You want the next level and you get right to want am. You don dey do part of that work for months now, the cycle go close in few weeks, and na only one conversation wey you never talk out loud dey between you and that title.
To ask no be opposite of to earn am. To ask na the last step of earning am. The work real, and e still invisible to everybody wey dey busy with their own. Somebody must turn one whole year of hard work into one sentence wey decision maker fit repeat, and that somebody na you, inside meeting wey you book for am.
Calm no be the soft version of this thing. Na im dey hold your voice steady while you name a level then keep quiet. KEEP CALM founder, Kaʻohele Carlos, hustle im whole career and still hold body through am, and e talk say na that composure make im asks land. See the meeting, one by one.
How I go take open the meeting without sounding like say I dey complain?
Open with the level, no be with the feeling. For the first thirty seconds, talk something like this: "I wan yarn about moving up to the senior role, and I wan hear your own read on wetin still dey between me and that place." Then stop, make dem answer.
That one sentence dey do three things same time. E dey tell your manager say this no be status update, so dem go stop to dey half listen for project name. E dey name a target, wey turn vague ambition into something dem fit back or correct. And e dey ask for their view before you argue your own, so the rest of the thirty minutes go be conversation instead of pitch wey dem must endure.
Book am as im own meeting and put the topic inside the invite. "Career and level, thirty minutes" don do. Nobody like make you ambush dem for the last two minutes of one on one, and manager wey enter unprepared go grab the safest answer wey dey ground, wey be say dem go think about am. You want make dem prepare. Na manager wey prepare fit talk yes for the room.
How much evidence I suppose carry, and wetin dey count?
Carry three example, and build each one with three part: wetin you do, wetin change because of am, and who see am. Three don do to show say na pattern, and e short enough make you finish all before person mind waka.
Wetin dey count na change, no be sweat. "I lead the migration" na job description. "I lead the migration, page load come down from four seconds to one, and support queue drop by one third the next month" na evidence. If you no fit talk wetin change, pick another example. And if you no fit list three from head right now, that one normal well well. E be the reason why you suppose keep running file of your own work all year instead of trying to rebuild twelve months inside twenty minutes before the meeting.
The third part, who see am, na the one wey plenty people dey leave out, and e dey do pass wetin e look like. Na names dey let your manager quote you give another person. "She dey do good work" no dey travel anywhere. "Ask Priya wetin happen for the migration" dey travel everywhere.
Na who dey really decide this thing, and how I go take reach room wey I no dey inside?
For most company, the decision no dey happen for your meeting. E dey happen later, inside calibration meeting where managers dey argue for their people against each other, and you no dey that room. Your case must travel inside another person mouth, na why the people wey fit describe your work correct matter as much as the work itself.
So look that who see am column and ask sharper question: who dey that list because you put dem there? The people wey dey call your name for rooms na almost always people wey you first call their own name. Mentor dey talk to you. Sponsor dey call your name for room wey you no dey, and plenty of us don only ever collect the first one.
No scoreboard dey here and no trade dey. E resemble how reputation dey really build. When you credit junior colleague by name in front of your director, two real things dey happen: their work become visible, wey be career event for them, and your director learn how you dey handle other people contribution, wey tell am more than any self review fit tell am. Then go back to your own script.
Wetin I go talk when dem tell me say now no be the time?
Ask dem wetin exactly dey missing, and by which time dem fit review am again. Then write the two down in front of dem and read am back. Soft no dey turn into workable plan the moment e get criterion and date attach to am.
Most manager no dey refuse you on purpose. Dem dey talk "not yet" because dem never think about am, and "not yet" wey no get anything define under am na how one good year dey quietly turn three. Your work for that moment na to turn fog into something wey person fit check. "So if I run the vendor review end to end and the on call rota hold through the first quarter, we go look this thing again for March" na sentence wey manager fit gree to out loud, and once dem gree, una two dey hold the same paper.
If dem no fit name the gap at all, that one na information too. E usually mean say the decision no be their own. The follow up question na who else dem need to convince, and wetin go make am easier for your manager to make that case for you.
How I go take hold body if the answer disappoint me?
Slow down your breathe out, write their words the way dem talk am, and no renegotiate for that spot. Anything wey you talk for the ten minutes after disappointing answer na reaction, and na that reaction be the part of the meeting wey people dey remember pass.
E dey okay make you feel disappointed. You no need to act like say you dey fine. The correct move na to end on the plan instead of the feeling: repeat the gap, repeat the date, talk thank you, then comot. After that, go do the thing wey go let your body drop the meeting. A waka, one hard hour for gym, whatever your own version be. Adrenaline wey no get where to go dey turn into second version of the meeting wey you go dey hold for head all evening.
Read your note again the next morning, when the words don stop to bite. Almost every decision wey worth making about this matter dey better for Tuesday pass how e been be for Monday.
To ask na skill, and e dey cheaper every time
Na the first ask dey cost pass. You go over rehearse am, your heart go beat faster than the matter deserve, and you go spend one week after dey replay one sentence wey nobody else remember. The second one go cost about half. By the fourth one, you just be person wey book meeting, talk a level, carry three evidence, and comot with date.
That one worth knowing, because the reason why most people no dey collect correct pay and correct title no be say dem no get case. Na say dem dey wait make system wey dey busy notice dem. Gallup find say 51% of workers wey comot job on their own talk say for the three months before dem go, neither their manager nor any other leader talk to dem about their job satisfaction or their future for the company. The conversation no go come meet you. Pew Research Center find say among people wey quit for 2021, no room to grow tie with low pay as the most common reason, for 63%.
So book the meeting. Carry the three. Comot with date. You fit go harder pass how you dey go now and still last longer than you think, and na the ask be the part wey dey turn all that sweat into title wey another person fit see.