HR Bad Practices: The Town Hall Meeting

Another episode in the sub series "HR Bad Practices". Today Tom Haak of the HR Trend Institute talks about Town Hall Meetings.
HR Trend Institute hrtrendinstitute.com
LinkedIn Tom: / tomhaak

[@NelloreNagesh]

well said

[@gonzinigonz]

We had one of these a few years back. It should of been called the shareholders meeting, all they spoke about was money.

[@razberik8320]

I quite recently attended town hall meeting, which was the first one since creation of our new R&D team (the old team in different country was all fired due to cost savings). I was expecting to learn something interesting about the products we manufacture (scientific instruments). I was listening to the management and they were speaking mainly about moneys, revenues, margins ... Then I got an idea in Q&A section, raised my hand and proceed: "Gentlemen, from all of you, if we walk downstairs into lab, how many of you are able to start instruments and perform an analysis on instrument?" A moment of silence, dozens of pairs of eyes on me, some colleagues "you are finished" in their faces and then 2 out of 7 managers raised their hands "I can do analysis". Priceless. When I quit my job for this company (which is going to be soon) I will use this type to question in such a situations. Yes, Town Hall meetings are Shareholders meeting talking about moneys, revenues, margins...

[@alexsenko9050]

Hi Tom! Thank you for your interesting thoughts and valuable experience. Up today there are a huge number of such meetings, kick off strategy meetings, execution discussions, etc. In my humble opinion, such meetings are necessary, in general. To know something new directly, to hear and see your bosses, to ask a guestion, etc. How do you think? Maybe something needs to be done to make these meetings seem truthful and honest?