Asking Your Boss For A Raise: Management Tip of the Day for Busy Managers and Leaders

The economy is getting better, and organizations are starting to lighten up a bit. Should you be leadership skills? How and when should you make your request? Join us this week at www.wilymanager.com to learn more.

Monday's Tip (Asking Your Boss For A Raise): Do Your Homework. The more information and data you have that supports your case for a pay raise, the more likely you are to be successful. Look at both internal data, and industry data where it might exist.

Tuesday's Tip (Asking Your Boss For A Raise): Clearly link the value you add to the organization. No-one cares how hard you work. They care what gets done. What have you contributed to the organization, and how has that helped them move towards achieving their goals.

Wednesday's Tip (Asking Your Boss For A Raise): Never bad-mouth your co-workers. If you insist on pointing at others’ ineptitude as the main reason you deserve a raise, you will fail, and end up looking spiteful and stupid.

Thursday's Tip (Asking Your Boss For A Raise): Do not make threats. If you threaten to quit if you don’t get a raise, you may very well end up getting fired. No one is indispensible, and you stand a much better chance of success if you lay off the threats.

Friday's Tip (Asking Your Boss For A Raise): Anticipate counter arguments. There are hundreds reasons not to give you a raise. If you brainstorm some of those in advance, and then prepare responses to those arguments, you are much more likely to succeed.

Three Things to Remember When Asking Your Boss For A Raise:

1. Be forthright and positive – don’t invoke guilt or resort to blackmail.
2. Don’t be chatty. This should be a short meeting. Discuss the weather and other trivia at a different time.
3. Remove personality from the equation. Focus on facts, and come prepared with as much information as you can. Also don’t take it personally if you don’t get the raise you asked for, but rather act rationally to figure out whatever is next for you.

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