This Town Hall Was Proudly Sponsored by [REDACTED]

Reports from The Resistance Journal Entry #323

We gathered, as we always do, under the soft glow of ring lights and the distant hum of Teams notifications. Cameras on. Microphones off. Spirits… mixed.

The agenda promised “transparency,” “alignment,” and “an open dialogue.” What we got was 45 minutes of leadership karaoke over last quarter’s talking points, followed by a carefully curated Q&A where no actual questions were answered.

And yet—somehow—we left feeling… hydrated. Not with truth, of course, but with something sweeter. Thicker. Artificially flavored.

We drank the Kool-Aid.

Flavor Profile: Executive Berry™

It started with a slide that said, “Change Is a Journey,” in a font large enough to be seen from the next county and vague enough for the strategically indifferent.

The CEO beamed in from what we assume was either a private jet or a very shiny conference room. “We’re excited about where we’re headed,” he said, without explaining where that was. The crowd nodded, as one does in captivity. The chat was already filling with “👏👏👏” emojis before he finished.

One team member accidentally hit the ‘laughing face’ and hasn’t been seen since.

Local Ingredients, Global Messaging

Next came the department leads. Each one stepped forward like contestants in a pageant of plausible deniability:

• "Our workstream is building toward success.”
• “We’ve heard the feedback and we’re committed to action.”
• “We’re moving fast, but thoughtfully.”

Translation: “No one knows what’s going on, but we’ve been told to sound calm.”

Q&A: Staged Reading

The live Q&A began with a screen that read, “We’ve selected a few of your many great questions.” Ah yes, the classics:

• “What excites you most about this transformation?”
• “How can we help support this vision?”
• “What’s your favorite flavor of synergy?”

Actual concerns—about workload, uncertainty, and conflicting priorities—didn’t make the cut. Possibly because they weren’t phrased as gratitude.

One brave soul asked for clarification in the chat and was answered with a link to a SharePoint folder.

Inside: an Excel file last modified in 2022.

Final Slide: Hope Is Not a Plan

The session ended, as always, with a call to unity: “We’re all in this together.” The chat exploded with polite clapping emojis and a single brave thumbs-down. It was quickly deleted.

We left the meeting… exhausted. Not from the information, but from the performance of information.

Another meeting that looked like communication but wasn't.

What To Do Instead

Town halls could be different.
They could be real.

Here’s what a human-centered, post-Kool-Aid town hall might look like:

1. Ditch the Script.

Leadership shouldn’t recite the press release.
They should speak plainly about what’s hard, what’s unknown, and what’s changing.
People already sense the truth—faking optimism just creates distrust.

2. Open the Mic.

If you're going to have a Q&A, take real-time questions. Don’t just preselect the safe ones.
And if a question stings? Say so. Then answer it anyway. That’s leadership.

3. Acknowledge the Cost.

Every initiative has a cost—workload, ambiguity, anxiety.
If leaders name those out loud, people are more likely to stay engaged rather than tune out.

4. Use Specifics.

“Alignment” means nothing unless you tell me what’s aligning, where, and when.
Replace strategy-speak with: timelines, impacts, decisions made, and decisions still to be made.

5. Follow Through.

If you say “more to come,” there better be more to come.
Otherwise, you’re not building trust—you’re burning it.

Final Thought

Town halls don’t need to be showbiz.
They need to be real. Messy. Two-way. Human.

Yes, it’s tempting to reach for the Kool-Aid. It’s sweet, it’s safe, it makes you feel like progress is happening.

But some of us? We’ve built up a tolerance.

We show up with our own mugs.
We’re here for the hard stuff.
We’re thirsty for truth—and it tastes better unflavored.

ChangeGuild: Power to the Practitioner™

Recommended Reading

If you enjoyed this article, you might also find these helpful:

Nothing Travels Faster Than Gossip in a Reorg

In every organization, there are two communication plans: the one you draft... and the one whispered over coffee before the deck even loads. Guess which one works faster.

ChangeGuildDan Olson

Special Report: The Stakeholders Have Opinions

Buy-in is a beautiful concept. So is Bigfoot. You’ll hear stories, but rarely see proof. Everything was going according to plan until the stakeholders saw the plan. Then it turned into group therapy with office chairs.

ChangeGuildDan Olson