The L10 Meeting is Great. Here's What It's Missing.

The EOS Level 10 Meeting is one of the best things to happen to leadership team meetings. Structured. Timed. Focused on issues. Ends on time. After years of meandering, agenda-free meetings, the L10 feels like a revelation.

But here's the question nobody asks: What about all the other meetings?

The L10 handles your weekly leadership pulse brilliantly. But your organization runs on more than one meeting per week. What about daily standups? Monthly reviews? Quarterly planning? Cross-functional coordination? Project check-ins?

The L10 is a great meeting. But one great meeting doesn't make a great operating rhythm.

The L10's Hidden Limitation

The L10 meeting is genuinely excellent. It has a clear structure:

• Segue (5 min)
• Scorecard (5 min)
• Rock review (5 min)
• Customer/employee headlines (5 min)
• To-do list (5 min)
• IDS - Issues (60 min)
• Conclude (5 min)

This 90-minute format works. It creates rhythm. It forces issue resolution. Teams that adopt L10 consistently report better meetings.

But notice what it doesn't address:

• How should teams meet daily?
• What happens in monthly reviews?
• How do departments coordinate with each other?
• What's the quarterly planning rhythm?
• How do project teams run their meetings?

The L10 is a weekly leadership meeting. It's not an operating rhythm.

The Missing Meetings Problem

Organizations need multiple meeting types at different cadences:

Daily: Quick alignment, blocker removal, today's priorities Weekly: Progress review, issue resolution, near-term planning Monthly: Deeper analysis, trend review, adjustments Quarterly: Strategic review, planning, goal-setting

The L10 handles weekly excellently. The other cadences are left undefined. Most companies fill that gap with ad-hoc, unstructured meetings that waste time and frustrate teams.

The math: If your L10 is great but your other meetings are chaotic:

• 1 L10 = 90 minutes/week of productive meetings
• 10 other meetings = 15 hours/week of variable quality
• Net result: Mostly chaotic, with one island of structure

Different Meeting Types Need Different Structures

The L10 format works for weekly leadership pulse. But you can't run a daily standup with 60 minutes of IDS. You can't do quarterly planning in 90 minutes. Different purposes require different structures.

Daily standup needs:

• 15 minutes max
• Yesterday/today/blockers format
• Quick, synchronous, action-oriented

Monthly review needs:

• 2-4 hours
• Deeper metric analysis
• Trend identification
• Resource reallocation

Quarterly planning needs:

• Half to full day
• Rock/goal setting
• Strategic alignment
• Team-wide input

One meeting format doesn't fit all purposes.

What Meeting Excellence Actually Is

The Resolute Meeting Canvas (Management Question 4) addresses the complete operating rhythm - not just one meeting, but the entire system of meetings that keeps an organization aligned and effective.

The fundamental shift:

• L10 Thinking: "How do we run a great weekly meeting?"
• Meeting Canvas Thinking: "What meeting rhythm does our organization need to execute effectively?"

Think of it this way: The L10 is a great instrument. The Meeting Canvas is the entire orchestra - different instruments, playing different parts, creating something none could create alone.

The Meeting Canvas: Building a Complete Operating Rhythm

The Meeting Canvas doesn't replace the L10 - it puts it in context within a complete meeting system.

Element 1: Meeting Cadences

What it is: The different rhythms at which your organization needs to synchronize.

A complete rhythm typically includes:

EOS provides: Weekly L10 Meeting Canvas adds: Complete rhythm design for all cadences

Element 2: Meeting Purposes

What it is: Clear definition of what each meeting type is FOR.

Common purposes:

• Sync: Share information, create alignment
• Plan: Decide priorities, allocate resources
• Solve: Address issues, make decisions
• Review: Analyze performance, identify trends
• Connect: Build relationships, team health

Each meeting should have ONE primary purpose. The L10 is primarily a "Solve" meeting (IDS). But you also need Sync meetings, Plan meetings, and Review meetings.

Element 3: Meeting Structures

What it is: Defined agendas and formats for each meeting type.

Daily Standup Structure (15 min):

• What did I complete yesterday? (1 min each)
• What am I working on today? (1 min each)
• What's blocking me? (raise for help)

Monthly Review Structure (2-3 hours):

• Scorecard deep dive (30 min)
• Rock/goal progress analysis (30 min)
• Trend identification (30 min)
• Resource reallocation (30 min)
• Next month priorities (30 min)

Quarterly Planning Structure (half day):

• Previous quarter review (1 hour)
• Strategic landscape update (30 min)
• Next quarter goal setting (2 hours)
• Resource planning (1 hour)
• Cascading to teams (30 min)

Element 4: Meeting Participants

What it is: Who needs to be in which meetings.

Not everyone needs to be in every meeting. The Meeting Canvas defines:

• Required: Must attend, meeting doesn't happen without them
• Optional: Adds value if available
• Informed: Gets notes/outcomes, doesn't attend

This prevents the common problem of meetings bloating with unnecessary attendees.

Element 5: Meeting Outputs

What it is: What each meeting must produce.

Every meeting should have defined outputs:

• L10: To-dos assigned, issues resolved, rocks updated
• Daily standup: Blockers identified, help requested
• Monthly review: Adjustments decided, trends documented
• Quarterly planning: Next quarter goals set, resources allocated

If a meeting doesn't produce its defined output, something went wrong.

Practical Integration: Keep Your L10, Build the Full Rhythm

You don't need to abandon the L10. You need to surround it with complementary meetings.

Step 1: Audit Your Current Meetings

List every recurring meeting in your organization:

• What is its purpose?
• Does it have a structure?
• Does it produce defined outputs?
• Is the right cadence for its purpose?

Most companies discover: lots of meetings, few with clear purpose and structure.

Step 2: Define Your Cadence Stack

Design meetings at each level:

Leadership Team:

• Daily: No (L10 weekly is sufficient)
• Weekly: L10 (keep it!)
• Monthly: Leadership review (add this)
• Quarterly: Strategic planning (add this)

Department Teams:

• Daily: 15-min standup
• Weekly: Department sync (30-60 min)
• Monthly: Department review
• Quarterly: Participate in company planning

Step 3: Create Structures for Missing Meetings

For each meeting that lacks structure, define:

• Purpose (one primary)
• Duration (fixed)
• Agenda (timed sections)
• Outputs (required deliverables)

Step 4: Implement Rhythmically

Roll out new meeting structures methodically:

• Week 1-2: Introduce daily standups
• Week 3-4: Add monthly reviews
• Month 2: Refine based on feedback
• Quarter end: Full quarterly planning

The Complete Picture: EOS + Resolute Integration

The L10 and Meeting Canvas work together:

EOS gives you a great weekly meeting. Resolute gives you a great operating rhythm.

Why This Matters for EOS Companies

If you're running L10s successfully, you've already discovered that structured meetings work. That's significant - most companies endure endless unstructured meetings.

Resolute builds on that foundation. The Meeting Canvas doesn't replace your L10 - it extends that structure to your entire operating rhythm:

• EOS gives you L10 → Resolute adds daily, monthly, quarterly structures
• EOS gives you IDS → Resolute adds Cynefin for complex problem types
• EOS gives you leadership rhythm → Resolute adds department and team rhythms

The next evolution is from "one great meeting" to "a complete meeting system." That's where Resolute's Meeting Canvas and Waymaker's collaboration tools complete the picture.

We're not replacing EOS. We're standing on its shoulders.

Read more about problem-solving beyond IDS and discover how Role Architecture clarifies who should be in which meetings.

Experience Meeting Excellence with Waymaker

Ready to build a complete operating rhythm? Waymaker provides the AI-powered technology to design, run, and improve your meetings.

Commander: Your Meeting Hub

Waymaker Commander gives you structured meeting spaces with built-in agendas, real-time collaboration, and automatic output capture. Your L10 notes connect to rocks and scorecard. Your quarterly plans flow into weekly tracking.

OneAI: Meeting Intelligence

Ask questions like "What issues keep appearing in our L10s?" or "Are our monthly reviews actually driving decisions?" - and get instant analysis. OneAI helps you optimize your meeting rhythm based on actual patterns.

Connected Outputs

When a to-do is created in your L10, it automatically appears in the owner's task list. When a quarterly goal is set, it cascades to weekly tracking. Everything connected, nothing lost.

Keep your L10. Build the complete rhythm. That's how you go from one great meeting to organizational excellence.

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The L10 is a great weekly meeting. The Meeting Canvas gives you a great operating rhythm. You need both. Learn more about solving complex problems and explore effective meeting strategies.

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EOS® and Entrepreneurial Operating System® are registered trademarks of EOS Worldwide, LLC. Waymaker is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by EOS Worldwide.