Quarterly Rituals & Learnings from Q1 Town Hall

This post originally appeared in my weekly newsletter, BL&T (Borrowed, Learned, & Thought). Subscribe

Borrowed

“Nothing affects the learning culture of an organization more than the skill with which its executive team receives feedback.”

From "Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well" by Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen [Book]

Learned

Last Monday, we held our first Town Hall of the year. These meetings are an open forum—an opportunity for the team to ask questions and clarify anything on their minds. The team can submit questions via our anonymous feedback form or come prepared with topics.

In preparation, I shared results from our Q12 survey, focus areas for the quarter, and the latest profit share numbers. I covered these topics as part of my Friday update email—now 20 weeks in—a rhythm that helps me step back each week, highlight key updates, and keep an open line of communication with the team.

Here are some highlights from my email:

Q12 Results

Our Q4 survey showed positive progress in team connection and collaboration. We’ve made a concerted effort to make time together—whether in meetings or project work—more meaningful, so it’s great to see that reflected.

One area that stood out: how people feel about career growth and connection to the company’s purpose. As we continue building and growing as an agency, it’s important that everyone's personal development aligns with our momentum. Q4 responses showed a dip here, which signals something to focus on.

Profit Share & Financials

Revenue declined last year as a couple of large clients brought work in-house and another reduced spend due to budget cuts. Despite this, our gross profit remained fairly steady—a testament to the team’s efforts to drive value through new products and services while continuously improving how we work. While our profit share pool was smaller, it reflected a positive shift in how we operate—working smarter, staying disciplined, and setting ourselves up for a strong future. There’s plenty of opportunity ahead, but we’re moving in the right direction.

Town Hall Reflection

This quarter’s Town Hall started slow. My goal with the pre-read email was to give everyone time to digest the information and come prepared for discussion. But I’ve learned that a thorough pre-send can sometimes have the reverse effect—lower engagement. When everything is laid out clearly, there are naturally fewer gaps and, on the surface, fewer questions. That’s what happened here.

With no one raising questions, our Design Director, Christine, suggested I walk through the priorities I had shared in the Friday update. I assumed everyone had read them and that this was unnecessary, but she was right—hearing it out loud helped get the conversation going. As I walked through our priorities, I touched on automation, which soon led to a discussion on AI that took up most of the session.

Looking ahead, I’m rethinking the format. In the past, we leaned heavily on structured presentations, then swung in the opposite direction, keeping things entirely open-ended with all information shared beforehand. There’s probably a better middle ground.

I like the open format, but maybe a short recap upfront or a prompt to kick things off—something to set the tone—would make the discussion more engaging. I'm looking forward to experimenting a bit next quarter.

System for Quarterly Reflection & Feedback

For those curious, we follow a structured process each quarter to create space for team reflection and shape our priorities. Here’s how it works:

Week 1 of New Quarter: Send Q12 survey
Week 2: Quarterly Debrief (during all-hands, Tuesday Meetup)
- Includes long-term contractors
Week 3: Team Leads Planning Session
- Review takeaways from the team debrief, among other topics
- Outcome: Clear priorities and next actions for the quarter
Week 4: Town Hall pre-read (Friday Update email)
- Q12 survey results and takeaways
- Focus areas for the new quarter (from Team Leads session)
- In Q1, this includes profit share results
Week 1 of Month 2 in Quarter: Town Hall
- 30-minute Q&A and discussion

Having a structure in place has been helpful, but we learn something new each time. I don’t see this as static—we’ll keep refining it to ensure it’s as valuable as possible for the team and our goals. Shout out to our People Ops Manager, Allison, for facilitating these steps and keeping us on track.