Some time ago, you wrote about employee birthdays as an opportunity to celebrate and at the same time gather people face-to-face with the chief executive officer (CEO). In our case, the only employees that attend the meetings are those on their birth month. Should we adopt a new system if we want to call town hall meetings? — Lone Wolf.
Birthdays and anniversary months mean everything to both labor and management. They’re a celebration of employee milestones as they spend more time in the company. If you ask me, it’s better to maintain the status quo. There’s no need for you to alter the practice of celebrating birth months.
Don’t complicate things. Regardless of whether it’s the employees’ birthday, anniversary month, or whatever milestone, what’s important is your determination to establish, maintain and nurture long-term proactive two-way communication.
And before I forget, let me congratulate you for wanting to make town hall meetings a monthly event. Not many organizations can do that. They simply get by with a quarterly forum, which to me is ineffective.
Workers can drive the organization towards profitability and sustainability. Having said that, organizations must ensure that monthly town hall meetings come with team problem-solving activities and individual engagement dialogue.
AGENDA AND FORMAT
The job of ensuring proactive, two-way communication depends much on the leadership of HR in arriving at a consistent and coherent strategy. It’s essential to focus on how to make every town hall meeting follow a framework that must consider the following:
One, aligning or realigning management action with corporate goals. To maintain a coordinative and supportive system, the CEO should always refer back to the company’s vision, mission and value statements when discussing its recent achievements, current plans and future programs. Without this correlation, it’s only a matter of time before management and employees forget that they have a compass to follow.
Two, face-to-face meetings are important. But not during pandemics or if geographical constraints do not allow it. Much depends on the number of employees attending the town hall meeting. The ideal number is 30 to 50 employees per month, subject to venue capacity. Many meetings are held inside cafeterias or training rooms.
Three, observe a limit of two hours. Everyone is busy. Be guided by an agenda that includes an introduction by HR, a brief self-introduction by each participant, and the CEO’s message, all within the first hour. It’s advisable that the CEO be given an advance list of the attendees.
Devote the second hour to an open forum. Allow questions from those attending from remote locations. The last five minutes may include a closing statement from the CEO or anyone from the senior management team.
Four, put other members of the management team up front. It is for every employee comment or question to be addressed not just by the CEO, but by the concerned department head. Meet-and-greets like these help maintain healthy interaction en route to becoming a high-performing organization.
Last, summarize and share highlights of the meeting. This is the best way to ensure that the result of each town hall meeting is disseminated to all workers and management. This can be done via a one-page circular posted in every bulletin board in key areas of the company and shared in an article via the intranet. This is important if HR is to anticipate and collect employee feedback and complaints.
RESPECT
I came to know of a junior HR official who recommended the inclusion of an online “mood meter” during a town hall meeting. A “mood meter” allows online participants to express their state of mind when attending a seminar or workshop, particularly if the resource person is not engaging.
I must disagree with the use of this tool during a town hall meeting. What’s the point of subjecting the CEO or any of the senior management team to feedback like this? If the meeting has become boring or no longer enjoyable, then the participants should simply keep quiet and be attentive. We must understand that a town hall meeting is not meant to be entertainment.
What is important is to give employees the chance to express themselves through an open exchange of ideas while being respectful to one another. This can be done by getting HR to ask random employees to share their views on management plans. This should ensure that employees become active listeners.
Every employee knows how to behave in a work environment, where everyone is treated with respect, but HR plays an important role in making sure this happens.
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