Consider these six steps before you talk to your boss.
Step 1: What’s in It for Them?
To reiterate, your core strategy is to pitch your boss on your dream
assignment, promotion, flexible schedule, professional development class, or mentor opportunity using Daniel Pink’s “what’s in it for them” approach.
Ask yourself:
How can the company benefit from helping you do something different?
How can your boss professionally win from it?
Is it going to cost your company anything in terms of money, time, or personnel changes?
It’s not about what your “ask” can do for you. It’s about what your “ask”
can do for them. Never forget that. Build your pitch by first thinking of it from your boss’s perspective.
If you move to another department, for example, will that just create a problem for him? Will your boss have to find someone to replace you?
Even if it’s just a temporary assignment to help out in another department when someone goes on maternity leave, it still can be one more thing to deal with from a management perspective. Your job still needs to get done.
It might even cost money from your boss’s departmental budget to hire a temporary contract worker to do your job in the interim.
Plus, some especially paranoid bosses might interpret your aspiration to tackle a new assignment outside of your department, even for a few months, as a sign that you’re unhappy working for them. So you may need to put on those kid gloves. A good understanding of your boss’s personality and what motivates her will help you devise your best approach. This can take some keen observation ahead of time to avoid having the wheels come off the conversation from the get-go.
So think strategically and build your case by explaining clearly how your boss and your department can benefit, and do everything you can to make the transition easy for them.
Step 2: Play Your Cards Close to the Vest
Regardless of what you’re looking to change, whether it’s asking for a promotion or upgrading your game with a sabbatical, stay cool.
If, for example, it’s a lateral move to another position or department within the company you’re after, keep your hunt on the Q-T until you know what possible opportunities there might be for you. To get some idea of available openings, check out your company’s internal web site to see what jobs are currently posted.
Which ones intrigue you? Hunt through all the nooks and crannies of the various departments with a fine-tooth comb. Look for jobs that hold out the promise of sparking your creativity.
Talk to coworkers about their positions and what they love about what they do. These kinds of informal discussions can be inspiring and can trigger ideas for how you might be able to transition to something new.
If a job opening has already been listed to the outside world, check out your company on LinkedIn, and you can probably find out more about the
particulars. It’s best, of course, to learn about an opportunity before it gets announced to the outside world.
Step 3: Talk to Colleagues Who Have Made Similar Changes
If you handle these conversations gracefully, you can find out lots of information. Was their boss supportive? Did the HR department help pilot the change?
If you’re asking for a flexible schedule, for example, talk to others who have similar schedules and find out about company policies. If you are seeking out a position in another department, check to see if your company has an in-house referral site. If you know someone who knows your work and can refer you to an open position in the area, ask him or her about it.
Some companies offer cash bonuses to employees who refer others in the
firm to open positions, should that person get the position. The referring employee also benefits from getting to work with someone they know and like. It’s simple human nature. Managers are more willing to consider someone who has been given the thumbs-up by someone they know and trust within the organization. So internal introductions can definitely help open pathways for you.
Step 4: Tweak Your Elevator Speech
Practice explaining what it is that’s pushing you to want to take this step.
What are your goals? Why are you best suited for this? Can you show how the new duties will ramp up your skills and make you a more valuable
employee in a concrete way? Or demonstrate how the company will gain by allowing you to tap into your existing skills in ways that you haven’t been able to showcase in your current position?
Step 5. Schedule a Formal Meeting with Your Boss
Don’t wing this meeting. Make a formal presentation, with all of the necessary bells and whistles. When the time arrives, pay attention to your posture. When we’re anxious, we tend to collapse our chests and fidget in our chairs. Make eye contact and be sure to smile. Explain why and how you’ll be a star in the position you’re aiming for, or why everyone will benefit from your upgrading your game.
And give the boss time to consider your request and to get back to you.
Avoid demands and “I need to know right now” pressure sales. He may have to get permission from his boss or just get comfortable with the changes you asked for.
A man in his 50s who works in marketing at a large company called me recently for some advice. He had asked his immediate boss if he could possibly step into a temporary opening in another department for a few months, an assignment that would involve using his marketing skills, but with a different product. The short-term gig to cover for someone going on a medical leave, he explained, would help him learn more about another part of the company and build synergies.
“It didn’t go as I expected,” he told me. “It definitely didn’t go the way I wanted it to.”
What happened? His boss thought that because he was asking to shift
assignments, he was unhappy. And if someone else could so easily jump in to do the job for a few months, then why did they need him at all?
Gulp. Nope. Not the way he wanted that conversation to go.
Step 6: Make Some Noise
There’s a reason why you’re stuck. You’ve been living under the false impression that laying low and under the radar might keep you out of the firing line. If you’re miserable, cut it out. It’s time to be heard.
Many people feel awkward with the bragging that comes along with asking for a new job, a change in responsibilities, a raise. I get it. So turn it around
—approach these conversations as if you are just voicing an “interest in” or starting a “discussion” about innovative ways you can contribute to the company.
What do you have to lose? Your supervisor can always say no, and you’re right where you are now. But if you say nothing, management will never know that you’re ready to take on different duties or learn something new, or even that you’re unhappy where you are.
If you’re like me, the whole notion of meeting with your boss to talk about what’s ahead is daunting, and more than a little nerve-wracking. But if you want to make a move, no matter what kind, say something. Your mental health depends on it.
The discussion doesn’t have to be prickly. Your boss is probably oblivious to the fact that you’re discouraged. So sit up straight and get your mojo going. This is your time to highlight your ability, skills, and objectives.
In the early chapters and in your journal, you’ve already worked through the soul-searching required to think about what you want. You already have a handle on what your pluses are and what more you hope to be able to bring to your job in the future. You might have even added new skills, as we discussed in Chapter 7, to qualify you to make a jump.
Be clear about what you offer your company and what you’re asking.
There’s very little risk—and tremendous reward—in asking for a stretch or a new challenge (even taking on a mentor or asking to mentor someone) if you have the talent to do it and believe in yourself. But you’ll never be
considered for it if you don’t have that conversation—or several conversations, if that’s what it takes.
Are you ready?