Waiting until after termination is like calling a lawyer after signing an unfavourable contract or a release, writes Howard Levitt. Photo by Getty Images/iStockphoto

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The most important conversation in a negotiation is the one you never hear. It’s not the exchange across the boardroom table. It’s not the carefully crafted presentation. And it is not the final offer.

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It is what happens after you leave the room.

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The door closes.

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Someone says, “I like her.”

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Someone else replies, “I don’t trust her.”

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A third person says, “If we drag this out another month, they’ll fold.”

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Or perhaps, “We’re going to lose this employee if we don’t settle today.”

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None of those comments appear in the minutes. None are said to your face. Yet they often determine the outcome long before the next meeting is scheduled.

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Most executives believe that they will know when their job is in jeopardy.

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They imagine that there will be warning signs: a poor performance review, a confrontation with the CEO, a reprimand from the board, declining results. Indications that things are not going well. Something obvious.

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Usually, there are none.

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Instead, it begins with a conversation you were never invited to, possibly after a conversation you were involved in.

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A board member asks whether the company needs a different kind of leadership for its next phase. A CEO wonders aloud whether a new perspective might help. An HR executive is asked to quietly review an employment agreement. An executive recruiter receives a discreet phone call.

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None of these conversations involve the executive whose future is being discussed.

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After more than four decades negotiating employment disputes, I have learned that deals are rarely won because of the perfect legal argument. They are won because you shaped the conversation that took place before you were gone.

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One thing I have observed with remarkable consistency is that by the time an executive calls me after being terminated, the most important decisions have already been made, weeks or even months earlier.

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The legal issues remain. I can negotiate severance, protect reputation, enforce contractual rights and, where appropriate, litigate.

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But the opportunity to influence the decision has already passed.

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That is unfortunate because corporate decisions are rarely as final as they initially appear.

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Boards change their minds. CEOs reconsider. Roles are redefined. Departures can become transitions. Timelines can be extended. Dignified exits can be negotiated instead of abrupt dismissals.

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But those possibilities exist only while decisions are still evolving.

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Most executives do not appreciate how quickly the internal narrative can shift.

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Yesterday’s indispensable leader becomes today’s obstacle to transformation. The executive who successfully guided the business through one challenge is suddenly viewed as the wrong person for the next.

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Sometimes the reasons are legitimate. Sometimes they are political. Usually they are a combination of both.