Leadership expert shares the ‘best way’ to ask your boss for a pay rise
While they say money talks, it’s still not easy to negotiate a pay rise at work.
However, one expert has revealed the ‘best way’ to ask your boss for more dosh and surprisingly, it’s not about demonstrating your worth.
As the cost-of-living crisis makes it more important than ever to negotiate your salary, you might want to use this advice to help you bag a bumper payday.
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This clever career advice comes from expert Simon Sinek, a world-renowned inspirational speaker who built his career while working as a marketing consultant.
Appearing on the High Performance podcast, the best-selling author explained why you should avoid trying to justify your worth if you are hoping to earn the big bucks.
The 49-year-old went on to criticise this technique, calling it a ‘problem’ and telling listeners: “The way most people ask for a raise is…I want a 20 percent raise, I did my research and the average salary on my job is x…my friend gets paid x…I’m doing the same as them so I want to be compensated equally.”
While he isn’t against arguing for a fair wage, Sinek states that this focuses on the pay aspect rather than growing within your organisation - which can be off-putting to employers.
Instead, employees who want to bring home the bacon should look at the negotiation as a ‘continuum’ of their career to gain a rapid pay rise.
Having previously given this advice to someone else, the TED talk speaker urged others to ‘stop thinking of their career as an event’.
Sinek then explained: “Go to your boss in the middle of this continuum [and ask] can you help me figure out a path that gets me to this salary?”
With this question, the emphasis is on how you can reach this salary rather than simply asking for more money.
While the subtle wordplay might not make or break the bank, it's more likely that your boss will help you towards your desired pay as the question is no longer phrased for a yes-no answer.
The expert went on, adding that it’s important to demonstrate your desire to stay and your previous loyalty to a firm.
From here, your manager should have one of two responses – according to Sinek.
“Now it’s like ‘absolutely I can, I can give it to you today’…or ‘absolutely I can, we’re gonna set some targets that I want you to hit’…”
Hopefully things should be a little easier after hearing this sage advice.
Katherine Sidnell