Town Hall case study: Why some gatherings are efficient but ineffective
“I want our Town Halls to be successful”, Olivia requested.
This is a common request. I mean, who wouldn’t want that?
“What would a successful Town Hall give you?” is the question I commonly ask in return.
I often remind Olivia and clients like her that a gathering is simply a tool.
Of course, we want our tools to work. But, this is the equivalent of saying I want my hammer to hammer well. What do we need the hammer to do?
Everyone has the same tools - but they can create drastically different outcomes depending on how we use them. The same goes for our gatherings.
It’s common to encounter a lack of clarity around gatherings. Not just in what we’re gathering for but in knowing how to make them more successful. It can feel like a mystery.
Still, Olivia was clear that something wasn’t working. Attendance was down as were responses in the Zoom chat. Participation was like pulling teeth. Agendas only got longer to try to appeal to more people. And attempts to make the gathering more engaging with interactive technologies and even a DJ yielded few results. What was wrong?
Here’s the 3 step process I led Olivia through to drive not only attendance but clarity.
Step 1: Define your gathering
When we think about the gatherings (including Town Halls) that we have all been a part of, they tend to fall on a spectrum, from push to pull (at you vs. with you), and from one size fits all to personalized (about anyone vs. about you). The choices we make when we gather can lead to different outcomes. Here’s a model I created:
The Gathering Effect model shows us the world of gathering and organizational change
To determine where to start, first, clarify where to end -- the outcome. What do we need from the people you’re trying to affect? What do you want to be different at the end?
These questions remind us that underneath the request for a gathering is a change request, for something to be new or different.
Just like underneath a request for surgery at a doctor’s office is the desire for a healed leg. What do we want to be different? We will likely ask if the surgery went well, but ultimately, success is measured in whether or not our leg was healed.
Olivia defined her gathering as “engage”. More than anything, she and her leadership team wanted employees to leave the town hall excited and inspired about the company’s goals and new strategy.
Nine times out of ten “engaged” is the outcome clients want. However, it may not be what they need.
Olivia wanted her gathering to lead to engagement
Step 2: Diagnose your gathering
What quadrant are we actually in? If defining your gathering is the ideal state, diagnosis reveals the current state. Surveys, focus groups, interviews, previous gatherings, participant reactions and behaviors (during and after), and more help us diagnose. When I observe a gathering, I’m paying attention to these 3 things:
Framing: How we get buy-in from the audience
Space: How we help others absorb the material
Structure: How we help people get from A to B
There can be “pull” framing, space, and structure, and “push”. Same with “one size fits all” and “personalized”.
Here’s an example from entertainment: Pull framing invites you in and elevates the audience's contribution: “Thanks for coming, Monday! You all play a very important role here tonight!”. Push framing can seem forced or mandated: “Get louder, Chicago! I don’t hear you!”
What I observed from Olivia’s Town Hall:
Framing
In +90% of the Town Hall, employees were passive, being talked or presented at without a clear role in the gathering (push)
Many presenters relied on language like, “I’m excited to share this with you”, or “I want you to be inspired by this” to get buy-in. But, employees weren’t clear what to do with the information shared or why they should be excited or care (push).
Space
The agenda was packed to the brim with content and speakers. There was little space (time) for people to talk to each other or connect. All of the information was one-way at people instead of ‘with’ them. (push)
Zero employees asked questions at the end of the Town Hall (push) (one size fits all)
Many presenters had requests and reminders to share, signaling low compliance (push). Key information was getting lost or buried.
Structure
The objective of the town hall was unclear/not mentioned. Presentations were disparate and didn’t connect (one size fits all)
Agenda focused only on the content, not the meaning or why behind it (one size fits all)
~60% of presentations were department updates (one size fits all). Information wasn’t relevant to participants unless it was their department, info was made for anyone (one size fits all).
Diagnosis:
Employees may have been informed, but not necessarily engaged. That’s because ~90% of the Town Hall was compliance and information. Meaning, the role of the audience was to be passive consumers of content. The Town Hall could have been a presentation to anyone (investors, etc) and there wasn’t much of a reason for the employees (audience) to be there.
Why this matters: Information alone is hardly enough to get people excited and engaged.
We diagnosed Olivia’s gathering as comply and inform. Now she was able to see the gap and a clear path of where to go next.
Step 3: Adjusting your gathering
The Gathering Effect model isn’t suggesting there’s only one correct way to gather. Rather, we can define, diagnose, and then adjust our approach for the outcome we want.
Though Olivia later realized ‘informed’ was a more likely desired and needed outcome, we took steps to shift the gathering to ‘engaged’ where we could. Here are some of the adjustments we made.
Framing
Invite others in: Instead of asking “any questions”, try “what questions do you have?”. Prime people at the start of the town hall to get them thinking of questions earlier. Give people some examples of what they might ask about so they know it’s safe. For example, “here is a slide of everything we talked about this morning. What questions do you have about what you heard?
Give numbers, OKR’s, and stats more meaning. Beyond a sales goal, what does that number give the organization and its employees? Otherwise, ticking off numbers, metrics, and a reminder of a vision is just that, crossing something off a list. It’s not about OKR’s it’s about what they represent.
Have a question or prompt on the screen as people join the Town Hall. This gives employees a role upfront and helps bring the information that will be shared closer to them.
Space
Provide a summary of key takeaways at the end of the Town Hall. Help employees digest the information in an email afterwards.
Review and preview to aid retention: because these are weekly Town Halls there is an opportunity to review (remind) employees of key topics discussed last week and preview what to expect in this Town Hall. It connects key concepts together while using repetition to enhance retention of key messages.
Structure
Make it simple: Lump what you want employees to specifically know or do into one section. For example, there were several “compliance” tasks including signing up for benefits. However, these asks were sprinkled throughout the Town Hall and easily lost. One of the reasons to do this is so the leadership team doesn’t have to keep repeating themselves.
Add certainty: Our brains like being able to predict what’s next. It’s typical to show an agenda slide only at the beginning which makes it hard to follow the flow of the gathering. Instead, put an agenda slide between each section highlighting where you are in the meeting. Or, label each section with a category so people can orient themselves.
Connect the dots: Agendas are often just a list with little connection between segments. This means we tune out when something doesn’t have relevance to us or isn’t our department. Instead of a list, share the overall arc of the gathering - what will be different after our time together. From what, to what?
Though well-intentioned, Olivia relied on ‘tricks’ (a DJ, keeping the agenda a surprise and not sending slides afterward, fun interaction tools) to entice employees to attend her gathering.
Ultimately she realized the key to her gatherings success wasn’t just in sharing information but in increasing coherence and the meaning behind the information.
This serves to bring the message we want to share closer to those we want to share it with and creates a gathering worth our time.
Now, more than ever, we can utilize gatherings for this purpose, and save the rest for asynchronous communication.
Lindsey Caplan is a screenwriter turned organizational psychologist who helps HR & business leaders create experiences that boost motivation, engagement, and performance