Securing a promotion is a common professional goal that offers several benefits, such as increased pay, expanded job scope, personal fulfillment, and improved job security.
Yet, promotions can be hard to come by—especially for remote workers. According to data from the National Office for Statistics, employees who primarily work from home are less than half as likely to receive a promotion compared to their in-person colleagues.
To earn a promotion, you must be a good negotiator. Effectively communicating your organizational value and professional development goals to your employer is vital.
Here's an overview of negotiation's importance in career advancement and the steps you can take to get a promotion.
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DOWNLOAD NOWWhy Is Negotiation Important for Career Advancement?
Working harder to increase the likelihood of advancing your career may seem intuitive, but it doesn't automatically earn you a promotion. Your technical and industry expertise are just a piece of the puzzle; you need soft skills like communication and persuasion, too.
You also might encounter resistance when pursuing a promotion. It's essential to learn how to negotiate, especially because your employer may not initiate the conversation.
Here’s how to negotiate a promotion.
7 Steps to Negotiating a Promotion
1. Know Your Worth
Communicating your value to your employer is crucial, particularly during performance reviews. Doing so helps demonstrate what you can bring to a new role.
Before negotiating, do research to ensure you understand the position’s additional responsibilities and duties. Be prepared to explain why you're well suited for it and how you can contribute to the company's objectives.
Remember to highlight why you're a good personality fit, too. This is particularly important for managerial positions where soft skills and personal characteristics are crucial to success.
2. Set Goals
Know how your goals relate to the promotion before approaching the bargaining table.
Come prepared with the following:
- Salary expectations: Know how much you hope to make and the minimum you're willing to accept if the promotion includes a raise.
- Target job title: Familiarize yourself with the position’s tasks and responsibilities.
- Desired skills: Identify what skills you want to improve, how the new role facilitates your professional development, and how your promotion can benefit the company.
You also need to know what you’ll do if you don't get your desired outcome. Your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) is the course of action you'll take if you can’t reach a compromise. For example, will you seek employment elsewhere or keep working in your current role?
You should also set a stretch goal—an unlikely but possible outcome.
“As you go into negotiation, you should picture an outstanding result,” says Harvard Business School Professor Michael Wheeler in the online course Negotiation Mastery. “Something that's probably a long shot, but not a fantasy either. Something that you might say has a 10 percent chance of happening.”
3. Be Ready for Various Scenarios
Negotiating can be unpredictable, despite your extensive preparation and research. Be ready to improvise and adapt to overcome unforeseen barriers or resistance.
“You don’t know what the other party will say or do, so you need to think quickly on your feet,” Wheeler says in Negotiation Mastery. “However, that doesn’t mean you can make everything up as you go along, just winging it. Instead, as part of your preparation, you need to imagine the different twists and turns the conversation may take.”
4. Understand Your Counterpart
You may already have a rapport with your counterpart. However, negotiating a promotion can involve interacting with someone you don't work closely with.
In such cases, it's critical to thoroughly research the other party to understand their perspectives, preferences, and concerns. This can help you build trust.
“If you haven’t established a level of trust—if people think you’re chesting your cards, you’re bluffing, or whatever the case may be—they have no incentive to be any more open than you are,” Wheeler says in a Facebook Live lecture.
By identifying your counterpart’s personality traits, communication styles, and negotiation tactics, you can craft an effective, persuasive argument.
Check out the video below to learn about negotiation skills you should develop, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!
5. Keep Your Emotions in Check
Ideally, your employer will be open and receptive to discussing a promotion—but that’s not always the case. For this reason, emotional intelligence is critical to achieving your desired outcome.
“Step one is keeping your composure,” Wheeler explains in Negotiation Mastery. “Step two is resisting the temptation to hit back.”
Work on developing your emotional intelligence skills, including:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Empathy
- Motivation
- Social skills
Doing so will help you not only in your negotiations but also in leadership positions.
6. Anticipate Challenges
You might encounter several challenges during the negotiation. It's critical to ensure you're prepared for them.
Stereotypes like gender or racial bias can play a role, especially since they’re often subconscious. According to a McKinsey Women in the Workplace report, for every 100 men that receive a promotion, 87 women get promoted, and only 82 women of color.
“You also need to be aware of how you may be perceived—or misperceived—when dealing with negotiators who have developed mental stereotypes of people who may superficially seem like you,” Wheeler says in Negotiation Mastery.
Cultural differences can also influence negotiations in both domestic and international contexts.
“It’s doubtful that everyone in your organization negotiates the same way,” Wheeler says in the course. “That’s certainly the case regarding people living in your region or your whole country.”
When managing cultural differences, prepare for possible misunderstandings and misinterpretations. For example, methods of communication vary across cultures. While some people expect clear responses when negotiating, others rely on indirect communication, such as gestures and body language.
7. Avoid Common Mistakes
Common mistakes can hinder the negotiation and prevent a successful outcome—even if you thoroughly prepare for it.
Negotiation mistakes to avoid include:
- Sitting down without shaking hands
- Letting stress or anxiety negatively impact the conversation
- Being unwilling to listen to others’ perspectives
- Over-preparing and presenting numbers before considering your counterpart's point of view
- Using rude, aggressive, or accusatory language
- Immediately reacting to ultimatums or rejections
- Sacrificing your values to get a better outcome
- Rushing the conversation
Evading these mistakes will go a long way toward ensuring you get the promotion you want.
Prepare to Negotiate Your Promotion
If negotiating a promotion seems intimidating, the right training can help you gain the confidence and negotiation skills to land your desired role.
For example, by taking Negotiation Mastery, you can gain practical experience through negotiation simulations that enable you to apply your knowledge to real-life scenarios.
Want to learn more about how developing your negotiation skills can advance your career? Explore Negotiation Mastery—one of our online leadership and management courses—and download our free leadership e-book.
