I have been asked to advise our senior leadership on structure and process for holding an employee forum or "town meeting". Objectives are to foster 2-way communcation for staff, create more visibility for senior leadership team, and create candid and transparent vehicle for sharing information related to "state of the organization," including economic downturn and financial health/status. We are a regional medical center, audience is both clinical and non-clinical staff, and possibly physicians. With 1400 employees, am imagining we'd have to hold multiple sessions to cover shifts. I'm seeking tips or suggestions for measuring success (our senior leaders have only committed to doing one as a pilot to see how it goes).

Shaw2728,

Over the years I have adopted a policy around "pilots" that simply says...if it is easy to get into and out of fine...otherwise be very careful.

Why? Because, even with the best of intentions, we start something new...set unrealistic expectations, don't get what we want right away, can the program.....then wonder why employees don't take new initiatives seriously.

I suspect that before I dipped my toes in that water I would want to do a thorough review and assessment of what is already in place. If what is in place IS NOT working, find out why. If what is in place IS working, find out why and make it even better.

A small course correction can make a huge difference downstream.

Well, first define what your measure of 'success' is going to be. Is it that people "like" having a town hall meeting? Is it that someething concrete and actionable comes out of the meeting and gets implemented?

The objective of the meeting and criteria for success would seem to be what would drive its format, content, and tools.

If the intent is to have a facilitated meeting that produces actionable outcomes, I suggest you read The GE Workout by Ulrich, Kerr, and Ashkenas.

If it's supposed to just be social and "community building" then that's a totally different format, tenor, and agenda and it would make sense to have a formal presentation, a structured Q&A, and then informal, social time.

So, first define what this is supposed to be and accomplish, then go from there.

I can almost guarantee that one townhall meeting is not going to create senior leadership team visibility, provide a vehicle for 2-way communication, etc.

Think of it this way: the town hall meeting is just a tool. It's like you saying to me "I want to take this sputtering old clunker of a car and make it purr like a finely tuned machine" and I give you a crescent wrench. Will that tool do the job? Probably not but it will depend upon your skill set and what is wrong with the car. The crescent wrench isn't magic--it is only relevant for some problems (not most) and in the hands of an unskilled mechanic might actually do harm.

Measure of success for this town hall pilot: I suggest you ask senior management "at the end of the session, how will you know if it's been a success?" If they say something like "transparent 2-way communication" then try to avoid laughing and ask "so how would you know if transparent 2-way communication has occurred in the meeting?" The point I'm making is that there are realistically, 3 ways to evaluate the success of this pilot:
1. Process evaluations (which aren't that helpful but are still considerations). Stuff like: starting and ending on time, number of people who asked questions, consistency with the format and so on.
2. Political evaluations (what the senior leaders say--how they evaluate success at the end of the meeting?). This would probably involve stuff like: no ugly scenes and senior management felt "good" after it was over.
3. Limited tangible objectives. Participant clarity around specific information covered in the town hall session (such as: financial status for first two quarters of 2009).

The problem with some of the objectives you've been given is that the town hall meeting isn't magic: you can do a great job in the town hall meeting but if other actions in the company sabotage those results, people will NOT feel there is 2-way communication or there is honesty and clarity around layoffs and financials.

Last of all, organizations all the time jump on techniques or fads or approaches because they think it's a great solution. Dumb idea. I personally like the idea of town hall meetings. But don't expect it to solve anything unless you have data (not opinions, not anecdotal stories, not a few complaints, not management opinions) that there is something unique to a town hall meeting (as opposed to a senior executive video, or a company-wide memo or open-book management or speaking to the media, or having team leaders brief people) that addresses this problem. Otherwise, it's just an intervention in search of a problem.

Although unaware of specifics, perhaps you should look into a Future Search Conference
Started by Weisbrod and Janoff . It works.

Nero Wolfe