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Asking for a Raise

Asking for a Raise

As a manager, I’ve had many people over the years ask me for raises. Some people are very comfortable asking for raises and others are very uncomfortable. The ones that are comfortable usually approach it the same way. After a successful project in which they were a key part, they ask me for feedback. My feedback is usually good, and so they then say they think they have really gone above and beyond what was required of them and they give supporting examples. Then they ask me if I agree they had gone above and beyond what was required of them. If I respond yes, they ask for a raise. They are negotiating from a position of strength.

What they have done is made me an active participant in justifying a raise for them. Brilliant!

Then there are those that aren’t as comfortable and stumble through the ask.

What Not to Say When Asking for a Raise

Please don’t tell me that you accepted a lower salary and it’s been 6 months since you were hired and you think you need a raise. That just tells me that you didn’t think you were worth asking for more during original negotiations. Much better approach would be the above example.

Don’t start out with, “I’ve asked some of my friends that work at other companies what they make and they are all making $20,000 more than I.” My response will be, “You are paid exactly what others are paid at your job level within our company.”

If you think you aren’t being paid what others in the group are making, best approach it as a discussion around your current skill set and value to the organization. Again, using a successful project in which you were key is a good way to start the discussion.

The above examples of what not to do are examples of negotiating from a position of weakness. Instead, you want to enlist your manager in advocating for your raise. You want to negotiate from a position of strength.

By using a successful project and explaining how you were key in its success and how you performed at a higher level, you get me to either agree or disagree. If I agree and then you ask for a raise, I have to consider it. After all, I did acknowledge that you were key to the success of the project. Always come from a position of strength.

Company Values: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Company Values: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

If you’ve ever worked at a small startup or have been part of a management team, you’ve probably worked on defining the company values and goals. Many employees are often cynical about the company values. They think it’s a futile exercise because it often seems that once the values are identified and listed on a company webpage, they are promptly forgotten.

Some values frequently selected include:

  • Integrity
  • Respect
  • Diversity

These are all good words. But how are those words implemented in the organization? Or are there implicit values that are actually implemented?

For example, many companies say they value diversity and integrity. However, actions always speak louder than words. If diversity is valued but the management team is composed entirely of white males, that makes me go “hmmmm.” Do they really value diversity? Or, say the company gets called out for not treating employees fairly. Is integrity really a value?

Why do disconnects occur between the values written down and the values demonstrated by the leaders and employees in a company? It’s simple: it’s the leadership team. The leaders allow certain behaviors to exist and flourish in an organization even if these behaviors directly contradict the stated values.

Employees take cues from the leadership team. If at an all-hands meeting, a leader jokes about “bro” culture, she or he is sending a signal that the “bro” culture is ok. Sure, it’s a joke. But why make such a joke? If a leader only considers hiring white males, how much does that leader value diversity? The managers in the company will take notice and follow that lead.

At one company for which I worked, one of my employees was having issues with someone in another group. The person’s behavior toward my employee was threatening. When I went to my peer to discuss the situation with him, he brushed off my concern by saying that was just the way this person was. Regardless, the behavior was inappropriate. I asked my employee to keep a record of what this person said to him. He did.

I took this evidence to our Human Resources department and they followed up on it. Found out this inappropriate behavior was happening with other employees as well and that it had been going on for awhile. People were afraid of the guy and avoided him. Hostile working environment anyone? The person was fired.

The reason this had gone on as long as it had was because the leader of the organization, by ignoring the inappropriate behavior, was supporting it. It didn’t matter one of the company values was respect. He was encouraging disrespectful behavior. His reasons for not addressing the issues were: “That’s just the way he is” and “but he’s a valuable member of the team.” These are never justifications for not reprimanding or even firing someone for inappropriate behavior.

Defining values for a company or organization is important. But what’s even more important is having the leaders of a company understand they are the ones defining values every day through their words and actions. Living the values is more important than just listing the values on a company webpage.

Communicating Clearly and Concisely

Communicating Clearly and Concisely

Leaning forward across the table, I explained how I was writing a blog about management and leadership. The man sitting across from me had an impatient look on his face as he shook his head and said, “So you’re writing blogging software?” I said no, I wasn’t writing software to create blogs, I was writing a blog about management and leadership. He waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss this notion and said, “That is not a business. You need to have a clear idea.” I attempted to share that I realized it wasn’t a business, however I wanted to write a blog about management and leadership. But he wasn’t listening. Looking into his eyes, I could see he was already thinking about what he wanted to say next. He only wanted to talk about his ideas.

There are two things that stood out in this conversation for me. One was that I don’t clearly explain what I’m doing which is something I can work on. Second, this person wasn’t listening to me.

The more I thought about this experience, the more I realized if I am going to communicate an idea or project or anything to another person, I need to have an absolutely clear, concise, and compelling way of doing so. Because no matter what I am doing or where I am working, I need to communicate about what I am working on whether it’s a product or a service. If I can’t do that in 1 to 2 sentences and it doesn’t sound very interesting, I’ll lose a large chunk of the listening population. Why? Because they will only listen long enough to determine if they are interested in what I am saying. Once they determine they are not interested, they aren’t going to listen to anything else I say after that.

In the last year, I joined a small business networking group to see how this type of networking works. Every week, each person has 30 seconds to introduce themselves and their companies. This was a tremendous learning experience. I learned to narrow down my focus and hit at the heart of what I am doing. I needed the practice. Listening to others pitch their companies gave me lots of examples and helped me to understand how to be more clear and concise.

In reflecting on previous attempts to explain an idea or a proposal through the years, I realized I failed to be clear and concise. I needed a 1 to 2 minute pitch even when I was working at an established company. If I had a 1 to 2 minute pitch then presented the details, I would have been more successful in selling my proposals. Looking back, I’ve created many Powerpoint presentations to explain projects but I bet I just bored the heck out of my audience because I didn’t have my pitch refined and in place.

That conversation about my blog was a good kick in the butt experience for me and joining the small business networking group was just the place to learn what I needed to learn.

So why I am I blogging about managing people? I blog because I want to share what I’ve learned about managing people and the most important skill a manager cultivates, at least in my opinion, is self-awareness.

Communicating more clearly and concisely about my work is something to always be aware of and a skill I need to constantly cultivate. Communication begins with me.

But We’ve Always Done it This Way

But We’ve Always Done it This Way

“But we’ve always done it this way,” he told me as I asked why we needed to continue to track metrics I didn’t think anyone was using. So I asked him, “How are these metrics being used and by whom?” He answered, “Well, I like to track all of these in case someone wants to start using them.”

I then went to several directors to ask them how much time it was taking them to collect these monthly metrics. One said it took time but was no big deal. Another one told me with a smile, “I don’t send them in anymore. I stopped two months ago. No one noticed.” I laughed.

Then I figured out how much time people were wasting on something that wasn’t even being used by anyone for anything. Why? I hate waste. I hate collecting metrics just to collect them. I dislike process just for process sake especially if it takes time that can better be spent elsewhere.

It’s always a good idea to review current processes to understand if they are still effective and supporting the business as expected. However, if you discover people are spending time on information gathering or processes that are ineffective or not being used, then either streamline them or eliminate them.

Some will argue that the process has been in place for so long because it really did solve a problem at one point so it shouldn’t change. These are the people who will find change uncomfortable. A guest blogger, Tarang, wrote about change management. You might be interested in his observations.

People find comfort in processes that have been in place for a long time because they are familiar. Safe. However just consider how much better that time could be spent if those processes are no longer used. Eliminating time wasting processes creates space for new opportunities and new ways of doing things.

After we evaluated and identified which metrics would help us make business decisions, we were able to streamline information in the report. This saved time for those that were collecting the data leaving them more time to focus on releasing the product. They also didn’t feel they were gathering metrics that no one would use.

It’s a good practice to review metrics and processes and fine tune to make sure they are still relevant, meaningful, and helpful.

Don’t Ask if You Really Don’t Want to Know

Don’t Ask if You Really Don’t Want to Know

“I really want feedback on my performance. I especially like to hear where I can improve,” a new direct report told me eagerly. Steve looked sincere. He acted sincere. So I thought he was sincere. I then proceeded to tell him that he needed to be more careful about the type of information he was sharing with people as it was causing people to think that features were changing in the product. His opinion was affecting the progress of the project as people didn’t want to work on features if they were going to change. Steve then became really upset with me asking who said that about him and stating loudly that people shouldn’t be so sensitive. He ranted. He raved. I was taken aback and surprised.

Was it my delivery? Or did he really not want to know of any areas of improvement?

I try to be very careful how I discuss areas of improvements with employees. It can be a constructive conversation but also has the potential to blow up in your face. To make it a constructive conversation, I use something recent to demonstrate where I think someone can improve. I put it in writing, if needed.

For example, say I have an employee that is having difficulty with communicating with those that don’t agree with him. Let’s call him Bob. It is a constant issue, not a one-time occurrence. In a meeting with a group of Bob’s peers, I watched while he became frustrated with trying to explain his viewpoint to someone. He ended the conversation with, “I just don’t know what more to say to you,” sighed, threw his hands up in the air and sullenly looked down at the table. The person on the receiving end visibly bristled and said, “Well then, I guess we are done here,” and left the room.

I took that situation and asked him, “Was that the outcome you wanted?” Of course it wasn’t and he said so. Then I asked, “How could it have ended differently?” This opened up a conversation between the two of us to explore how he could have handled things better. I made sure to say that this is an area of improvement for him and asked him to suggest how we monitor it to see how he improved.

But sometimes, even with using specific situations as examples such as the ones with Bob, it doesn’t matter because the person really doesn’t want to get the feedback. They really, really don’t. Like Steve. I did try to work with him and provide him with specific situations in which his behavior affected people but he always became upset and wanted to confront the person or persons, as he knew they were wrong. I realized that he really didn’t want to hear anything but positive feedback.

If you don’t want feedback, don’t ask for it. Everyone likes positive feedback, and I’m happy to give them that but I believe in balanced feedback. None of us are perfect. We are all works in process. I always benefit when my manager reminds me I am impatient and she points it out to me after a meeting. I know I lose support from people with my impatience. I work on it, but every now then, it seeps through. Reminding me helps me to remember this is something that didn’t magically go away. It takes constant mindfulness on my part to avoid expressing impatience.

If you really want constructive feedback, ask for it. But if you really just want to hear how great you are, don’t ask.