A short meeting.
I planned to show no emotion, ask very few questions and generally be quite vague. The company have started this process and at this point are in full control. I hoped that they explain their plans and reasoning clearly, and I can always comment later. They are dictating the games that we’re about to play and to some extent, the rules. My advice was to listen, not ‘give anything away’ and generally get an idea to the playing field.
So that was my approach. My manager did 95% of the talking (actually mainly bumbling), I only said.
‘Hi’
‘Yes’
‘You’re breaking up a little’ (we were using Zoom)
‘OK’
‘This has come out of the blue, so I need to take in what you’ve just told me and get back to you with any questions’
‘As I said, I need to take in what you’ve just told me, and I’ll get back to you’.
‘OK’
‘Nope, I need to take this all in, and I’ll get back to you.’
‘OK’
‘Bye’
In between the above vagueness, my manager, stuttered, stumbled and generally looked like it was as uncomfortable for her as it was for me.
