Negotiating Your Salary Could Be A Waste Of Time
I’m not going to give you what you want. But I’ll definitely deliver what you need. Stick with me, okay?
Time for a bit of truth talk. Yes, I can help you negotiate your salary. Whether it’s a new job or part of your performance review. I can totally do that. But I’d rather not.
Ok - you’re puzzled, right? I’ve appeared in Glamour magazine for cryin’ out loud - sharing my take on how to get a raise! But…
I don’t put a huge focus on salary negotiations in my work with clients because learning how to negotiate is about SO MUCH MORE than just getting a raise. Those discussions - as important and stressful and potential rewarding as they are - are a very small sliver of your life as a professional. It’s done, you get the bump up, and then you go back to your desk and proceed with business as usual.
And that’s the problem - the business as usual.
Boosting your negotiation skills is about turning that business as usual upside down!
Becoming a great negotiator means that when you’re working with clients, you’re signing deals for your organization that bring in great margin. If you’re working with vendors, you’ve secured supply and shaved some points off of your costs. When you’re showing up in senior level meetings you’re sharing your ideas with confidence and gaining support for your team and your initiatives. It means that you’re able to exert control over your career path by getting the buy-in on joining the teams and projects that get you excited.
And all of that - increased influence, commercial results, truly stepping up as a leader - that’s the magic that will make that eventual salary negotiation so much easier.
It will make those increases so much bigger. It will take you so much farther in your career.
So yes, we could focus on getting you that 5% pay raise.
Or we can focus on getting you the skills you need to really just blow that role out of the water and transform your career from here on out. Your choice.
Your homework this week is to brainstorm all the ways you could show up differently in your work in order to set yourself up for success in that next salary negotiation. What opportunities do you see to improve your performance, enhance your communication skills or really step into being a leader. That’s the exciting stuff.