So, My CEO is Talking with Me. . .

You volunteered. You are in the camp of management, so you are safe provided you don’t express negative feelings about the past, present or future. Just continue to be optimistic about the program and come across as excited to get it implemented. If it sounds like you signed up to be a cheerleader for this new thing, you do. This isn’t a bad thing unless you entirely hate doing it. All of these programs eventually go away, and they go back to what they were doing before until someone else in management decides to do this all over again. Sometimes it’s about cost, project management methods, internal communications, quality, etc.

Find who the key “Change Agent” is for this new initiative and make sure you are in sync with him or her, and you’ll be fine. Hopefully that’s a person higher up in the company than you, or will be, and this helps you get to know them better so when it’s time to make choices about who to keep during a layoff. “I remember, purplehorseshoe, good worker keep this one…”. Or “Who would be good to promote from within for this job? purplehorseshoe would be good, their contributions on the new initiative were positive.”