How To Get A Promotion Or Pay Raise

This article will show you how you can become a more valuable, influential and in demand employee. By becoming bigger than your current position, you will naturally attract new opportunities, whether this is in your current employment or a new organization. The strategies do not rely on working longer hours, or working overtime, but rather by increasing your value and working on higher level activities.

The topics of getting a promotion and getting a pay raise are similar and related so I have combined them into one article for ease of reference.

Getting an annual pay increment may be a routine exercise which may be automatic, or may be linked to employee performance in some way. But by getting a pay raise, most people would be thinking of a raise that was higher than a routine increment. To achieve this, there needs to be focus on value, so that there is recognition of the value you bring to the organization. There may be opportunities for promotion, which would attract higher pay, or there may be other opportunities for bonus payments. Ways of operating vary greatly by organization, and also by the size of organization. If your organization is not a commercial entity, it may be harder to measure value and obtain a pay raise based on performance, so a promotion may be the best strategy.

Some roles are task based, and some are performance based, or a combination of the two. If your role is performance based it could be easier to get a pay raise as this is likely to be already set out. If your role is task based, your focus should always be on the highest priority tasks so that you can add more value. As you build momentum, new higher priority tasks may come your way. And with more responsibility, comes greater reward.

The key to bear in mind is how can you become a more valuable employee? How can you add more value to your organization? How can you become more productive, or add more value in some other way? The most efficient way to achieve this without working more hours, is to be more productive during the hours you currently work, and to work on the highest priority areas. The article Productivity Secrets will show you how to become a lot more productive in the same amount of time or less.

This means doing the most important work first, focusing on doing the right things, rather than other activities. It’s about having an overview and making sure that all your work is completed to the best of your ability, in a way which is prioritised based on the most important activities. To make this easier you can make a list, preferably at the end of the day so that you can get on with the first task in the morning. 

By focusing on the most important tasks and completing them to the best of your ability, you can build momentum and make each day successful.

Do your best and attract the best

Always do your work to the best of your ability, and you will naturally attract greater opportunities, more responsibility and eventually greater reward. Through becoming more effective, and bigger than your present role you will attract new opportunities. To help you do your work to the best of your ability, make a list of the key components of your role, what are the key areas and what are the skills and abilities you need to complete the work? Rate your current ability against these areas and look at how you can increase your skills and abilities. Break down any areas which are task based and which are performance based. How can you improve your performance?

You will become more influential, people will notice and will want to know how you are accomplishing your work, they will ask for your opinion and you will become the person they want to give new responsibilities and opportunities to. Doing your best will also enhance your confidence and satisfaction.

Become a problem solver

Build your initiative and seek out better ways of doing things, ask for more responsibility and become a “Fixer” or problem solver. Always be looking for better ways to do things, and finding solutions to problems. For a problem to be a problem, there has to be a solution, otherwise it would not be a problem. Become known as someone who can fix and solve problems, and you will increase your value. This approach can also make your work more rewarding and satisfying.

If you are a valuable employee, your employer will not want to lose you to a competitor. Being a highly effective employee will make you indispensable and will give you confidence and peace of mind in your ability to earn an income.

Here are some ways to add value to your organization:

What’s working and what’s not working?
Review the key activities of your organization and analyse the results – what’s working and what’s not working? Many businesses have been scaled up significantly simply by asking the question “What’s working and what’s not working” and then by doing more of what is working and less of what isn’t working, or fixing what isn’t working as required.

Study company objectives
Is there a business plan? Vision or mission statement? Seek to understand your organization’s objectives better so that you can find opportunities to improve performance.

Sales Opportunities
Look for ways to increase sales by reviewing the sales process and finding new ways to generate leads and customers.

Better processes
Review areas like lead generation, lead conversion and client fulfillment. How can each area be improved so that more leads are generated and converted into customers, and how can the fulfilment process be improved so that the business builds the best possible reputation?

Reviews and referrals
Monitor the online reviews left by customers, how can reviews be improved and how can referrals be used to attract new customers?

Customer feedback
What can you learn from customer feedback? What opportunities are there for new products and services? What do customers want? What do they like or dislike? Are there any trends? What are their pain points and what do they want to solve? Take time to analyze customer reviews, and plan surveys to gain valuable customer feedback. The organizations who understand their customers the best will always have a strategic advantage over their competitors.

Competitor audit and analysis
Take time to review competitors, their marketing and social media presence, their customer reviews and general online presence. What are they doing and how?

Industry trends
Research trends in the sector and find new opportunities to serve customers. Also look at other unrelated sectors for new opportunities and strategies.

Planning
Could you implement more effective planning processes and project management?

Annual calendar
Could you compile an annual calendar covering promotions, events, content planning etc? To help with planning for the organization and provide an overview.

Cost savings
Are there any cost savings which could be made? Is there any wastage which could be cut back? For example $1,000 saved is $1,000 back on the profits generated. It’s often easier to make cost savings in the right areas than to generate new income. Find better ways of doing things, but without suggesting cutbacks in staff. For example if a staff member or team is not generating the right returns, what could they do to improve their performance? What else could they focus on?

Finding better ways
Keep note of any ideas you have and always search for better ways to do things. There are always better ways of doing things.

Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy meaning “change for the better” or “continuous improvement.” It’s based on making small incremental improvements across different areas. Look for small improvements you can make, if an area can be improved by 1% every week, this will build into a huge improvement over time, even after a relatively short period of time.

Analysis
Could you analyze current results and review reasons and opportunities?

KPIs or Key Performance Indicators
Is the company tracking the right performance metrics? Could a real time data dashboard report help the company focus on objectives and performance? Could this also help boost team performance, motivation and satisfaction?

Publishing
Are there any opportunities for publishing and content marketing which could position the organization as the leading choice or authority while providing valuable content and information to customers?

Becoming an entrepreneurial employee
A further approach could be to look at the possibility of being an entrepreneurial employee – there are no hard and fast definitions or rules, but some employers could be open to adding a performance based element as an additional responsibility for you which you then work on to add more value to the organization – effectively the best of both worlds – the security of a monthly paycheck and the rewards for being entrepreneurial.

Become bigger than your position
The starting point is to become bigger than your present role – work efficiently on the most important tasks, and do the work to the best of your ability. It takes more focus and effort – but does not take any more time – and the rewards will be more than just financial. In fact, this approach can give you more free time. You will feel proud and more accomplished and with the right level of reward, you will be able to enjoy more time off, so you can gain in multiple ways.

Study company information
As a next step you can review all the company documentation, any business plans and objectives etc. Then look at how you can add value, talk to your boss about your ideas. Always make sure your responsibilities are fully taken care of before you start any new projects, and it’s always best to discuss ideas with your boss before spending any time on activities, especially if they are not within your remit currently. Discuss your ideas and suggestions and see if you can find a way forward. Don’t ask about a pay raise at this point, focus on increasing your value first.

By increasing your value you will also become the obvious choice for any new promotion opportunities, you will become known as a go to person. Another tip is to avoid office politics and gossip as this is negative and wastes a lot of time and energy.

If you take a few of the tips from this article and implement them, you will start to see and feel a difference in the value you are providing, and it’s then only a matter of time before this is recognised. Do your best and you will attract the best opportunities.

Breaking the link between time and money
To further increase your income you can also look at building multiple streams of income in your spare time. By breaking the link between time and money you can build true financial freedom, since there is only a limited amount of time in a working week, time can limit your income. By building passive income, you can break the link between time and money. Read the article on Affiliate Marketing And Passive Income for more information.

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