7 BIG Mistakes the BIG boss makes in town hall meetings

The memo from HR is out.

The next town hall meeting with the big boss will be on Friday 3pm.

Everyone either reacts with “What now?!” or “Wow! Great!” The exact response depends on how well the previous meetings went.

This is the rare opportunity for the Big Boss to face the whole team, a chance to connect, convince, and inspire. The occasion to cement the position as the leader in command, to deepen trust, and invigorate the team into taking inspired action. Still, many well-meaning leaders screw this up, often without knowing it. This is when team members drag their feet to yet another town hall meeting.

Here are the seven blunders many big bosses make in town hall meetings (and a reference for the rest).

1. Not knowing the pulse of the people

The Big Boss arrives to address the team without having a clue what the team wants to hear. Probably, no sincere attempt was made to understand the mood of the team. One good practice is to have question boxes placed around the office for anyone to drop in his or her questions and concerns, well in advance. This makes the town hall meeting inclusive, participative, and relevant.

It also allows the team to anonymously ask difficult questions without fear of reprisal.

2. Not being congruent and sincere

What the Big Boss says and conveys are not congruent. The words, voice, or manner don’t convey sincerity and conviction. Often the Big Boss doesn’t realize it. The team is smarter than any individual, spots the gaps and goes for a nap with eyes wide open.

Respect is reciprocal.

3. Ignoring the Elephant in the room

The Big Boss opts to avoid the difficult topics and tough conversations. They consciously avoid addressing important topics or sidestep answering uncomfortable questions from the team.

The real meeting starts soon, behind the scenes, when the team discusses the futility of these meetings or feel cheated!

Here’s an alternative example. During one of my consulting assignments, I was at a large MNC where a team of 800 people had a recent change in command. The ex-boss was kind, gentle, and easy to work with. Rumors circulated that the new boss was a terminator and looked like one too. The team members were uncomfortable with this unexpected change of command. The new boss called a town hall meeting with three weeks advance notification. Question boxes were placed across the office building for team members to drop-in their questions anonymously. Out of curiosity, I wrote a question and dropped it in the box, “We hear you are the Terminator and you shoot from the hip.”

I didn’t get to attend the town hall. I heard later that the question boxes fetched hundreds of questions. From the massive list of questions, the very first question the new boss chose to answer was the one above. It had a positive impact. He connected with the team, made them laugh, and deepened trust. Later, people also raved about his great speaking skills.

4. Not having robust public speaking and storytelling skills

The Big Boss who doesn’t realize the importance of speaking like a leader. Speaking and corporate storytelling is the hallmark of leaders. It helps them to emotionally engage their team to take inspired action. When this skill is not mastered, town hall meetings become meaningless and pointless pep talks. Many big bosses are all over the place or all over their scribbled notes. This often telegraphs their discomfort and panic. It is often said that people follow those whom they know, like, and trust. Right words, said in the right way, in a succinct manner, builds belief, respect, and trust.

5. Promising the moon

When cornered with a tough question, the Big Boss makes a big promise to get out of the tight spot.

“I will look into it and we will get it fixed.”

Well, it sounds confident and in command. Here is the thing — people remember what you say for much longer than you think. We are judged by who we are and what we project ourselves to be.

Making promises you can’t keep is the easiest way to destroy trust.

I remember attending a community event in Singapore where a senior cabinet minister was the guest of honor. A group, comprising of a minority community, publicly requested the minister to include their mother tongue as an optional language in the school curriculum. This request was followed by a loud round of applause. The minister listened intently and replied, “There are already four official languages. We would argue the need for a fifth. No promises, but we will consider it. No promises!” The use of “no promises” helped to manage expectations and to avoid making an implicit promise not likely to be met.

What if the response was instead influenced by the popular applause? “That’s a great idea. I fully support it and will do everything possible to make that happen. Thanks again, great suggestion!” Promising the moon is a quick way to attract instant applause and distant remorse.

6. Jargon-laden B.S. — without getting to the point

The Big Boss goes on dispensing complex phrases and management jargons to make them sound profound. Most people hate this. If you rely on jargon and gobbledygook to spin your position, you are doing yourself a disservice. As Albert Einstein said “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. “

Your team is your corporate family, use the language your people understand. Ability to have a simple, succinct, and structured conversation is essential. In fact, simple words are the most persuasive, unless your aim is to confuse. When you beat around the bush, you are perceived as beating around the truth.

7. Hoarding the truth and deepening distrust

When the Big Boss holds back the truth, it deepens distrust. Being perceived as open, truthful, and sincere is an easier way to build trust with your team.

On a visit to a large company based in Silicon Valley, I was delighted to note something. Every week, the company conducts a meeting with the CEO and top teams that anyemployee can attend. They discuss news, plans, and challenges. Anyone can ask any question. They answer it with the belief that no employee will leak information. I became curious to know why. I was told, “Because we trust our employees.” Well, this could be a benchmark too high for many companies. Still, the question for the Big Boss is, what are you doing to deepen trust?

The real cost of these blunders

There are consequences for these blunders. They can be costly. The CEO of a large telecom company once told me about an incident. A large project the company embarked on failed and resulted in the company losing millions of dollars. The CEO was the person who had to face the press, explain to the board, and convince major investors. That was tough enough for him. He felt worse when he later found out that everybody in his team knew since the beginning that the project would fail. He said, “I was only one who didn’t know about it.”

When you do not maintain open, honest, and sincere lines of communication with your team, your team will be less inclined to tell you the hard truth. That’s where the cost lies. Lack of engagement and lower productivity seems like collateral damage in comparison.

What are your observations attending meetings with corporate leaders? What examples can you share? What are your experiences being the Big Boss? What are some of the best practices you have noticed? Please comment below.

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Manoj Vasudevan is a Next Level Leadership Readiness expert, management consultant, and the World Champion of Public Speaking. He helps executives and entrepreneurs to breakthrough to the Next Level in career and life. Manoj is known for his expertise in simplifying complex topics into practical strategies. He is the CEO ofThought Expressions and holds an MBA from Imperial College, London. His books include the international bestseller Mastering Leadership The Mousetrap Way. He speaks at international conferences, multinational companies, universities, and around the world. As a coach, Manoj has proven track record in personal transformation and breakthroughs. CEOs, Senior Executives, UN Diplomats, Celebrities & Professionals from 27 nationalities have benefited from Manoj’s coaching.To contact the author click here.