Situation -

I was recently entrusted with the task of leading our podcast CLARITEA due to an unforeseen attrition in the organization. The next episode of the podcast was only three days away and I was in a quandary because the studio had not confirmed a slot for the upcoming recording yet. 

Until then, all the episodes of CLARITEA were recorded only at the 2 studios which were pre-selected by the production team. Not knowing what to do because neither studio had responded with a positive response, I was out in the cold. 

Time was running out so I decided to take the matter into my own hands by heading out to the studio hoping to meet the manager and sort out the slots. Fortunately in Studio 1, I met the manager and I was able to negotiate a tentative time slot subject to cancellation. Feeling a little bit more relieved, I returned to my office keeping my fingers crossed because our podcast guests were informed to meet us for the recording as though I already had confirmation from the studio. By the end of the day, my tension was eased, when the studio manager said there was a cancellation and I could bring the guests as previously fixed. 

Confessions -

Did the studio manager not pick up my calls because he was too busy dealing with other issues?

Assumptions - 

Maybe the manager was too busy dealing with other issues and was indifferent to my calls as our work wasn’t important to them or because it wasn’t the need of the hour for him and his team.

Reflection - 

We took their responsiveness and availability for granted as both podcast studios have always picked up our calls, even at the last moment and accommodated our booking requests immediately. Moreover, we did run the risk of not having a studio which would result in this episode not taking place.  However, this experience did teach us to spread our wings, have an array of options available at our disposal and schedule studio bookings well in advance.