Holding the Boss Accountable

You don't ask, you don't get, I said to myself shortly before knocking on the door of the Head of Department (HOD).

I went in to his room, took the seat diagonal to him, smiled and said I just wanted to check with him whether there's any update for the job title change he talked to me about some weeks ago. "It's now end of March, and we said the change will happen before 1st April," I added.

He wasn't completely pleased -- I could see the tension on his face, but as he talked on, I nodded and made friendly polite acknowledgments -- small words like: yes, I understand, sure, clear, and so on.

They're making drastic organisational changes, he told me, and it's in the final stages of management approval. It'll be completed in the next two weeks. Sure, I thought, what's another two weeks. And then, he couldn't resist launching into another one of his we-receive-but-we-must-deliver mini lectures, during which I sat obediently and listened earnestly.

Some things in life are quite unnerving -- interviews, public speaking, holding your boss accountable. But fortune favours the brave, and more often than not, action is far better than inaction. You don't try, you'll never get.