How to Negotiate Your Market Value When Everyone Else is Freaking Out
It’s a Tough Time
But Yes You Can Negotiate Your Raise or Promotion
Everyone’s jittery even if business is good. Some businesses actually are doing well. I know because I’ve had dozens of free 15-minute coronavirus calls with people interviewing for open jobs or working harder than ever at their pre-#pandemic jobs with no increase in compensation.
Can you negotiate under these circumstances? Yes you can, but you must thread the needle we’ve been threading since the Stone Age where the ultimate sanction - ostracism from the tribe - was meted out to two types of people - hoarders (think the 1%) and moochers..
Deeply embedded in our evolutionary social psychology is the principle that everyone should eat, everyone should be housed, and everyone should be taken care of, no matter how young or old, how well or how sick, how hobbled or how vital. Equally deep within our psyches is the principle that everyone should contribute to the well- being of the tribe. As my dad always used to say no matter the task “EVERYBODY WORKS!” And that always included whatever useful think the toddlers could do. I thought it was a depression-era inclination but he was right.
EVERYBODY WORKS to the best of their ability.
We’ve now been rudely thrust into a time when those Stone Age (and Depression-era) values are resurgent. It is a time of shared sacrifice, not a time for over-reaching.
How then do you ask for your market value when so many people are out of work, when your bosses may rightly fear for their own job security and when the company fears that the present or future economic contraction or collapse will destroy it.
You Prepare the Ground to Negotiate
You start by being genuinely concerned for everyone else’s well-being. That’s the basis of a good negotiation in normal times. Because a successful negotiation requires trust and fellow feeling, your first step is to create an atmosphere of hope and safety. To do that, you first need to know what your negotiation partner is worried about, how they’re planning for the present and future, and what obstacles, internal and external, they might need help with.
Here’s a good and super simple opening question: How are you doing?
This is the fellow feeling part. Ask the question and follow up with sympathy (“gee that’s tough”) and empathy (“I know what you mean, we’ve been worried about x, y and z too).
Most people will follow with “is there anything I can do to help?” It’s a good inclination but nearly always results in “no” or “I can’t see how.” A better response is, “gee, I think I might be able to help by doing p, q or r.”
Now, you’re not only in the same boat, you are on the same side of the table, helping to solve the problems that your negotiation partner has. You’ve cracked the “hope and safety” nut. There are solutions (hope) and you’ve suggested some. , You’re a helper, not a whiner. You’re safe.
That’s Easy, You Say, But What About the Hard Part of Asking for Something for Myself?
The ground is still not entirely prepared. You’ll want to know whether now is the time to discuss the raise that was promised you during the first quarter of 2020. Is it still on the table? You don’t want to over-reach during a difficult time but if there’s no obstacle to putting that raise or promotion into effect, you’d love to have the opportunity to discuss it.
If you get push-back, it’s probably not the time. But that doesn’t mean you should let it slip between the organizational cracks. I’ve been advising my clients to suggest that you circle back to the discussion when things are more settled or the future more predictable. Set a date, a tentative one.
Let’s calendar the end of June, how about the 31st, to come back together to discuss how we’re going to move forward together.
And don’t forget your promise of help. Add to your rescheduling request something like “and let’s also schedule a time to discuss ways in which we can address that problem we discussed earlier. How about next Friday? I’d really like to lend a hand to getting us all through this challenging time.”
These suggestions are just standard “interest based” or “mutual benefit” negotiation strategies that everyone should be using in normal times. Right now, it’s imperative that every negotiator create fellow feeling, establish an atmosphere or trust and safety, genuinely place others’ interests on an equal footing with your own, actively listen and offer to be of service.
These desperate times will end. Your career will proceed. Those workers who have helped steer the course toward survival will benefit in ways beyond their wildest imaginations.
If you have specific questions about your individual situation, book a free 15-minute consult if it’s a problem arising from the #pandemic or a reduced-cost hour consultation if its just another day at work.