Whether or not there’s a job in the offing at the moment, you want everyone to
Climbing that ladder can be easy!
know that you can do the job you are hoping to move into. You are hoping that when your more senior colleague finally moves on, everyone will assume it’s a foregone conclusion that the job’s yours. You’ve seen it happen often enough: everyone can see that the more junior team member is ready-made for the job when it comes up. The closer you can get to that state of affairs, the better.
So how are you going to demonstrate that you can do the job? Essentially by doing it. Always be the first to volunteer if there’s any overflow of work being handed down. Put yourself in line for taking over parts of the job – especially taking over responsibilities. If working out the time sheets is an onerous task for your colleague, offer to learn it from them so you can take it over, or at least do part of it. Volunteer to do your colleague’s research for them when they write reports. Suggest that if you were trained in using the spreadsheet software, you could enter the day-to-day accounts yourself. And, of course, miss no opportunity to step into as much of the job as necessary when the colleague in question is away on business, on holiday or off sick.
Just one word of caution here: don’t get pushy. You’ll make yourself unpopular and that won’t help your chances of success. You don’t want your colleague to think that you are trying to pinch their job. You’re not. You want them to stay there until they’re ready to move on. It’s just that when they do move on, you want to be first in line. Some colleagues will actively encourage you and groom you to take over from them when the time comes, while others will feel threatened and nervous if you show any sign of treading on what they see as their territory.
Don’t break the chain
It doesn’t hurt to groom a replacement for yourself. You don’t want to miss out on a promotion because your boss can’t afford to spare you from the job you’re in now. So make sure it doesn’t happen: show some other capable person how to do your job, ready to step into your shoes as soon as you get the chance to step out of them.
If you’re dealing with a colleague (or maybe even your boss) whose job you want train up for and who is easily threatened, you’ll need to tread carefully:
• Don’t offer to take on too many responsibilities at once. Wait until they have got used to you doing a particular task as a matter of course before adding the next one to your portfolio.
• They won’t feel you’re closing in if you keep emphasizing the gap between the two of you. So point out how, if you take this menial task off their hands, they’ll have more time for the really important stuff. For example, ‘I can see that the report you’re working on is going to be very important to the department. Would you like me to do a bit of running around researching the information for you, so you have more time to invest in the report itself?’
• Don’t do anything behind their back. People who are easily threatened can get paranoid. Suppose you decide you want to learn to operate the spreadsheet software, but you’re worried that they may feel threatened if you let them know this. So you get someone else to teach you. Now imagine your colleague finds out; what will they think? Not only are you trying to learn their job, but you’re trying to do it in secret. So never try this technique – it can backfire horribly.
• If they show any signs of paranoia, tell them what your agenda is. It’s perfectly reasonable, and they’d probably do the same themselves. Maybe they already have their eye on someone else’s job. Make it very clear that you don’t want to replace them until they’re ready to move on and up themselves.
You Can Do Better
As well as learning how to do the job in question, look at ways you could improve on it too. Look for opportunities to do even better than the present incumbent, and make a mental note of them. That way, you can make a good strong impression when you apply for the job, by explaining how you see it developing, and again when you finally step into it.
You’re going to need a strong case and good negotiating skills to get what you want from this meeting. But there’s something else you need on top of this: psychology. The aim is to persuade your boss that they want to give you a pay rise, and the better you handle the human side of the meeting, so to speak, the more likely they are to feel co-operative.
Don't get this stressed!
None of the guidelines for handling the meeting are complex behavioral techniques. It’s simply a matter of acting in a positive and pleasant way, and avoiding anything that will put your boss’s back up. The result will be a strong, clear and well-presented case for a rise (or whatever else you want) which your boss will be keen to support. This enthusiasm on their part will be a big help when they go on to talk to their own manager to OK your rise.
You don’t need a book to tell you that you’ll have more success if you’re pleasant than if you’re belligerent, but it is helpful to have a list of dos and don’ts to maximize your chances of coming across as a deserving special case whom your boss would like to reward fully. So here it is.
Things to Do
By and large, your best approach is to be yourself. It’s tough enough going into a negotiation over something as important as your salary or position, without feeling that you also have to remember a list of things you are or aren’t supposed to be doing. So read through this list, and take note of any areas where you feel you are weak, but don’t get hung up on getting it perfect. Be yourself and avoid getting things very wrong. But don’t panic that a single poorly worded phrase is going to lose you a couple of thousand pounds a year, because it doesn’t work like that.
Know Your Boss
Different people approach issues in different ways. Some of us are logical, some are cynical, some are touchy-feely, some are intuitive and so on. Think about which kind of approach your boss tends to adopt, and then help them by presenting your case in this way. Your written document should be clear-cut and factual – it has to do the trick for managers further up the organization too – but the terms in which you couch your arguments at the salary review can be tailored to meet your boss’s natural style. For example:
• If your boss is the logical, rational type, and maybe also a stickler for keeping a tight control on the budget, you’ll need to show plenty of figures that clearly demonstrate the monetary value you contribute to the organization.
• Cynical or wary bosses are going to want evidence to back up any figures you provide, especially those that benchmark your salary against outside organizations.
• The boss who likes to make fast, intuitive decisions won’t want to be bored with detail, so you’ll need to make sure you bring out all the key points fast.
• Some bosses respond well to emotional appeals. This doesn’t mean emotional blackmail or self-pitying whining, of course. But explaining that you feel undervalued will cut a deal more ice with these bosses than with many others.
• Underassertive bosses will need plenty of good, clear, strong arguments to give them the courage to argue your case to their own boss.
These are just a few examples to give you the picture. You should find the key to your own boss’s style if you think about the kind of proposals they tend to accept or turn down, and the way in which they prefer information to be presented.
Getting the Measure of Them
If you think about it, you can tell how your boss is likely to respond to a request for a rise by the way they respond to other requests. Think about their response to proposals, to ideas put to them in meetings, and to other requests such as for compassionate leave or new office furniture. And consider not only how they respond to you, but also how you’ve seen them respond to other people.
Be Positive
A positive attitude is far more attractive and encouraging for other people to deal with. It puts them in a good mood, and that’s just what you want right now. So don’t tell your boss you’re fed up and miserable about your salary; find a positive way of expressing how you feel (without being positive about your current salary, of course).
The way to do this is to be positive about everything else, and to imply that your salary is the only blot on the otherwise beautiful landscape that is your working life. So tell your boss that you enjoy your job, that you find the challenge of it inspiring, that you like the people you work with, that you see a good future for yourself in the company, and so on. Your only gripe is that you don’t feel your salary reflects your full value.
Listen
Your boss is going to have a point of view to express, and perhaps examples of your performance to discuss, in the course of your salary review. If you don’t listen properly, dismiss their opinions or interrupt before they’ve finished speaking, they will be riled and irritated – not a mood likely to incline them to up your salary. So you need to go into the meeting prepared to listen properly and show you are listening:
• Make eye contact.
• Relax, but lean slightly towards them.
• Show you’re listening with sounds and phrases such as ‘Mmm’ and ‘Yes, I see’.
• Repeat back key phrases to them so they can see you’ve understood: ‘So you set the wages budget by the end of July each year.’
Don't stress out!
It is important to listen attentively to your boss, not only to avoid irritating them, but also so you can effectively counter any arguments they make against giving you the rise you want.
Listen Up
If the guidelines for listening all sound like a lot to remember without looking awkward and stilted, there is an easier way: Just concentrate genuinely on what they are saying and the body language will look after itself.
Things Not to Do
So those are the key positive behaviors that will help to win your boss over. But there are also certain negative behaviors that will actively deter your boss from giving you what you want. There are classic ploys or characteristics that far too many people use, to their own detriment, and the most common and damaging are outlined here.
Don’t Whinge
Whingeing is negative and depressing to listen to. It also implies a criticism of the person you’re whingeing to – if they haven’t done anything about it they are responsible for all your ills. So don’t come up with a long list of complaints about how dreadful your current remuneration is. And don’t whinge when you compare your salary to other people’s (in or out of the company), or you’ll simply sound envious. Envy is not a reason to give someone a rise.
If you allow yourself to be labelled as a whinger, you instantly reduce your value to the organization – and this is not the moment to be doing that. You also run the risk of coming across as a permanent whinger, and permanent whingers constantly complain about their salary (without necessarily adding value to themselves to justify a rise). It’s not a label that will help you with this pay rise or the next.
The thing about whingers is that they go on about the past and the present -you can avoid sounding whingey (if you suspect that you may be at risk of it) by focusing on the future: the value you will be bringing to the organization over the next months and years. It’s much harder to whinge about the future.
Don’t Make Accusations
You’re not going to endear yourself to your boss if you say, ‘You promised at my last pay review…’ or ‘You said my salary would go up by more than it did…’, and so on. This doesn’t mean you can’t draw their attention to past undertakings, but don’t put your boss on the defensive. Point out politely that ‘when we last discussed my salary, we decided it would be worth reviewing it again around now …’or ‘I had understood that my salary would be increased by at least 6 per cent at the last review, and I was disappointed when the increase was only 4 per cent’.
If your boss is going to be swayed by a reminder of past promises, a polite memory-jog will be sufficient. If they are not prepared to fulfill their promise (and you don’t have a written guarantee), making belligerent accusations will simply cause them to dig their heels in further, I’m afraid.
Usually what happens is that your boss genuinely has a different recollection of what was agreed. Either one of you has misremembered the conversation, or there was a misunderstanding at the time. If you accuse your boss of reneging on a deal they really don’t think they made (whatever the actual truth of it), you are only going to make them angry, which is counter-productive to the object of the exercise – getting your pay rise.
The real point is that what matters is to agree with your boss that you are worth more than you are being paid. If you can achieve that, you have established that you deserve a pay rise, no matter what was or wasn’t said last time. So swallow your frustration when your boss has memory loss – real or imagined – and get on with the more relevant task of proving your worth.
Get it Down
If there seems to be a disagreement about what was promised in the past and you want to be sure the same problem doesn’t arise again, note down the salient points of this review as minutes or as a memo and copy them to your boss. That way you’ll both know for next time.
Don’t Blackmail
Never say, overtly or implicitly, that you will look for another job if you don’t get your pay rise. It is quite pointless, whatever the circumstances:
• If your boss doesn’t believe you, your credibility will be undermined along with your claim for a rise.
• If your boss does believe you, they will resent the threat and this will put them off giving you what you want. They may be prepared to let you go.
• If you don’t really mean it, your boss may call your bluff by saying, ‘If that’s the way you really feel, perhaps you would be better off looking for another company prepared to pay more than we will.’ Now you’re in trouble, and you’ve completely undermined your request for a rise.
The stark fact is that few of us are as irreplaceable as we’d like to think we are, and your boss may be far more likely to call your bluff than you anticipate.
‘Ah but’, you may be wondering, ‘what if I really am intending to leave if I don’t get what I want?’ Well, even in that case, there’s still nothing to gain by blackmail, and it can still backfire. The mere fact that you are negotiating over pay means that you would like to stay with the organization, even if only on your terms. If blackmailing gets you what you’re after, you still end up with a relationship with your boss that has been soured by what your boss will see as underhand tactics. This will do nothing for your future requests for pay rises, promotion or extra benefits or perks.
There is only one technique that really works in this situation, and it doesn’t involve blackmail. You start by giving your request for a pay rise (or whatever it is you want) your best shot, and giving your boss and their managers every opportunity to reward you appropriately for your contribution to the organization. If they refuse, you go out and get yourself another job – one that you fully intend to take. Then you hand in your resignation and explain to your boss, pleasantly but firmly, that their decision to offer you less than you feel you are worth has led you to find yourself a job with an organization more prepared to recognize your value.
If there is any chance that your employers might be jolted into paying you more they will make a better offer at this point. Perhaps they didn’t realize that you were such a hot prospect, or maybe they didn’t realize how strongly you felt. Or, very likely, they thought they could get away with offering you a more modest pay rise. If they don’t make you an offer, it is because they would rather let you go than pay you more, in which case you’re better off in your new job. It should be obvious that it is extremely rash to use this technique if you’re not serious about leaving unless you get your rise, since you may well end up doing just that.
Don’t Blow it for Next Time
Remember that whether or not you get the rise you want, you still have to work with your boss. What’s more, you want to lay the groundwork for getting a good pay rise or promotion next time round. So don’t behave in a way that is likely to be detrimental to your working relationship or you’ll undermine your own position.
