Equal Pay Day: Ask For It

I love helping clients ask for the raises they have earned. And I love even more when they get them! I helped clients successfully negotiate raises, promotions and additional benefits. Here’s one of my favorites.

A client worked for a company that gave a modest Cost of Living raise each year. We were preparing for her performance review, and she had the best year ever. We crafted a story which allowed her to articulate the value (both quantitative and qualitative) she contributed to the company that year. She was ready with what she wanted to ask for: a raise, a promotion, and additional responsibilities.

In her performance review, her manager sang her praises and thanked her for a great year. Then offered her a $1500 raise. She was prepared and replied, “Thank you, I love working here, but that raise is not in line with the value that I bring to our company.” After some back and forth, her manager said he was only authorized to give her a raise of $3000, and it was more than the raises others were getting. If she wanted more, he would have to talk to the boss. She said, “Great, and if there are any details I can share with you to present a strong case, I’ll give you what you need.”

A month later, this client earned a promotion and a pay increase of $20,000.

Know your worth! Track the contributions you are making to your company and be prepared to tell your story. Finally, don’t be timid. Keep pushing! If your company can’t give you the raise immediately, schedule a timeline and clear milestones/actions for you to earn that raise.

I would love to help you earn what you deserve! Let’s set up a coaching session to prepare you for that ask. Get it, girl!

Thank you Adam Grant, You Explained Why I Wander the Aisles of Target So Often

Last year, I took on a new freelance project and was out to lunch with my new colleagues.  Because this group travels quite a bit for work, we were discussing how/where we do our best work.  Both of my colleagues described a quiet room with few distractions where they could put their head down and work.  My answer was entirely different; I do my best work wandering the aisles of Target.

I often like to start things, walk away from them, think about them when I’m driving in my car, wandering the aisles of Target, or other free-thinking spaces, then come back to the assignment to edit and finish.  I couldn’t explain why this worked for me until I was recently reminded of Adam Grant’s book Originals and this excellent TEDTalk.  Procrastination is valuable.  Stepping away from a big idea or task can make it better.  He talks about it better than I ever will; so watch this video.  And if you only have a little time to procrastinate; start at 1:42.

The surprising habits of original thinkers | Adam Grant

 

How to Evaluate Your Work in the Gig Economy

The Gig Economy: it’s sexy, liberating, and scary. So how do you know if you’re doing it right?

I recently went through this three-step exercise with a client to create a clear understanding of how she is currently spending her time and effort and shift to spending if more effectively.

1 – Establish Clear Career Objectives.
We have to identify objectives for so much of our traditional full-time work; don’t give that up when you transition to Gig work. Some Career Objectives that may have you shifting to Gig Work could be location independence, work you are passionate about, additional income while starting your business, or reduction of hours working.

Keep these objectives front and center through this exercise.

2 – Create a List of each Gig with your pay information.
Pay. Your pay may be a flat fee or hourly rate.
Time. How much time do you actually spend to earn this money? Consider unpaid travel time, how often you wake up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts, preparation time before a meeting, completing time sheets or invoices. My former manager in my agency life would ask, “If you weren’t on this project, what would still be doing this (driving, prepping, etc)?” Consider how much time you are spending if this is ongoing work. While you can include any upfront costs of sales efforts to get this Gig or administrative work; I generally look at those at sunk costs. I consider them in my annual analysis but not in this snapshot.
Actual Hourly Rate. Divide Your Pay by your Time.

3 – Identify a Value for each Gig.
Value. On a scale of 0-10, how much value do you receive from this work? Your cost is the more qualitative side of your Gig. Value can come from your passion for the job, whether you are building foundational content that can be resold or reused if this Gig gets you closer to your goals, and any other considerations while thinking of value?
Considerations. Is there anything else you can to note about this Gig? All the factors will roll up into the score you select for value, but this is a pause point for you to get out anything else that is on your mind about this Gig.

4 – Visualize Your Gigs on a Scatterplot
Whether you use excel or paper and pen, see where your Gigs land.
The X-axis: Your Actual Hourly Rate
The Y-axis: Your Value Score
This Scatterplot will show you your High Pay, High-Value Gigs. How do you do more of that? Should you stop any of the Low Pay, Low-Value Gigs? Can you adjust your expectations and stress for the Low Pay, Low-Value Gigs to remind yourself these are temporary and helping pay the bills for now while making your energy is going to grow your High Pay, High-Value Gigs.

The Gig Economy is varied and messy. There’s not one path where you are solely doing your High Pay, High-Value Gigs. Having clarity and awareness of your current situation is essential. And be deliberate in moving towards your goals in the future. If you are stuck on this exercise and want to complete it together or if you finished this exercise and want to create a plan to move forward, contact me for a 1:1 Coaching Session.

Photo: SELF Journal by Best Self Co.  Check out their amazing tools.  Use code BGSDSelf to get 15% off your order!

4 Lessons from a High Performing Team

“Teamwork doesn’t seem like work.” Early on in my career, a friend used to say this all the time usually while playing teams in Halo. But it has become one of my top 5 sayings while working on teams. Probably because people find is so cheesy they can’t help but smile when they hear it.

It seems almost everyone is on a team at work. I’ve had the great fortune to be part of several great teams. There is one team that has stood out for me in my career. We were a high performing team, and it was fun. Years ago, I was in a focus group on high performing teams. While the facilitator was asking questions, I was able to reflect on how special it is to be a part of a top performing team. Here are a few things that I learned.

Respect: when developing a team, start with the confidence that every team member is here for a reason. There is something you can learn from them, and they can add value to the team.

Shared Goal: our shared goal was always more important than personal goals or roles. We were four people working together to solve X. We all had valuable skills and knowledge to contribute to the shared goal.

Listen & Pause: we did more listening than talking and we were comfortable in the silence. Sometimes we needed to pause and allow an idea or perspective to settle. We respect each other to listen to everyone’s opinions and created a safe space for people to speak up and be heard.

Effective Communications: we provided clear status reports and action items. We didn’t spend hours on conference calls or holed up in a conference room. We connected when we needed to but gave each other time to complete action items.

What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned while being on teams?

It’s Not You; It’s Me Resignation Letter

A resignation letter is meant to achieve two objectives:
1 – Provide HR with the details they need to complete their paperwork.  Namely, identify your last day.
2 – A thank you letter to the company that you are resigning from.

As you prepare to leave your current company, take some time to reflect on what your current company has done for you: What skills did you build?  In which areas has your confidence grown?  What experience did you get?  How did your professional network expand?

As tough as the end of your time at a company can be, there have been positive moments.  Focus on those when writing your resignation letter.

It’s okay to leave a company and for neither party to bad or wrong.  You may have outgrown your potential growth, want to take a turn in your path, learn new skills, make more or work with people with a new perspective.  Growth is good!  Who knows, maybe you’ll go get experience somewhere else and come back to your current company to contribute more value?

Use this opportunity to craft a resignation letter to celebrate the good times, thank your company for their investment in you, and maintain relationships with your coworkers.

Spare 5 Minutes to Achieve Your Goal

With two and a half months left in the year; identify that 2018 goal you still want to achieve. It may be a written goal at your company or a personal goal you’ve been procrastinating about moving forward.

Assign five minutes at the start or end of every day on your calendar. Write down three things you did yesterday or today which help move you towards your goal. And one missed opportunity where you could have worked towards your goal.

It’s best if you can have a SMART goal; see this blog article about SMART goals. Here are some ideas for SMART goals.

– By the end of the year, I want my contributions at work to be more strategic thinking vs. tactical thinking.

– I will reduce my daily sugar intake to 20g for the next two weeks.

– I will find a new job in the next six months by focusing on expanding my network, updating my resume and cover letter, and applying for three jobs per week.

Common Sense Always Wins

There are so many ways to say it…
K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
Control Your Controllable
Focus

It all goes back to… common sense always wins.  When we can keep it simple and focus, we have a direction to move in.  When we focus on what makes sense, the challenges seem easier to tackle, and the opportunities seem more attainable.

Often times we overcomplicate things that are happening to or around us.  We try to look at every possible outcome or factor, take in all the advice people are given us and all the emotions we have.  We get stuck, we can’t make a decision, we can’t move forward.

Think about a challenge or problem you currently have.  Take yourself out of the situation and imagine a stranger is there instead.  What would common sense tell you about this situation? What advice would you give to the stranger?  What relevant insight or information would you share?  What information would you omit (no need to overshare)?  How can you simplify this situation?  If it helps, write it out on a piece of paper.  Think about a few realistic outcomes and make a decision to move forward.

If it’s the right decision, you’re one step closer.  If the outcome was less than desirable, you have the opportunity to change directions and can review and edit the document you already created.

The S.T.A.R. Method is Everywhere – Especially in Interviews

The hot new approach in business is to share stories via the S.T.A.R. method.  Whether you are applying for a job or up for your annual review, the S.T.A.R. method can help you shine like a star (I really couldn’t help myself there).

The S.T.A.R. method focuses on:
Situation
Task
Action
Result

Situation.  Think big picture here.  What’s the current environment? If you were doing a SWOT analysis of the business opportunity, you could include some of those details in your Situation.

Task.  Here we get more specific of what problem you are going to solve or the business opportunity.

Action. Teamwork is vital (especially if it’s a position on a team) and so are individual contributions towards a collective goal.  Share the specific steps you took and how your actions integrated with other’s efforts.

Result.  What are the specifics of the results?  When on the job hunt, percentages may be more meaningful than a number.  Or if you’re applying for a sales position, use numbers.  Results can also be qualitative and quantitative.  Be confident that your contributions matter and take credit for your work.

Here’s an example of how it could look.

My company wanted to expand their digital offering.  All of our competitors were competing in this space and impacting our core business.  (situation)

My team was challenged with identifying the value proposition of our digital offering and demonstrating how it can enhance our core business.  (task)

We worked together to develop our plan.  I lead the competitive research phase creating SWOT analysis which was the foundation for the brainstorms around messaging.  After the brainstorms, I synthesized the information and our team presented to the executive team.

I’m proud to say that our digital offering is growing by 135% YOY to contribute to the overall growth of the company by 105%.  The executive team is very pleased with how this project expanded our digital offering and overall business.  And we are getting fantastic feedback from customers about how easy the digital offering is to use.  They are repeating our value prop and messaging back to us.

If written it out, keep it short but specific.  About 250 words.  It could fit nicely within your cover letter or online performance review form.  Then during your actual review or interview, you should have notes about how you can go deeper.

The S.T.A.R. method is an evolution of the Challenge/Solution approach.  It allows you to dig deeper and tell a stronger, more specific story.   Shine like the star that you are!  You are perfect for that new job, and you’ve earned that promotion!  Let the S.T.A.R. method help you receive everything you’re worth!

How will you pay it forward for someone else’s career?

Who do you wish you had in your career – a mentor, an influencer, a teacher, a networker, a challenger? Be that person for someone else!

Consider a few points in your career where some gave you advice or took a risk on you. Who were they? What did the do for you? Are there people you see in your professional circles that could benefit from something similar?

Professional Women: This is a particular call out to you. How are you going to help another professional woman break the glass ceiling or get off the sticky floor?

For Those Who Are Approaching A Different Commencement: Retirement

In May, I talked about recent college graduates commencing and taking on their first job post-college. There is also another group commencing; those commencing to retirement. Congratulations to those approaching retirement! How do you want to spend the last year or months of your career? How can you contribute the most value? Here are some things to consider when approaching commencement to retirement.

You are at the point in your career where you will have the most skills and knowledge. Focus on ways you can add the most value to your company, peers, and mentees.

Here are some thought starters to help you clarify the objectives/goals for your time before retirement.

1 – Have you achieved the work persona you desire?
Here are some personas you may have aspired to your career:
– the successful individual contributor
– the mentor that people find for career advice
– the knowledgeable person who has valuable information or perspective to help make decisions
– the collaborative person with ideas to improve the company
Identify who you want to be and walk the walk. Be the best person you want to be. Especially with the finite time left, you can commit to being your best for one more year. When you feel that you are giving any less than your best, take a pause point: reflection on the situation, put it in perspective, be your best.

2 – How do you leave the company set up for success?
Transitioning Workload: Use the time you have to successfully transfer your workload to the next person(s). Set your successor up for success. Have a clear transition plan and be comfortable playing support through the transition as they get the opportunity to lead. Even if they have the confidence to fully take the responsibility or task before your last day, great, let them run with it. It will give you more time for people and wrapping up projects. Transitioning Knowledge: What information do you solely have? Who can share that information to ensure continued success?

3 – How do you plan for success in retirement?
You’ve conquered successful transition before in your life. College to Professional, Single to Married, or added to your life with kids, pets, or commitments. Each of those transitions required planning and flexibility. Retirement will be the same way.
– Consider what routines and activities you value currently. What will you keep? Where will you invest more time? What will stop with your full-time work?
– Set up some pause points. Identify some timelines where you will pause to evaluate how you are spending your time, energy, and month. This pause point allows you to live in the moment for a defined period. For example, you could say, “I don’t want to do anything for the first three months.” Great. Enjoy that freedom and flexibility for three months. And be fully present in that timeline knowing you’ll review and reevaluate in 3 months.
– Plan a bucket list item. Have you wanted to travel somewhere? Or pick up a new hobby. Plan to start this upon retirement. This activity/event will be something to look forward to and to plan for. It will also give you a strong answer when people ask, “You’re retiring….what are you going to do?” It’s a question with great intentions but can be overwhelming if you don’t have a plan.

Congratulations on approaching this career and life milestone. Enjoy your final year of work and focus on what you value: people, sharing value, specific contributions.