Your one-on-one dey Thursday and you don decide say na dis one you go finally talk am. You correct. You ship things dis year wey no dey exist before you land, you carry work wey nobody assign you, and di market don move since anybody last look your number. Wetin you never get na di sentence.
Na dat be di real gap, and e small. Most raise advice dey stop for "make your case", and na di part wey you already sabi do. Three narrower things dey decide di outcome, and you fit learn di three of dem inside one afternoon: one specific number, one sentence to carry am, and di discipline to talk nothing at all for di sixty seconds wey follow. Dis article dey your side of di table di whole way.
Wetin exactly I go talk when I dey ask for raise?
Talk one sentence with one number inside, then stop. Something close to dis: based on wetin I don carry dis year and wetin di market dey pay for am, I dey ask make I move to ninety-five thousand.
Na dat be di whole ask. Notice wetin no dey inside. No apology, no preamble about how you love di team, no "I was wondering whether maybe", and no range. Dem dey read range from di bottom every single time, no be say di people wicked, na just dem dey do dia job with di number wey you hand dem. Single figure no be aggression. E legible, and na legible thing dem dey act on.
Talk am for level voice, for normal volume, for your normal speed. If you rush am, di number go sound like something wey you dey hope say you go escape with. If you talk am for di same pace as your oda sentences, e go sound like fact wey you don already check, and na exactly wetin e be.
How I go take pick di number?
Take three dated results from your own year, find two or three outside data points for your role and location, then pick one specific figure for di upper end of wetin dose support. Precision dey beat ambition here, because number wey get arithmetic wey person fit see behind am dey survive conversation wey big round number no fit survive.
Di three results matter pass di market data, and dem no be summary of how hard you dey work. Dem dated, dem na your own, and each one get outcome attach. "I run di migration for March and e land two weeks early" na result. "I don really commit dis year" no be result, and di person for di oda side of di table don hear di second one forty times.
For di outside data, sabi how badly people dey misjudge dis thing. One field experiment wey di National Bureau of Economic Research publish find say employees get big misperception about wetin dia managers dey earn and smaller but real misperception about dia peers, wey mean say di figure wey dey your head probably never dey checked against anything. Two or three real data points don do to stop di guessing.
KEEP CALM founder na useful reference point here, no be theory. E hustle all im life, e want more pass wetin e get for every stage, and e ask for am out loud while e still calm enough to hold di room. To want more money no be character defect wey you suppose manage. Na skill wey get script, and you dey three paragraphs away from getting di script.
Wetin I go do after I ask and dem keep quiet?
Nothing. Allow di silence run as long as e wan run, and no fill am with justification, discount or nervous joke.
Na dis be di part wey almost everybody dey lose, and real research dey behind why to hold am dey work. Work wey comot from MIT Sloan, wey dem publish inside di Journal of Applied Psychology, measure silent pauses of at least three seconds inside negotiation and find say dose pauses dey usually come just before breakthrough, because silence dey interrupt di assumption say one side must lose for di oda one to win, and e dey move di two people into more deliberate frame. Silence no be power move against di oda person. Na thinking time wey di two of una dey get free.
How e go feel na anoda story. Three seconds of quiet after you don talk number go feel like twenty. Plan for dat one before time. Pick something make your eye rest on, keep your hand still, and let dem talk first. If you must do something with yourself, breathe out slowly through your nose.
How I suppose prepare for di morning of di day?
Train or waka hard early, chop real food, and rehearse di sentence out loud exactly one time. Na di state wey you waka in with dey decide whether you fit hold sixty seconds of silence, and no way dey to install dat state by two o'clock for afternoon.
Na di founder own mechanism be dis, reported, no be prescribed. Training na one of di ways wey e take carry di pressure of building career, and hard set for morning na composure wey you dey practice under load, no be wellness activity. Di body na equipment wey you dey carry enter di room, and na di only equipment inside there wey you own.
Rehearse once, no be twenty times. To talk di sentence out loud once dey prove say you fit produce am with real voice. To talk am twenty times dey turn am to performance, and performance get lines wey you fit forget.
Wetin if di answer na no?
Ask two questions and comot with date. Wetin go need to be true make dis one turn yes, and when we go look am again. No wey get date attached na timeline, no wey no get date na just no, and na you be di only person for dat room wey fit turn one into di oda.
Write di date down for where you go see am, inside di month wey e belong, and e go stop to be rejection and start to be calendar entry. Then keep di dated results dey come, because di next conversation go open with wetin happen between di two.
No read di no as information about your worth. Na information about timing, budget cycle and constraints wey don dey inside dat room before you enter, and none of dem na judgement on you.
Di highest-return thing to do with dis skill next month
Spend am on somebody else. You just learn to call number for level voice and hold di silence after am, and two moves dey wey dey turn dat one into something bigger well well pass one raise.
Di first na to tell one junior colleague wetin you actually dey earn. For plenty people, di single most useful sentence wey anybody ever talk to dem for dia career na one real number, talked out loud, by somebody wey no get to talk am. E no dey cost you anything except liver. Two rules dey keep am clean: give your own number and never anybody else own, and give am to di person wey e dey help, no be to di whole room.
Di second na to call dat person name inside di room where dem dey set di numbers. Na here di difference between mentoring and sponsoring dey matter, and most people never get anybody wey explain am to dem. Mentor dey give you advice for coffee shop. Sponsor dey call your name for room wey you no dey. Na inside di room dem dey decide compensation, no be for coffee shop, na why one sponsor worth one hundred coffee, and na why one sentence wey you fit afford worth more to somebody pass one hour of your time.
KEEP CALM founder dey describe dis one as one of di secrets of im own success, done di whole way up instead of only after e don make am. E dey constantly look for chance to commend and champion di people around am, and e talk say wetin come back na tenfold. Na im account of im own life be dat, no be return wey anybody owe you. Di cheaper half no dey in dispute: to call somebody name dey cost one sentence, and reputation as di person wey dey build people na wetin dey get you hired next.
None of dat na substitute for asking. Ask first, collect your money, then spend some of di standing wey you just buy on somebody wey get less. Na dat be di difference between career wey dey accumulate and career wey dey compound.
Sources
- MIT Sloan School of Management, In negotiation, use silence to improve outcomes for all
- MIT Sloan School of Management, Silence is golden: New research out of MIT's Sloan School of Management suggests that extended silence during negotiations leads to better results for both parties
- National Bureau of Economic Research, How Much Does Your Boss Make? The Effects of Salary Comparisons