HR-Team Discussions

What are town hall discussions between HR Managers and teams they work with meant to accomplish?

Visualize a HR Manager having a discussion with a team of around 15-20 employees. What should be the content of the discussion? Who all should be there? What should be the decision making process during such discussions?

Here are a few thoughts:

• I frequently hear that it helps line function to get an independent point of view on health of HR processes in a team. This is the reason why HR Managers usually meet teams without representation from the line hierarchy. But at the end of day, implementation would have to be done by line function. Hence it is necessary that all relevant people are present in the room. Until and unless it is an exigency (e.g.- a complaint against the boss needs to be investigated), the team should always be met along with their reporting manager. The reporting manager has implementation authority when it comes to his team, and any solution proposed which does not having his buy-in would not work.
• There might be situations when reporting manager or other key stakeholders are not in the room. In such situations it is necessary that all stakeholders are talked to before a conclusion is formed on any issue. So when points are raised by team about important stakeholders not present in the room, the HR Manager should mention something like ‘I’ve heard what you guys have to say on this issue. I would further talk to XYZ person to understand his take on the issue. I would get back to you on the way ahead by around this time.’
• Such forums can be used to discuss in detail certain key HR initiatives/processes being focused on in the year and get the team’s buy-in for implementation at the local level. Hence it is necessary that HR Manager is clear about initiatives/processes he would discuss and what outcomes he would aim for in the meeting.
• Such forums are a place to explore health of HR processes in team. This is not easy to evaluate. For any HR process there are 2 levels of evaluation. First, has process being executed in letter? E.g – have goal setting, mid term reviews, and end term reviews happened for each team member? Second, has the process being executed in spirit? This is where an exploration of how the conversation in each part of the process was would help. The objective at this second level is around – was that particular conversation effective in meeting objectives of the process?
• Such forums also provide an opportunity to understand intra-team dynamics. Is this team effective? How are the relations within the team? Again the unit of observation and analysis would be conversations within the team.
• It is important that clarifications on road ahead are made. Whatever can be committed to should be committed to right away. A note to all stakeholders who were not present in the room should be sent. The objective is to ensure these stakeholders also understand what behaviors they might need to change or what the team expects from them.
• There is a possibility that a HR Manager comes across a team which acts powerless or doesn’t take ownership for issues it faces. The primary objective of the discussion in such meetings would be to make the team members aware of the dysfunctional role they are playing and egg them on take ownership to resolve the issues they want resolution to.

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Sourav