promoting yourself
We often have a hard time “selling ourselves.” We’ve been taught not to seek too much attention and yet, especially when it comes to the workplace, we need to be able to promote ourselves in order to make an impact and move up in our careers. Whether you’re interviewing, writing a self-assessment or resume, or looking for a promotion, this is key.
Ultimately, promoting yourself in the workplace comes down to three steps -
Practicing confidence, owning your worth
Defining what you want
Connecting it back to the business/role
So first, we need to add a dose of confidence. Confidence isn’t something we’re born with, it’s a muscle that we practice. Here’s an easy tool that I use all the time to activate the confidence muscle. When you feel more confident, you’re more likely to take credit for the good work you’re doing. So what are you most proud of at work? How have you contributed to the team? What do you add? I know you’ve done a lot. Let’s celebrate that. It’s so important to build yourself up before promoting yourself. Because you have to believe in yourself in order for those around you to buy in too.
Second, let’s figure out what you want. In order to get what you want, you have to know what you want. Especially in negotiating, I always suggest coming up with three benchmarks - your walk away point (the lowest bar you’ll be satisfied with), your middle ground (typically a more lateral move) and your best case (a step up - of course, we always shoot for this one). Defining what you want ahead of time gives you the clarity to then ask for it. (And the confidence we talked about in part 1 will help you ask for it even if it feels uncomfortable. You’ve got this.)
Lastly, we always want to connect our desires at work back to the company or role. How does getting what you want actually benefit them? Here it’s so important to know your audience. What’s important to them? How is this a good deal for them? We always want to be thinking of them so that we can position our desires in a way that makes sense to them. They’re going to be way more likely to give you what you want when you think about them too.
If you want to be promoted, for example, first build yourself up. How have you been excelling in your current role? What are your strengths? Why will you be great in the next role? Then figure out what you want specifically. Why do you want this promotion? What’s most important about it? Define exactly what you want and the three benchmarks. Do you have any wiggle room? What would you be willing to compromise? Then think about the business and the boss. What are they looking for in this next role? How could this change benefit them? What do you anticipate they’ll say? How would you want to respond to that? When we do these three things, promoting ourselves feels easy and doable. And if you want more help, please don’t hesitate to sign up for a free consult here.
