How To Tell Your Boss You Deserve A Promotion

By Glenn Stok

You have all these wonderful goals and dreams for your future because you know how to improve your company’s profit potential. And you have a plan that will benefit the company you work in. But you don't know how to tell your boss.

Here's how to effectively share your ideas with your boss and get that job promotion you deserve for your knowledge.

You know your company only too well, but you are the low-man (or woman) on the Totem Pole and not really in a position to communicate with upper management. Telling your boss your ideas won’t help.

Either she doesn’t care, or she will be threatened by her subordinate coming up with ways to save the company when she can’t.

Let’s take a scenario as an example. You work in a sales company at a lower level. Your position is liaison for clients who buy your company’s products. You realize that sales are at an alarmingly low level that can’t support the salaries of staff much longer.

From your perspective, you can also see the issues that exist which are causing customers to consider other options. That is a great place to be. Upper management can’t see it. You can. Your boss might see it, but she is not in that frame of mind where you are.

What is that frame of mind? I’ll tell you. It's what career survival is all about!

Career Survival

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Source: Public Domain Clip Art

It’s very important to understand the power that you have with your knowledge of how the company is functioning from your point of view.

It's also important to realize that this power is not only a way how to keep your job, but it can create a whole new career for you within your existing employment. Without even changing jobs!

You need to have a different frame of mind. One that allows you to recognize your own talents and put them to use.

If it's not already part of your job description, but is something that can benefit the company overall, find a way to apply it and your efforts can enhance your position as well.

You need to get this information into the proper hands.

Wait! Not so fast! First off, you are now feeling frightened. That thought of getting this information into the proper hands scares you.

You start thinking negatively. You come up with all these reasons why you can’t do it. No one will listen to you. No one will care. Your opinion doesn’t count since you are not a manager, or because you are not in the product research department.

Or worse, your boss will fire you for doing something outside of your job description.

All these thoughts on your mind are holding you back.

How To Get Your Boss To Support Your Idea

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All these thoughts running around in your head bring out great emotions which are very powerful influences on creating a vision. Don't let those emotions stand in the way.

Try to see wonderful things that can come from your actions. Your vision of the potential results will help you figure out how to present your ideas to your supervisor or maybe even to their boss.

What you want to focus on is a way to show upper management that you are an important entity for the company and your capabilities and talents are not being applied where you are at the present time.

You will want to make it known that you have useful ideas and the knowledge to implement those ideas to improve certain aspects of the company. Whatever it maybe... sales, production, cost savings, you name it.

You know it and they don't. You see areas that need improvement that can benefit the company.

Next thing you know, someone higher up says,

“This fellow down in purchasing has some really good ideas. I like how he had the courage to get to me and I like how he presented his ideas to us. I want him promoted up here. I want him working for me.”

See what I've done. I made you visualize a really positive outcome for yourself. It may be overkill, but maybe not. You need to envision it happening in order to get the courage to even consider taking the first step. You need to shoot for the moon. Then when you come up short, it’s still a lot higher than you ever dreamed.

Okay. So now that I said all that, we still need to gain the courage. Those emotions of yours that I mentioned before are still causing a pretty solid brick wall standing in your way.

Create The Courage

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In order to gain the courage to confront one's boss we need to eliminate all the issues that create the fear. The most important thing to understand is how to handle your boss. There are several ways. The best way is based on his or her type of personality.

So in the end you will need to choose the best method that is in tune with his or her character. You might need to include your boss in on your idea. Let her bring your idea to upper management herself. Or you might give her the credit for the ideas you have and reap the rewards indirectly.

You can start by discussing the idea with her and ask for permission to present your ideas to the head of the company. If she is the kind of person who just doesn’t care and stops you, then your need to consider other options.

How To Promote Yourself In The Company

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Never give up. There are always other options. For example, you might one day run into the head-boss, maybe in an elevator. You didn’t go over your boss’s head! This was a chance meeting. Take advantage of it. Plan ahead.

You’ve heard of the elevator pitch? Plan one. Keep it ready in your mind for the time when the opportunity presents itself.

They don't need to happen in elevators. They can happen anywhere when the opportunity presents itself. Basically you start by mentioning who you are. Lead into your understanding of the problem. Pique their interest with a brief explanation of a problem as you see it from your level. Then give a quick account of the solution that you envision and why you think it will help.

Write the whole plan on paper. Review it and rewrite it. Fix the weak spots and review it again. Change it a thousand times if you need to. Every time you read it and want to change something means that you found something you are still not satisfied with.

Every change that you make means an improvement. Keep improving until you feel totally satisfied and comfortable with it.

When you do end up presenting your ideas, it could result in a job promotion when your boss realizes you need to be placed in a position where you can bring about those changes you were talking about. If not immediately, a job advancement could come down the road.

Now, go on and conquer, all the best of luck to you.