Recently I joined a Twitter conversation on organizational town halls. The observation was that many employees don’t find these town halls valuable—especially virtually. It’s my experience that this doesn’t have to be the case. So here are a few suggestions (based on my organizational experience) for your consideration.
Think of the town hall as a special GATHERING or a CONVENING. You are bringing people together for something special.
Make town halls optional. Don’t force employees to attend them or “bribe” employees with food or other gimmicks. If you have to do that, then you need to question the value of the town halls. Of course, food is fine where there are celebrations.
Ensure your town hall invitation clearly communicates the benefits of attending the town hall. Provide an agenda outlining high-level topics.
Focus the town hall content on the invitees (and not the inviters). Good hosts know the gathering is not about them. It’s about those they’ve invited. Answer questions like: “how is the organization performing?” and “what challenges is the organization facing?”
Share information that employees “at every level” can connect with. Too often, the town hall information is only understood by a select few in the audience.
Address stuff that is on employees’ minds. If you don’t know what’s on employees’ minds, you shouldn’t have a town hall in the first place.
Allow and encourage employee participation in the town hall when and where it makes sense. I’ve conducted live polls in town halls to get live feedback. You can also use polls to lighten up the mood.
Be brief. The longer any single person speaks (especially now that many town halls are remote) the more likely it is that people will check out. It’s not about the quantity of words, it’s about the QUALITY of the words.
Present a “call to action.” What do you want employees to do with the information you shared with them?
I’m of the opinion that “no town hall” is significantly better than a “poorly executed town hall.” Effective town halls require intentionality and planning. If you’re not ready to make such an investment in planning for a town hall, then don’t do it.
And yet, it would be remiss of me to not state that in any organization of meaningful size, there will always be employees who complain about town halls. You can’t please everyone. But you can try to put your best foot forward.
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Ka Anyi Kwuo Okwu 