Knowing How to Negotiate with Your Boss
4 June 2009
Read by 1923 persons
Salary increases, job definition, working conditions... Discussing with your superior in a constructive way and to obtain a positive outcome is not improvised... Extract from "Succeed in all your company negotiations", published by L'Entreprise.
1. How to best negotiate a salary increase?
For those who have some reluctance to talk about money and discuss their own situation, salary negotiation can be a real headache. Here are some simple ideas to avoid drowning in a glass of water.
Prepare your interview
? Some questions to fuel your argument:
- Where do you stand in relation to the salaries of your colleagues?
- What would justify a difference compared to them (in one direction or the other)?
- What is the impact of your activity on the business or the company's activity?
- Ask yourself about your power to harm the employer if you decided to leave (but don't overestimate it: cemeteries, as they say, are full of indispensable people!)
- Have you successfully completed specific and strategic missions in recent months?
- Do you have privileged links with one or more important clients of the company?
- What are your real prospects on the job market?
Choose the right time
- During a company change. It should be known that significant salary increases almost always occur when changing employers. It is when negotiating a new employment contract that it is recommended, if you are in a position to do so, to push the question of remuneration as far as possible. In general, an employer has a salary range. It is up to you to highlight your strengths (rarity of your profile, projected business, knowledge of the competition, specific experience, etc.) to obtain a remuneration "at the top of the range".
- During the annual performance review. If your employer asks you to postpone your request to a specific time of year, they may be trying to dodge the issue. Take them at their word. Remind them, on occasion, that the time has come to put their promise into action. In short, put some psychological pressure on them so that it is difficult for them to back down at the last minute without appearing as someone who does not keep their commitments.
- Be opportunistic. This is an obvious rule, and yet it must be recalled: to make your request, favor a time of relaxation, of success (personal or for the company), a period of calm and tranquility where you know that you will be able to speak to your boss without being interrupted by the telephone.
In case of refusal
- Procedure
- Ask when you should appear before them again to discuss this issue.
- Offer to make the request directly to HR or your N+2.
- Obtain compensation of another type (for example, training that increases your value on the job market, or a benefit in kind, free time, a company car, etc.).
2. What to negotiate in the content of my mission?
For an employee, negotiating the content of their tasks and the way the company operates is a way to prioritize their interest, motivation, and comfort.
Negotiate your objectives
- Companies often have the habit of cascading objectives. And this is how we sometimes inherit objectives that have been negotiated above our heads... without us!
If we accept this principle without reacting quickly enough, we risk finding ourselves in the situation of having to achieve poorly adjusted or irrelevant objectives, with unpleasant long-term consequences.
Therefore, get into the healthy habit of carefully examining any objective that is proposed to you without prior discussion, and if possible, to start a discussion (in the form of negotiation) as soon as you have any doubt.
On the other hand, if you have one of the rare bosses who let you determine your own objectives (yes, it happens!), then take advantage of it, provided you avoid the following two pitfalls:
- complaining about being abandoned - because many managers would like to be in your place
- racking your brains to figure out what the boss expects you to propose as an objective; proceed on the principle that if they ask you to set them, it's because they want your opinion...
Negotiate the means
Once you agree on your objectives, check that you have the means to achieve them. You may be required, for example, to request clarification on the following aspects, and to negotiate them:
- what will be your authority? (i.e. the level of decisions you will be able to take without prior agreement from your hierarchy);
- according to what procedures? (if you need a particular procedure to be modified, strengthened or deleted, this is the time to talk about it);
- will you have all the necessary information to achieve the objectives that are required of you? And if not, what needs to be changed so that you are informed in time?
- It is recommended to be precise, even demanding, at the initial stage of this negotiation. Because it is much easier to obtain favorable conditions at the beginning. Once the objectives are accepted, it is more difficult to return to them afterwards, to request adjustments to what you have already validated. Don't forget: as long as half of the resources or time has not been consumed, the objective and the means remain negotiable. But, once this limit is passed, you are committed to the final result and the deadline.
Negotiate deadlines and stages
The implementation schedule for your tasks is an excellent subject for negotiation. Concretely, you can ask that "milestones" be defined on which your superior commits to giving you feedback before you go any further. In this way, you give yourself some breathing room to regularly rediscuss the objectives set, in light of new elements, the evolution of the environment, etc. A mid-way milestone allows you to surface and ask yourself a few questions:
- is the objective still relevant?
- are the means still adequate?
- are the deadlines still realistic?
And, depending on the answers, to start again in a stage negotiation.
3. How to show diplomacy to preserve the future?
For an employee, any professional path requires adjustments, mobility, evolution within the company, and the direct superior is the number one interlocutor! Therefore, you must be considerate... The same goes for your relationships with the rest of the team.
Essential!
Whether you want to evolve while staying in their team, or if you feel like going to another department in the same company, your direct supervisor will be your first interlocutor. You will negotiate with them new missions, a new team, an extended budget, or the terms of a smooth departure.
New team operating rules
As a member of the team formed by your superior and all their direct collaborators, you operate in accordance with a set of explicit and implicit rules, which cover all aspects of team life:
- meetings: methods of convening, preparation, time, duration;
- internal communication: degree of formality, frequency, level of detail of information disseminated;
- the use of space, the coffee machine, and all common resources, etc.
These rules are generally defined by the manager, especially when a team is in the process of being formed or significantly renewed. However, they often stem from habits that have crystallized over the years. If you arrive in an established team, you "inherit" the rules already in place. This does not prevent you from wanting things to change! Each of the common provisions can be the subject of negotiation, either directly with your boss, or collegially, with the entire team.
Isabelle Harlé and Marc Traverson
Published on June 26, 2007
Posted online on June 4, 2009
lentreprise.com
1. How to best negotiate a salary increase?
For those who have some reluctance to talk about money and discuss their own situation, salary negotiation can be a real headache. Here are some simple ideas to avoid drowning in a glass of water.
Prepare your interview
? Some questions to fuel your argument:
- Where do you stand in relation to the salaries of your colleagues?
- What would justify a difference compared to them (in one direction or the other)?
- What is the impact of your activity on the business or the company's activity?
- Ask yourself about your power to harm the employer if you decided to leave (but don't overestimate it: cemeteries, as they say, are full of indispensable people!)
- Have you successfully completed specific and strategic missions in recent months?
- Do you have privileged links with one or more important clients of the company?
- What are your real prospects on the job market?
Choose the right time
- During a company change. It should be known that significant salary increases almost always occur when changing employers. It is when negotiating a new employment contract that it is recommended, if you are in a position to do so, to push the question of remuneration as far as possible. In general, an employer has a salary range. It is up to you to highlight your strengths (rarity of your profile, projected business, knowledge of the competition, specific experience, etc.) to obtain a remuneration "at the top of the range".
- During the annual performance review. If your employer asks you to postpone your request to a specific time of year, they may be trying to dodge the issue. Take them at their word. Remind them, on occasion, that the time has come to put their promise into action. In short, put some psychological pressure on them so that it is difficult for them to back down at the last minute without appearing as someone who does not keep their commitments.
- Be opportunistic. This is an obvious rule, and yet it must be recalled: to make your request, favor a time of relaxation, of success (personal or for the company), a period of calm and tranquility where you know that you will be able to speak to your boss without being interrupted by the telephone.
In case of refusal
- Procedure
- Ask when you should appear before them again to discuss this issue.
- Offer to make the request directly to HR or your N+2.
- Obtain compensation of another type (for example, training that increases your value on the job market, or a benefit in kind, free time, a company car, etc.).
2. What to negotiate in the content of my mission?
For an employee, negotiating the content of their tasks and the way the company operates is a way to prioritize their interest, motivation, and comfort.
Negotiate your objectives
- Companies often have the habit of cascading objectives. And this is how we sometimes inherit objectives that have been negotiated above our heads... without us!
If we accept this principle without reacting quickly enough, we risk finding ourselves in the situation of having to achieve poorly adjusted or irrelevant objectives, with unpleasant long-term consequences.
Therefore, get into the healthy habit of carefully examining any objective that is proposed to you without prior discussion, and if possible, to start a discussion (in the form of negotiation) as soon as you have any doubt.
On the other hand, if you have one of the rare bosses who let you determine your own objectives (yes, it happens!), then take advantage of it, provided you avoid the following two pitfalls:
- complaining about being abandoned - because many managers would like to be in your place
- racking your brains to figure out what the boss expects you to propose as an objective; proceed on the principle that if they ask you to set them, it's because they want your opinion...
Negotiate the means
Once you agree on your objectives, check that you have the means to achieve them. You may be required, for example, to request clarification on the following aspects, and to negotiate them:
- what will be your authority? (i.e. the level of decisions you will be able to take without prior agreement from your hierarchy);
- according to what procedures? (if you need a particular procedure to be modified, strengthened or deleted, this is the time to talk about it);
- will you have all the necessary information to achieve the objectives that are required of you? And if not, what needs to be changed so that you are informed in time?
- It is recommended to be precise, even demanding, at the initial stage of this negotiation. Because it is much easier to obtain favorable conditions at the beginning. Once the objectives are accepted, it is more difficult to return to them afterwards, to request adjustments to what you have already validated. Don't forget: as long as half of the resources or time has not been consumed, the objective and the means remain negotiable. But, once this limit is passed, you are committed to the final result and the deadline.
Negotiate deadlines and stages
The implementation schedule for your tasks is an excellent subject for negotiation. Concretely, you can ask that "milestones" be defined on which your superior commits to giving you feedback before you go any further. In this way, you give yourself some breathing room to regularly rediscuss the objectives set, in light of new elements, the evolution of the environment, etc. A mid-way milestone allows you to surface and ask yourself a few questions:
- is the objective still relevant?
- are the means still adequate?
- are the deadlines still realistic?
And, depending on the answers, to start again in a stage negotiation.
3. How to show diplomacy to preserve the future?
For an employee, any professional path requires adjustments, mobility, evolution within the company, and the direct superior is the number one interlocutor! Therefore, you must be considerate... The same goes for your relationships with the rest of the team.
Essential!
Whether you want to evolve while staying in their team, or if you feel like going to another department in the same company, your direct supervisor will be your first interlocutor. You will negotiate with them new missions, a new team, an extended budget, or the terms of a smooth departure.
New team operating rules
As a member of the team formed by your superior and all their direct collaborators, you operate in accordance with a set of explicit and implicit rules, which cover all aspects of team life:
- meetings: methods of convening, preparation, time, duration;
- internal communication: degree of formality, frequency, level of detail of information disseminated;
- the use of space, the coffee machine, and all common resources, etc.
These rules are generally defined by the manager, especially when a team is in the process of being formed or significantly renewed. However, they often stem from habits that have crystallized over the years. If you arrive in an established team, you "inherit" the rules already in place. This does not prevent you from wanting things to change! Each of the common provisions can be the subject of negotiation, either directly with your boss, or collegially, with the entire team.
Isabelle Harlé and Marc Traverson
Published on June 26, 2007
Posted online on June 4, 2009
lentreprise.com
