You might think about letting your supervisor know that you are not satisfied with the outcome of your discussions and believe that the vice president should be brought into the discussion.

If you are concerned about your intentions, such an open approach to going over someone’s head is a good test!

Better, give me a call. No charge. Let’s take just half an hour of your time and talk through the issues.

- Karl

A friend of mine role-played what I would say. Sounds geeky, but it helped. At the end of our five minutes or so, she commented that I needed to know what my goal was for that situation.

I’m not planning on leaving my job, but that doesn’t make the situation any less tough at times. In fact, it leaves me feeling powerless–though a generic sense of empowerment is probably not a good outcome to seek from a meeting with the vice president. And if I’m just honoring my own feelings to “be heard” I have to wonder if I’m not being a bit self-indulgent at best. Or wasting the vice president’s time at worst.

This is a timely series for me!