The Illusion of Listening: Why Town Hall Meetings Are HR's Bad Practice (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: I think most town hall meetings are window dressing. Hi, my name is Tom Haak of the HR Trent Institute and this is a new episode in the series HR bad practices. And today it could be called HR and communications bad practices or HR and internal communication bad practices. Because the bad practice I want to discuss today is the town hall meeting. I go back again in my history and I was so lucky to be involved in one of the first global town hall meetings of Philips Electronics a long, long time ago. I think we talk maybe 1996 or something like that. And Jan Timmer was the CEO of Philips Electronics and he was kind of my boss with some layers in between. And this first global town hall meeting was coordinated from the Evoluon Center in Eindhoven. And through difficult connections, I don't think it was via internet but via satellites, the whole Philips world was connected to the Evoluon. And there was Jan Timmer and there was an audience and I was invited to sit there as well to applaud in the audience. And there were some designated question askers. One of them was my boss, I was too junior to ask questions. And so there was a town hall meeting, Jan Timmer was there and the designated people were allowed to answer their questions and then Jan Timmer would answer them. And of course, the questions were totally harmless. They were not as bad as how have we become such a fantastic company. But what do you think about the new developments in Asia or how to align all the worldwide people behind the Philips mission? Well, it was nice to be there. It was nice to experience it. But well, I think, and that's why it's in this episode, I think most town hall meetings are window dressing. I don't think Philips invented the town hall meeting. It was probably a GE invention as many other inventions. And it gives the impression that oh we are management and we are listening and please come to our meetings and you can ask any question you like and then we will answer the questions. But the reality is that it's kind of fake. It's kind of fake. And I will tell you why. One, of course, yeah, there are sometimes hundreds of people in those meetings. Even if everybody can ask his or her question, does it happen? There's never enough time. So there are a couple of questions. The top chief answers the questions. He or she can answer in any way he or she likes. And oh, it's time again. And there they go. And they have given the impression that they have really listened. Often those meetings are staged. As in the example I gave up front, they ask people, hey Tom, do you want to ask this question? Hey Caroline, do you want to ask this question? So that they are sure the right questions are asked. So it's staged. It is not real. Secondly, those meetings and many other meetings where senior management appears to answer questions, it reinforces the idea that the top people know it all. The leader knows the answer. Hey boss, I have a question. Hey leader, I have a question. And of course the leader will give the answer. So it reinforces hierarchy. It reinforces a wrong perception that the people at the top know it all. No, they don't know it all. They should really listen to the people. But not in meetings with hundreds of people. They should take the time to really have conversations one-on-one. Talk to people. Listen to people. And not in those fake type of town hall meetings. So there's never enough time. It's fake. It reinforces the idea that the boss knows it all. And it often leaves the people with a kind of, yeah, you could say not too positive feeling. What happened? What happened? Especially in conditions where people really have questions. Why was that question not asked? Or I had a question but I was waving there, waving there. And I never was allowed to ask the question. Because of course the chairman very well knows. Hey, there's Tom. And we know what Tom is going to ask. No room for Tom. So town hall meetings often are fake. Town hall meetings are a bad practice. And they give the illusion that the top people are listening. But they are really not. They're just an opportunity for them to expose themselves. And to shine. And to show the world, oh look what I am. I'm such a good listener. I'm really down there with the troops. Well, I wish them a lot of success. Bye. Bye. If you want more, subscribe to this channel. Link to me on LinkedIn. Go to the website of the H.R. Trent Institute. And well, we'll see you soon.