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The Leadership Advantage: How Town Halls Strengthen Teams & Trust

Why Town Halls Matter

A town hall isn’t just a meeting—it’s an opportunity to reinforce company culture, provide clarity, and engage employees at every level. When done well, it can transform how a team feels about leadership and the organization’s direction.

Key Takeaways:

Strengthens trust and credibility between leadership and employees
Aligns the team with company goals and values
Creates a space for real dialogue and employee feedback
Helps prevent confusion and workplace rumors before they spread

The Power of Communication in Leadership

Leaders who communicate effectively create teams that are more engaged, productive, and invested in the company’s success. But communication isn’t just about talking—it’s about listening, too.

Ways to Strengthen Your Leadership Communication:

Make your message clear, direct, and consistent
Create opportunities for employees to ask questions and share concerns
Use storytelling to make complex ideas more relatable
Reinforce the company’s mission and vision regularly, not just at big meetings

What You Can Expect from a Well-Run Town Hall

A town hall isn’t about checking a box—it’s about creating a meaningful experience for your employees. When done right, the impact is tangible.

Signs of a Successful Town Hall:

Employees leave with a stronger sense of clarity and direction
Engagement levels increase because employees feel heard and valued
Alignment improves between leadership and teams, reducing silos
Transparency increases, leading to a more open and accountable culture

Best Practices for Running an Effective Town Hall

It’s not just what you say—it’s how you structure the conversation that makes all the difference. Here’s how to maximize impact:

Practical Steps to Improve Your Next Town Hall:

Keep the agenda focused and intentional—don’t overload it with updates
Have senior leadership present and actively engaged in the discussion
Make it interactive—allow Q&A, polls, or breakout discussions
Follow up after the meeting with key takeaways and action items

Final Thoughts

Communication is the foundation of strong leadership, and town halls are one of the most effective tools to bring teams together. If you’re not using them strategically, you’re missing an opportunity to build trust, clarity, and engagement.
How are you using communication to strengthen your leadership? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please connect with me to discuss strategies for making your next town hall more impactful.
Whether you’re seeking executive coaching, strategic business consulting, leadership retreat facilitation, or a dynamic town hall host, I’m here to help.
Reach out today—I’d love to discuss how we can work together. Phone: 604-616-1967 | Email: jenny@jennyreilly.com

March 4, 2025/by Jenny Reilly

Events, On the Blog, Professional Development

How Well Have You and Your Company Adapted in 2020?

Being Adaptable is Critical

2020 has proven how adaptable we are; despite a global pandemic, we have had to work out ways to be better and do better. We have been confronted with continual challenges over the past nine months, situations and problems that we did not have the answers to, or possibly even professional competence to navigate the depth of the unknown.

Has your company adapted well?

Have you thrived during this time of uncertainty?

Have you been stressed, overwhelmed and challenged in thinking creatively and innovatively in dealing with new scenarios?

Why Is It Important to Be Adaptable?

Being adaptable to change is a crucial behaviour that you need to focus on to succeed in business. Being able to adapt helps us adjust to the evolving conditions and function when we are in discomfort, change, or conflict. For many, working during the pandemic has opened us up to new opportunities; we have had to strengthen our ability to adapt and do so overnight.

Resilience, Humility and Adaptability

During this period, leaders who are thriving have come through strongly as they have shown resilience, humility, and the ability to be adaptable while under a great deal of pressure. They have taken on a new way of working, communicating, improvising off old practices and habits, and developing skills needed to be honed to work in this new environment.

Adapted

Exponential Leadership Growth

I have seen exponential leadership growth as individuals have taken a step into the unfamiliar, engaged with their clients and employees in an entirely different way and been focused on adapting and leveraging their businesses. Leaders have been purposeful in their communication, ensured it is timely, consistent and action moving forward is transparent. Leaders have had to let go of plans and goals that are no longer relevant and be open to pivoting quickly, with intent and openness to the unexpected. They have to focus on doing and being better in their leadership position, ensuring those around them are informed of changes and are comfortable with discomfort.

Leaders Story

‘I shared my leadership vulnerabilities with my team, and I was honest about where we stood in the business, what we had to change quickly to plug our hemorrhaging costs and the support I needed from them. This conversation was one that I feared; however, it ended up being the best one I have ever had with my team. Honest dialogue in a difficult time was needed, and my team understood that we had to innovate fast and work in a completely different way to get through COVID.’

Adaptable Work Space

Meeting Tips to Encourage Being Adaptable

To be adaptive, we need to be curious and ask questions. Whether you are used to doing a morning huddle and have moved to a virtual daily meeting or have maintained weekly team meetings, I encourage you to practice the following:

-when an idea is presented, ask why it is important

-when an assumption is provided, ask for the data to back it up and analyze deeply

-be curious, flexible and open to different perspectives, and ask questions

-be willing to make decisions fast and pivot as necessary

-encourage open dialogue, be honest if you have concerns and transparent if there are issues that you foresee

-be open-minded to a new or alternate way of doing things

-draw on your grayscale or integrative thinking mindset to help you be more innovative and figure out ways around roadblocks

-increase your risk tolerance level, don’t shy away from failure to achieve a win or success, and

-stay focused on what is important and believe that you will succeed

Professional Development

Being adaptable enables us to see new approaches to the way we do business and will open up business models that we may not have considered previously, such as remote work practices or hybrid models as our new norm. We need to be open to new mental modes in business and invest in the professional development needed to thrive in this new time. A focus on employee development in digital, emotional, social, problem-solving, resilience and adaptability skills should be a focus.

Adapted work

What professional development areas will you be focusing on in 2021?

If you are interested in learning about professional development or executive coaching options for your leadership or team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

December 1, 2020/by Jenny Reilly

Events

Leaders Watched Globally and Evaluated – the US Presidential Election

The US Presidential Election

Were you like me last night, glued to the votes rolling in for Biden and Trump? Nerve-racking, shocking, depressing… should I go on about the US Presidential Election. This morning at dawn, TV back on for an update?

This process has been fascinating to watch. We have witnessed leadership attributes, many questionable against what we as a society deem as qualities of a good leader.

There is extensive leadership theory to draw upon, in addition to one’s own leadership experiences, working with, or evaluating from afar what we deem as positive or negative leadership characteristics.

US Presidential Election

Leader Characteristics

You may agree or disagree with the following characteristics; however, bear with me:

CHARACTERISTICS OF A POOR LEADER	CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LEADER
An individual acting only in their interest Bulling and belittling Continually interrupting Ego driven Evoking violence and racism Fabricating and lying Going off on unfounded tangents Incompetent Ridiculing, demeaning and abusing Scandalous	Credible and competent Demonstrates integrity Empathetic Excellent communicator Honest, transparent and trustworthy Innovative with a focus on continuous learning and improvement Positive influence with the aim of making a positive impact Respectful Self-Aware Value-driven, with a compelling ‘why’

Even though we are living through a global pandemic, global warming, increasing terrorism, natural resource scarcity, and an imploding economy – the ridiculousness of some of the leadership antics watched leading up to the election captured more of the spotlight.

Leadership Context

Although leadership context changes over time, fundamentally, specific practices, actions, and behaviours remain essentially the same that demonstrate healthy and robust leadership practices. I believe an exceptional leader ‘walks the talk’ and leads by example. They can articulate their ‘why’ and promote a shared vision. Leaders acknowledge that the journey is one of continuous learning, and they endeavour to do better and be better. Engaging and motivating leaders encourage individuals to step up, not be frightened of failure and persevere.