A problem-solving meeting is where teams actually fix things instead of going in circles. The IDS method keeps it disciplined: Identify the root problem, Discuss it fully, then Solve it with a clear owner. This problem solving meeting template applies IDS so you leave with a decision and an action, not just a shared sense that something is wrong.
Use it whenever a recurring issue, a broken process, or a conflict needs resolution. It is built for the moments when a team keeps complaining about the same thing without ever fixing it. If the problem is simple and obvious, just assign it; save IDS for the knots.
The people closest to the problem, usually three to eight. You need the ones with context and the one who can commit to a fix. Keep stakeholders who only want to observe out of the room so the discussion stays candid.
List the issues and prioritize so you start with what matters most. Spend real effort on Identify, digging past the symptom to the root cause, because solving the wrong problem wastes everyone's time. Then Discuss openly with data and perspective, resisting the urge to jump to a fix. Finally Solve: agree on an action, assign a single owner, and define what done looks like. Confirm the decision out loud before moving to the next issue.
Track issues from identify to solved with clear owners. Run it in OrgTP.
60 minutes total · 5 sections
Every business faces problems, but high-growth companies solve them permanently, while struggling companies discuss the same issues week after week. If your team's meetings feel like endless venting sessions that end without clear decisions or action items, you are suffering from a lack of structured problem-solving.
To break this cycle, teams must adopt a disciplined, repeatable framework that moves them from identifying symptoms to executing permanent solutions.
This comprehensive guide provides a battle-tested Problem-Solving Meeting Template based on the EOS IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) framework and a step-by-step agenda to help your team resolve issues once and for all.
An IDS Problem-Solving Meeting is a highly focused, 60-minute session designed to resolve specific operational bottlenecks, broken processes, or team conflicts.
Rather than discussing problems in chronological order or letting the loudest voice dominate, this meeting forces the team to prioritize their issues list, dig deep to find the root cause, and commit to concrete, actionable solutions.
To maintain focus and ensure you leave the meeting with concrete action items, we recommend a strict time-boxed 60-minute agenda:
| Time | Agenda Item | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 - 00:08 | List & Prioritize | Review the issues list. Select the top 3 most critical issues that require immediate resolution today. |
| 00:08 - 00:20 | Identify (The Root Cause) | Dig deep to find the root cause of Issue #1. Do not start discussing solutions until the real problem is clearly stated. |
| 00:20 - 00:42 | Discuss (The Debate) | Open the floor for everyone to share their thoughts, data, and perspectives on Issue #1. Keep discussions focused on the root cause. |
| 00:42 - 00:55 | Solve (The Action) | Agree on a concrete action item (To-Do) that will resolve Issue #1 permanently. Assign a single owner and a 7-day deadline. |
| 00:55 - 01:00 | Confirm & Close | Recap the new To-Dos, confirm owners, and officially close the meeting. |
Most teams waste time solving symptoms rather than the actual problem. For example, "Our sales are down" is a symptom. The root cause might be "Our new sales reps haven't been trained on our product updates." Spend significant time identifying the real issue before moving to discussion.
This is the phase for open, honest debate. Every team member should have the opportunity to voice their opinion and present data. However, once everyone has said their piece, stop discussing. Do not let the conversation go in circles. Move immediately to the solution.
A solution is not a vague agreement to "do better." A solution is a concrete, actionable task that can be completed within the next 7 days. Every solution must end with a single owner and a clear definition of "done."
If team members are afraid of being blamed for mistakes, they will hide problems. Establish a culture where problems are viewed as opportunities for improvement, not indictments of personal performance.
If an action item is assigned to "John and Sarah," nobody is accountable. Every To-Do must have a single, named owner who is 100% responsible for its completion.
Never try to work through your issues list chronologically. Always prioritize. If you only solve the top 2 most critical issues during the meeting, that is a massive win. Vague, low-priority issues can wait or roll over to the next week.
IDS stands for Identify, Discuss, and Solve. It is a three-step problem-solving methodology popularized by the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to help teams resolve issues permanently.
Use the "Five Whys" technique. Start with the symptom and ask "Why did this happen?" five times in succession. This process helps peel away surface-level symptoms to reveal the true operational or behavioral root cause.
If an issue is too complex to solve in 60 minutes, assign a To-Do to a team member to gather more data or run a sub-meeting, and bring the issue back to the main list next week with the necessary context.
When multiple people share ownership of a task, accountability is diluted. Having a single owner ensures there is one clear point of contact who is responsible for driving the task to completion.
Stop copying agendas into a doc every week. OrgTP runs your meetings live — scorecard, rocks, issues, and to-dos all in one place, with your AI agents in the room.