Let's face it, we all want something more from our job and workplace.
You might want a pay rise or promotion. Or maybe you want to move from a casual to permanent role. It could be more flexibility in your hours or location of work that you’re seeking.
Whatever it is, we are here to help with our five ways to get what you want at work.
1. Figure out exactly what you want
We like to think we know what we want in order to be happier, but far too often we see secondary goals being mistaken for primary goals. And when we achieve a secondary goal without also achieving the primary goal, we can be left feeling underwhelmed.
To figure out exactly what you want at work, challenge your assumptions. Ask a mentor or friend to guide you through a process of self-reflection.
Shelley was coaching an employee – we’ll call him Jordan – who said that his three-month goal was a pay rise. Jordan was a high performer and loyal employee. But over the past few months he was feeling frustrated and stagnant. He felt like no one listened to new ideas anymore and the decisions he cared most about were being made by the senior leadership team, without consultation ‘on the ground’.
Jordan explained that if he was simply paid more, it would make putting up with this feeling worth it. Alarm bells rang for Shell. She’s heard this before and so she pivoted the conversation.
Instead of working with Jordan on how to ask for a pay rise, she asked a few assumption-challenging questions. Like:
- What problem are you try to solve?
- What need are you trying to meet?
- If you were earning $5K more tomorrow, would you really feel happier even if your other needs continue to not be met?
Through this deeper conversation, Jordan realised that what he truly wanted was influence and decision-making power. And that this would be achieved by securing a more senior role. Not a pay rise.
Although a pay rise was important to him, it wasn't Jordan’s primary goal. This was a crucial distinction and fundamentally changed the conversation he had with his manager about what he wanted at work.
2. Prepare to make the ask
No one is a mind reader, which means you need to ask for what you want. But the key is in how you prepare to make the ask.
Emily once had an employee stop her in the corridor and ask if they could take a four-month career break to travel around Australia. Em was on her way to her next meeting and had just received a resignation from one of her long-standing managers. Put simply: it wasn’t a good time.
It was a ‘heads up’ style of encounter. You know the ones, where someone says “Hey, we can talk about the detail later, but since I’ve bumped into you I thought I’d ask if I can take a few months off?” With some planning, it would be manageable. But in that moment, it felt like they had dropped an impossible bomb and the easiest answer was “no, I don’t think that’s going to work right now”.
The problem: the employee hadn't done any preparation or considered the impact of their request before making the ask. Their poor planning meant that they picked a time when Em was not in the right headspace to see how this could be made possible, as she rushed to her 10am.
When we don't prepare, we short change ourselves of getting what we want. We don’t allow the request to have a fair hearing and the answer is more likely to be no.
Before you make the ask, prepare for areas of resistance or concern that your manager might have. How will it impact the team? What is the best time to ask? What can you to assuage ease your managers concern? Once you’ve answered these questions, then schedule a meeting to discuss it together.
3. Don't make it all about you
The golden rule of getting what you want at work is to align what you want with what the business needs. Seems simple, right? But in our experience, this is often overlooked.
It’s easy to get caught up in ‘what’s in it for me’ and be less thoughtful about the perspective of others. This is risky. When it's all about you with no consideration of the business needs, the chances that your request will be received well are greatly reduced.
Let’s look at a flexible working request for example.
Maybe you want to work from home more regularly because it’s better for your lifestyle. You have less of a commute which means a later sleep in, you can prepare dinner on your lunch break, and you can pick your youngest up from school each day.
Sounding a little self-focused? We believe that with every win for you, comes a win for the business. When pitching your request, look for ways to express the business value of this arrangement and make that the focus of the conversation.
Maybe you're more productive at home because you have less interruptions. Maybe you can commit to full time instead of part time when the commute is reduced. Or maybe the trade-off in flexibility allows you to start and finish earlier or later to more easily link with your colleagues in different time zones.
Whatever it is, think like a marketer and know your audience.
4. Play the long game
When you make the ask don't go in guns blazing, expecting instant results. Play the long game.
Find out what your boss needs from you in order to agree to your request and stay on point with this consistently over time. It's a more subtle approach, but it works wonders!
Say you want to move from a fixed-term contract to a permanent position. There is no vacancy being advertised, but you’re determined to create your own destiny. Instead of saying, “I’d really like a permanent role, and if that isn’t possible, I will need to look elsewhere”, playing the long game means you'll ask: “what would you need to see from me over the next three months in order to move me to a permanent role?”
It's a small difference that has a big impact.
By approaching the ask in the way we recommend, you won’t leave your manager feeling ambushed or like you have laid down an ultimatum. And, you'll have clarity on what your workplace needs from you in order to say yes.
In closing the conversation, let them know you'll work on these areas and agree to revisit the conversation in a specific timeline. Of course, if after that time (assuming you have nailed your to do list) there is still no opportunity from transition to permanency, it may be best to look externally. But you can do so knowing that you weren’t rushed in your decision making.
5. Get to work
You know what you want, and you know what you need to do to get it. Now it's time to get to work.
Use the agreed timeline to work on the things your manager recommended and along the way look for opportunities to prove how you are increasingly meeting their expectations (and so meeting the needs of the business).
Keep the communication going during this time to ensure you stay on the same page and that if the business needs change, you know about it.
Ask for feedback on how things are progressing. And schedule in a catch up at the end of the time period to revisit your request.
Your manager will be far more likely to give you what you want when you've listened to what they need from you, demonstrated your commitment to meeting those expectations and remained patient.
Emily Bowen and Shelley Johnson are HR professionals and host the my millennial career podcast. For more on making a career change, check out their episode ‘Quarter Life Career Crisis’.