The best format for team listening, engagement reinforcement, and business enhancement.
In a meeting with front-line managers, a director of a major multinational bank asks a question: “Do you want your teams to be engaged? Then listen to your people!”
Creating the possibility for people in our teams to share feedback, opinions on certain decisions, and even ideas for improvement is healthy for the organization and even a business booster.
The most dynamic, organized, and planned way to do this is through a Town Hall Meeting.
Room for Dialogue
Town Hall Meetings gained even more strength after the pandemic. Far from virtual meetings with a periodic agenda and occasional events and holidays, these meetings are planned throughout the year with clear objectives. Among them may be:
- To report results.
- To provide information on launches.
- To inform about changes in the company: merger, expansion, restructuring, etcetera.
- Communicate plans.
- To promote organizational culture.
The company’s executives lead the meeting, but the protagonists are the teams.
Town Hall Meetings open a space for dialogue, listening, and exchange.
For what purpose?
According to the latest EY 2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey, conducted in 16 countries in mid-2021, “65% of employees believe that the new combination of face-to-face and remote work will increase productivity and creativity within the company.”
Among the most important findings, this study reports that:
- The transition to virtual work has helped improve the culture and productivity of many organizations.
- Most employees are willing to leave their current job if they do not get the flexibility they desire.
- Boards will need to challenge traditional work patterns and encourage flexible work models to meet stakeholder needs and gain a competitive advantage."
Town Hall Meetings become a highly valued resource to drive managers to engage their teams and achieve:
- Transparency.
- Openness to dialogue.
- Genuine feedback without intermediaries.
- Improved communication.
- Sense of belonging.
Keys to developing a successful
Town Hall Meeting
Town Hall Meeting
Town Hall meetings were born in the 19th century in the United States and Australia due to politics. The Town Hall or assembly was a meeting between politicians and citizens as a way for the government to listen to its people.
But nowadays, corporate Town Halls have developed their own structure and are implemented in a virtual or hybrid way with some singularities.
Openness
The opening should have some spectacularity, draw attention, and be attractive. Although it is suggested to be in tune with the organizational culture, many companies choose different formats such as scripted shows, institutional videos, and even online games.
Development
The content must also be dynamic, concise, straightforward, but engaging. This is where short motion graphics or animated presentations come to the fore.
Dialogue
In the exchange instance, the rules should be clear so that anyone who wants to give his opinion can do so. It will be necessary to size the number of participants and estimate the amount of time each one will speak in advance.
It will also be possible to leave open channels, previously established, to provide feedback.
A company executive can summarize and draw conclusions from the interaction.
Some companies choose to include visual thinking to record the insights from the dialogue.
Is your company planning the first Town Hall Meeting in 2022? Oxean can help you!
Do you have questions?
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