Fired yesterday now tricky boss wants 2 hour meeting!

[NotMyDust]

Very badly managed project, no busonness plan, unclear goals,anager has fallen out with a lot of people. Previous post holder walked out, his targets transferred on to me with no real handover process, losing money fast, so yesterday I was called on to. a meeting with the CEO and my line manager and "let go". I made it easy for them as the writing was in the wall for a while and I've been applying for new jobs right left and cente.

BUT line manager now wants a 2 hour meeting this morning! juat handover stuff officially I guess which part of me cba to do after being treated so badly, but otoh I am a decent human being and like to be professional.

However she has said some pretty horrid/immature stuff to me in the past eg I give her a negative feeling every time she sees me.

Please can i have some tips for how to deal with this, what to say, boundaries etc? ideally I would channel Michelle Obama rather than pissed off teenager (which is secretly how I could be triggered after everything she's put me through) .
thanks

Keep your head high. Be polite but businesslike. Have a few phrases in your back pocket to deal with any rude or inappropriate remarks. If things get bad, say something like I don’t think this meeting is getting us anywhere, let’s leave it for now and leave

Excellent advice; all I'd add, from the sound of the place, is to actually be quite relieved you're going

I've just seen it's a 2 hour meeting! WTAF?!

They'd be getting 30 minutes of my time in an agenda'd meeting and that would be me being very generous.

I certainly would not meet up with her unless there was another person present. Would it not be possible to use somebody else at the company for a reference. I don't see why you should be put in this awkward position where she has the upper hand.

Yes, write your own plan or agenda for the meeting. What information would be helpful for them, what do you reasonably need to share, what is company information, etc. You'll feel calmer if you have a structure and you can proactively suggest this at the start of the meeting - "I've prepared a handover document and some notes - would it be helpful for us to use that as a conversation guide for this meeting?" Then you can talk through your doc, email it over after and you seem helpful and professional and can hold your head up high and wash your hands of the whole thing.

She’s still employed by them for a month

Agree to do a 30 minute handover, next week at a time that suits you, on the condition that they sign the glowing reference that you will write for yourself.

This gives you time to compose yourself after what's happened, leave on a better note and have something to take to future employment prospects.

If they don't agree, don't do it.

I would definitely ask for someone else to be present if you do accept the meeting invite.

Don't give a comprehensive handover. Leave out small, but key details, which means they'll trip up in the future and it'll lead to problems for them 😉

As to worrying about references - some companies/people just won't give them as a principle.

Do you have former employers/work management that will?

I would not be meeting without my reference first.
Even if it's just NotMyDust started on xxx and finished on xxx. That is a standard reference.

If they are going to write they dismissed you I would not do a handover.

I suspect this happened with previous person, too. Don't be made a mug out of by doing the handover.
The 1 mth notice is likely contractual and not the kindness of their hear.

So, you can say that your predecessor never left information about that.

That's another excellent "stock phrase" for you to rely on OP.
It's so good I'd be tempted to use it as the fall-back "Broken Record" technique. Just intone it dully in answer to every question ...

"As I told you when this project landed on my after XYZ walked out, they left no information about that.
I know Sandra, but when this project was pushed onto my desk it had no business plan, so I have no information about that.
Yes, I can understand your frustration Sandra, it's hard being given a project with no written goals or formal handover, with no information from your predecessor."

If you don’t get an agenda, you set it, or at least have a list of things you want to talk about. That way you won’t get sidetracked, and you get to discuss what you want to discuss. If you’re still technically employed by them you also need to set the expectation that you will not be available for queries over the next month otherwise you’ll have the buggers phoning and emailing you every 5 minutes, so at the end say something professional like, ‘Thank you for your time. I’m glad we have closed everything off and wish you and the organisation well in the future’.

1st thing i would be stating is that you are recording the meeting. No way would i go into a meeting with someone who has made me redundant with 1 months notice (They havent sacked you) without having everything documented/recorded.

Next thing i would state is you require a copy of the meeting agenda so that you can prepare appropriately for the meeting. State you are happy to receive this by email

Finally ask them to rearrange the meeting with enough notice that you can prepare the answers professionally.

None of the above is anything other than being professional.

Loads of good advice above..

I'd just try to be a bit "grey rock". If it veers to anything other than the handover,
"I'd rather keep this professional and focus on an effective handover"...

Sounds like you're well out of it. Good luck with the job hunt.

As many other people have stated DO NOT go to the meeting.

Instead write up a brief document.

Don't put your name on the document so no-one can link you to it ever again.

Why?
-The meeting will likely be recorded as you can record meetings on teams
-You owe them a handover but it doesn't have to be verbal
-You don't want your name linked to a failed project forever

@Sparkletastic That's great advice

I don't think if a company pays you for an extra month you're beholden to them in any way if they've got rid of you.

My company paid me for an extra month but also let me leave early too. I didn't badmouth the company and interviewed a lot but I did mention in interviews what didn't work re them (appalling handover, induction, very little training all latter done WFH) as I felt I needed to know what 'would' work for me going forward. It helped as it got me a job.

Agree with others, ask for an agenda beforehand, and also say: "You don't mind me recording this meeting, do you? Just so I can review it again in case we miss anything that needs to be handed over."

I would simply answer the questions, factually and simply. Never going further detail than asked.

To answer your questions OP rather than give unhelpful advise on not bothering to engage, charging consultancy rates etc I would suggest you ask for meeting to be moved to a later date, when you are not tired, stressed and raw from being fired the day before.

I would also push back on manager and ask for the meeting to be postponed and in the interim can she prepare and send you the agenda of what is to be discussed and what they need handover on so you can prepare. I would then only discuss what she puts on the agenda using your notes to help support you and avoid you going off piste or saying something you don't want to.
I would then in the interim make bullet point notes of what you need to say for the handover and stick with that. A free for all meeting with no prep is a recipie for disaster if you both trigger each other.

Good luck OP and well down for remaining professional. It's easy for posters who haven't been in senior positions or aren't going through what you are to give childish advise on refusing to engage, charge extortionate consultancy rates to handover etc and not be the better person but in business that is what you have to do if you don't want to tarnish your reputation.

I was in a similar position to you many years ago. I was cooperative and polite throughout the months notice. Looking back, I wish I had been more bolshie and made things more difficult for them then I did.

I'd suggest you try to just reply to direct questions and don't advance much off your own bat. For example, if they say 'So, this thing' and look at you expectantly, you say 'Yes. What would you like to cover?' Make them do the work, it is their meeting after all. And at the end, do not tell them to contact you if they have any issues.

Tell them two hours is too long and ask for three half hour meetings with time between for you to gather and send documents discussed at each meeting.

If the first one is horrible, don't bother with the rest!

Hi Op. If it is on Teams I would switch the screen off so it is audio only. I would ask for a guide on questions in advance. I would follow up with written answers so they cannot further blame you when things go wrong.

Your manager and CEO have ‘let you go’ but your manager wants you to spend 2 hrs talking her through the project?

Why does she/he need you to do that? Do they not know where it’s up to? What it’s about?

IF you decide to go ahead you could say very little and answer questions in a roundabout, non- specific way.

Manager: ‘Talk me through the process’
You: ‘If you look at the files in 1,2,3, you will find all of the documents relating to XYZ’

Manager: ‘Talk me through what has been done so far’
You: ‘If you look at the files in 1,2,3, you will find all of the documents relating to XYZ’

They can do without you apparently.
It would be generous of you to point them in the right direction - they can read up on it themselves. I certainly wouldn’t be ‘talking them through’ anything.