on the Accelerate, Thrive, or Legacy subscription plan can customize any of their meeting agendas or create their own from scratch.
Tips and best practices
Holding effective Level 10 Meetings weekly is essential to strengthen your organization's Meetings Component, one of the Six Key Components® identified by the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®). You can learn more about the Six Key Components® and the EOS Model from this blog and more about Level 10 Meetings in this article, both written by a Professional EOS Implementer®.
Here are some quick tips and best practices to improve your team's Level 10 Meetings:
Start and end your meeting on time.
Create Issues on topics that need to be discussed.
Wait until the IDS® section of the meeting to discuss Issues.
Stay on topic and start with high-priority Issues.