"What the Hell Was That?" Why Most Meetings Waste Everyone's Time (And How IDS Fixes It)
You know the feeling.
You just spent an hour—maybe two—in a meeting. People talked. Issues were raised. The same points got made multiple times. The meeting ran over. Everyone's frustrated.
Jason Jannati, EOS implementer and business coach, has sat through enough of these disasters to identify the pattern. More importantly, he's found the solution.
It's called IDS: Identify, Discuss, Solve.
And it might be the difference between meetings that waste time and meetings that actually move your business forward.
The Meeting Death Spiral
Let's be honest about what happens in most meetings:
Someone raises an issue. Three people share their perspectives. Two people share those same perspectives again, slightly reworded. Someone goes on a tangent. Someone else brings it back to the original point. The first person restates their position. The meeting runs late. No decision gets made.
You leave exhausted, frustrated, and no closer to solving the actual problem than when you started.
"How many of you guys have ever had a meeting where you're like, 'We met, we talked about stuff, we talked about it more, we talked about it again, the meeting ran late and now we're like, what the hell was that? Like, what was that?'"
If you've never experienced this, you've either never been in a meeting or you're lying to yourself.
For everyone else: this is the default state of organizational meetings. Talking without solving. Discussion without decision. Motion without movement.
Enter IDS: Identify, Discuss, Solve
The IDS framework does something radical: it assumes meetings should actually accomplish something.
Here's how it works:
Identify: What is the real issue here?
Discuss: What do we think about it?
Solve: What are we going to do about it?
Three steps. That's it.
But embedded in these three simple steps is a discipline that transforms meetings from time-wasting talk sessions into decision-making engines.
Identify: Getting to the Real Issue
The first step sounds obvious but is often the hardest: clearly identify what the issue actually is.
Not the symptom. Not the surface complaint. The root issue.
Jason shares a telling example from his work with leadership teams:
"We were in a session working with the leadership team working through stuff and they kept coming up with 'how we have this process issue, we have this process issue.' And I looked at it and I said, 'This is a process issue. I feel like everything you're doing is really just to avoid this person right now. It doesn't seem like process. It seems like this person.'"
The team wanted to discuss process problems because process problems are easier to talk about. They're less personal. They're more comfortable.
But the root issue wasn't process—it was a people problem.
"So is it a process issue or is it a people issue? The people issue is harder to talk about. It was harder to face. It was more complicated to face. But the root issue was a people issue. It wasn't a process thing."
This is where most meetings go wrong from the start. Everyone spends an hour discussing the wrong problem because the real problem is uncomfortable to name.
When we say identify, it's identify the root issue, the real issue here.
Not the comfortable issue. Not the surface issue. The actual problem that needs solving.
Discuss: Say It Once and Move On
Here's where IDS gets brutal in the best way:
"Discuss it once. More than once is politicking."
Read that again. If you're saying the same thing multiple times in a meeting, you're not adding value—you're playing politics.
"Like, just say it. Don't say it like three different times to see if I can get Rob to agree with me or if I can kind of make sure other people see it. Just say it, move on."
Think about the meetings you've been in recently. How much time was wasted on:
- People restating the same point in different words
- Someone "building on" what another person said by basically repeating it
- Multiple people making the same argument to create the illusion of consensus
- Leaders trying to manufacture agreement by asking the same question multiple ways
This isn't discussion. This is politicking.
Real discussion in the IDS framework looks like:
Round the table once. Each person shares their perspective on the identified issue.
Say what you actually think. Not what you think others want to hear. Not a carefully hedged political statement. Your actual view.
Listen to understand. Because you only get one chance to speak, you better pay attention to what others say.
Then move on. No second lap around the table unless genuinely new information emerges.
Jason explains the value of this approach:
"Even if somebody is not directly involved, everybody has life experience. So it's valuable to get vantage points from different angles to just hear their thoughts on the issue."
You get the benefit of multiple perspectives without the waste of multiple repetitions.
Solve: The Meeting Actually Accomplishes Something
Here's the revolutionary part:
"Then we need to move to solve."
After you've identified the real issue and discussed it once, you make a decision.
Not "let's think about it." Not "we should circle back on this." Not "I'll send out some options and we can discuss further."
You solve it. In the meeting.
"It's the job of the leader of that meeting or your job in that meeting is to move to solve. What is the next best right thing to do?"
Notice the framing: "the next best right thing."
Not the perfect solution. Not the comprehensive fix that addresses every possible future scenario.
The next best right action that moves you forward.
Jason references Frozen 2 here (yes, the Disney movie): "Next best thing. It's the right thing."
Sometimes the best you can do is identify the next right step. That's enough. That's progress.
The To-Do: Where Solving Becomes Real
But here's where most "solved" problems go to die: nobody actually does anything about them.
The IDS framework prevents this with a simple requirement:
"Then you assign what we call a to-do. So a to-do is literally something that's gonna be done within a week or two to one person who's assigned to that."
Three critical elements:
1. Within a week or two Not "eventually." Not "when we get time." Within a specific, short timeframe.
2. To one person Not "the team will handle it." Not "someone should probably do this." One person. One name. Clear accountability.
3. What you believe is going to solve that issue The to-do is the actual solution in action form. It's how the issue gets resolved.
This transforms meetings from talking sessions to accountability sessions.
You don't leave the meeting hoping someone does something. You leave knowing exactly who is doing exactly what by exactly when.
Why This Works When Everything Else Fails
The genius of IDS is that it forces discipline at every step:
Identify forces clarity You can't move forward until you name the real issue. No dancing around it. No avoiding uncomfortable truths.
Discuss forces efficiency Say it once. That's it. No repetition, no politicking, no wasted time.
Solve forces action The meeting doesn't end until there's a decision and a to-do. Talk without action is just noise.
Compare this to typical meetings:
Typical Meeting:
- Surface issue gets raised
- Discussion meanders
- Same points made repeatedly
- Some people dominate, others check out
- Meeting runs over
- No decision made
- "We'll revisit this next time"
- Nothing happens
IDS Meeting:
- Real issue gets identified
- Each person speaks once
- Perspectives are heard
- Decision gets made
- To-do assigned to specific person
- Meeting ends on time
- Issue gets resolved within a week or two
Which meeting would you rather attend?
The Politicking Problem
Let's come back to Jason's insight about politicking:
"More than once is politicking."
Why do people say the same thing multiple times in meetings?
To create the illusion of consensus: "See, three of us said it, so it must be right."
To pressure others to agree: Repetition as a persuasion tactic.
To seem engaged: When you don't have anything new to add but feel you should say something.
To avoid making a decision: As long as we're still discussing, we don't have to commit.
To protect political capital: Hedge your position by saying it in different ways.
All of this is waste. IDS eliminates it by changing the rules:
You get one shot to share your perspective. Make it count. Then we move to decision.
This isn't about stifling discussion. It's about respecting everyone's time and getting to outcomes.
Moving to Solve: The Leader's Job
Jason makes clear where accountability sits:
"It's the job of the leader of that meeting or your job in that meeting is to move to solve."
Someone has to drive toward decision. Someone has to cut off the circular discussion. Someone has to ask: "What are we actually going to do about this?"
In many organizations, that discipline doesn't exist. Meetings become democratic talk sessions where every voice gets equal time and nothing gets decided.
The leader's job in IDS is different:
- Ensure the real issue gets identified
- Give everyone a chance to speak once
- Cut off repetition and politicking
- Drive toward decision
- Ensure a to-do gets assigned
This isn't autocratic leadership. It's responsible facilitation.
The Next Best Right Thing
There's wisdom in the phrase "next best right thing."
Not the perfect thing. Not the comprehensive thing. The next thing.
This acknowledges reality: you might not be able to solve the entire problem in one meeting. But you can identify the next action that moves you forward.
Maybe it's:
- "John will research options and present three recommendations next week"
- "Sarah will have the difficult conversation with the underperforming team member by Friday"
- "We'll run a 30-day pilot of the new process and review results"
- "Mike will get three quotes and bring them to next week's meeting"
These aren't complete solutions. They're next steps.
But next steps taken consistently create momentum. Momentum creates results.
Meetings that identify next steps and assign them to specific people accomplish more than meetings that try to solve everything perfectly but assign nothing to nobody.
The Week-or-Two Window
Why does the to-do need to be done "within a week or two"?
Urgency creates action. "Someday" means never. "This week" means it gets done.
Short cycles enable learning. You try something, see results quickly, adjust if needed.
Accountability stays fresh. If to-dos are due next week, they stay top of mind. If they're due "eventually," they get forgotten.
Momentum builds. Each week you solve issues and complete to-dos, you build confidence and forward motion.
This doesn't mean everything gets solved in a week. It means every issue gets a next action that happens within a week.
The complex, multi-month projects break down into weekly to-dos. The difficult people conversations get scheduled within days, not postponed indefinitely. The research gets done, the decisions get made, the actions get taken.
Week by week, issue by issue, to-do by to-do, the business moves forward.
What This Eliminates
Let's be specific about what IDS meetings eliminate:
❌ The meeting after the meeting (where the real discussion happens in the hallway)
❌ The circular conversation (where the same issue comes up week after week)
❌ The dominators (who talk for 80% of the meeting)
❌ The silent observers (who check out because they never get to speak)
❌ The paralysis by analysis (where perfect is the enemy of done)
❌ The false consensus (where everyone nods but nothing changes)
❌ The ambiguous outcomes (where nobody knows who's doing what)
All of these pathologies disappear when you follow IDS discipline.
The Bottom Line
Most meetings are a waste of time because they're structured to waste time.
No discipline on identifying real issues. No limits on repetitive discussion. No requirement to actually solve anything.
IDS changes the game:
Identify the root issue, the real issue
Discuss once per person, no politicking
Solve with a specific to-do to a specific person within a week or two
It's not complicated. But it requires discipline.
The discipline to name uncomfortable truths.
The discipline to say your piece once and move on.
The discipline to make decisions instead of endlessly deliberating.
The discipline to assign clear accountability.
That discipline is what separates meetings where you walk out thinking "what the hell was that?" from meetings where you walk out thinking "okay, we actually accomplished something."
Next time you're in a meeting, ask yourself:
Have we clearly identified the real issue?
Has everyone spoken once without repetition?
Have we moved to solve?
Is there a to-do assigned to a specific person with a specific deadline?
If the answer to any of these is no, you're in a meeting that's wasting everyone's time.
Time to implement IDS.
Jason Jannati is an EOS Implementer who helps leadership teams achieve the clarity and alignment needed for sustainable growth. For more great real estate content subscribe to Living Well with Rentwell on Apple, Spotify, and all other podcast apps.
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