Prescription For Excellence

With Dr. James J. Williams

You Expected A Raise And Didn’t Get One – Now What?

This month’s column is Part II of the two-part series of Compensation v Value. Aside from health, if there is one thing COVID-19 has taught us it is to evaluate our value in the workplace. So you put yourself out there, and now you’re feeling vulnerable, unappreciated, or even angry. What should you do?

You’ve been working toward a raise for months and finally summoned the courage to ask your boss, only to be turned down. It’s natural to feel vulnerable, underappreciated, or even angry. Though the rejection can sting, it’s important to remember that you’re at a critical career juncture, and the decisions you make going forward can have an impact on your long-term work satisfaction. Before you make any major moves, consider the following:

Ask For Clarification

Try not to take the “no” personally. Not all salary decisions have anything to do with an employee or their abilities, so it’s important to try to figure out what the true reason is for your boss’s decision. Perhaps salary increases aren’t in the company budget. Perhaps your boss has other reasons—justified or not—for declining your request. Ask your boss to clarify what factors were at play. If a raise isn’t possible now because of financial issues within the company, perhaps it will be possible in the next quarter. Can you revisit the salary issue then?

Reflect Upon Your Long-Term Career Plans

While it may seem tempting to jump ship and move on, career coach, speaker, and author Michael O’Brien says it’s best to take some time to reflect upon your longterm plans and consider the impact that not receiving a raise now will have on those future plans. O’Brien says it’s important to dig deep and do some internal work to clarify your personal value and your relationship with money to understand what is driving your long-term career goals.

If your goal is to make $100,000, ask why this is your goal. Is it for the status? Or is $100,000 the income required to support your family? “By understanding what your money is for and the values you wish to honor, you can be more thoughtful with your next move,” says O’Brien.

By knowing what your values are, you can also see greater possibilities. If you value status or influence over money, for example, perhaps a title change or added responsibilities would be a good compromise and would satisfy your craving. But if you require the funds to purchase a house, or pay down debt, you may not have the flexibility to wait for a raise and may need to start looking elsewhere soon. “When it comes to money, it’s essential to be aware of what it means to you to avoid making reactive decisions that don’t help you reach your long-term goals,” says O’Brien.

Look At The Bigger Picture

Before jumping ship, consider your overall compensation, including any bonuses or benefits, as well as other budget elements, such as your commute, and future growth opportunities within the company. “When you weigh everything, sometimes the grass isn’t greener, but if these don’t align with your future goals, then it’s time to start looking,” says O’Brien. You may also decide that the compensation you receive doesn’t match the contribution you are making to the company and decide that’s reason enough to move on.

Keep Yourself Motivated

Staying motivated at work can be tough while you decide what your next move will be. Write a list of all the things you like about your work. Maybe there are some coworkers you enjoy spending time with, or maybe it’s the work itself that you find enjoyable. Focusing on the positive attributes of your work can help you to get through the negative emotions around being turned down for a raise. “Remember life isn’t about what happens to you; it’s about how you respond to it,” says O’Brien.

The opinions expressed here by Next Generation Speakers Magazine columnists are their own, not those of the magazine itself.

Email - jjwilliamsphd@gmail.com Cell - 301-806-8614 Webstore - ChasingTheEagle.com Twitter @jjwilliamsphd LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/james-j-williams

PRESCRIPTION FOR EXCELLENCE With Dr. James J. Williams SCHOLAR | AUTHOR | SPEAKER | VETERAN | SUCCESS EXPERT

Have you had those type of dreams? Dreams that shake you to your core? Dreams that would let go of you until you do something about them? Dreams that force you to ACT?

That was me. I soon learned the Principle of ACTION. It says that “a Vision without Action will always remain a Dream.”

Remember when we used to go to the movies (I’ll wait….it may be hard to remember). Before the movie started, you would be treated to clips of “coming attractions”; movies coming in the future. These clips were shown to intrigue you, tease you, and excite you enough so that you would TAKE ACTION and make plans to comeback when the movie premieres.

When you TAKE ACTION on your Dreams, you intrigue, tease, excite, and engage your abilities in the same way. The dream gives you a sneak peak of what’s possible in your life. Now you become Accountable to activating those abilities in YOU to make the dream a reality!

For many of you, seeing the dream is all you will need to go out and #BeUnStopABLE! But for me and far too many people I’ve coached over the years, we need to embrace the 2nd principle and “Be Accountable to Believing in self.

Principle #2: Accountable to Believing in self

Growing up as a kid, I shared a house with my mom, 3 siblings, my grandmother, great grandmother and one of my aunts, affectionately called Tee. While all of my relatives encouraged me to be my best, my grandmother and Tee would profesy over my future. My grandmother thought I’d be a great actor like John Wayne and she even gave me his nickname, the DUKE! My aunt felt I was very smart and told me I could be the “next Thurgood Marshall”, the 1st black Supreme Court Justice. These were both wonderful people to be like at the time and they truly believed it for me. I, however, was not convinced. I saw other people over time that I wanted to be like, but here’s the problem. I never believed I could be them or be like them. So instead, I continued to exist. Someone reading this knows what I am talking about.

You’re struggling to find your own identity. As Cicone Prince says, you are waiting to be “introduced to yourself!” You have not personally developed your abilities to the point where you BELIEVE you can be whoever you wish to be. Therefore, you haven’t TAKEN ACTION on becoming UnStopABLE!

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The good news is that it is not too late. You still have time! You are still A.B.L.E. to develop your abilities and strengthen that belief muscle. Once you figure out what you believe in, you will take actions to place some purpose behind those beliefs.

Before I could believe in myself and my abilities, I had to invoke the 3rd principle into the formula. That is Learning from my Life Lessons.

Principle #3: Learn from Your Life Lessons

In this life, it isn’t what you learn from the success as much as you learn from your failures. To learn your abilities, you must go thru some experiences. There is a quote that says, “ you must go thru to grow thru.” That simply means you must have all types of experiences in order to learn what your abilities and capabilities are. This is taught to you thru trials and triumphs. The trials “test” you. The triumphs “bless” you. In either case, they leave an imprint on your memory to be stored for later use.

I didn’t learn I had a passion for driving until I learned how to drive. I didn’t know I would excel in marching band in High school until I failed at sports. I didn’t know I was called to serve on a higher level until I was fired from my good government job. In all the examples, I had to go thru the life lesson and then learn what I was able to do as a result. Your life lessons have molded and shaped you since your were born and will continue to do so until you expire.

Just look at how many new abilities were found in people as a result of COVID19. People everywhere learned new skills, discovered new and/or never used before abilities to make it thru this pandemic. Some used their abilities to make a difference in the lives of others.

So how can you use the Principle of Life Lessons learned to increase your belief in yourself and move you to take action? First, take action by reflecting on the lessons of your life. Many times when we just exist, instead of live, we don’t take the time to reflect. I often heard my elders say, “If it had not been for the Lord on my side, where would I be?”

In those moments, they reflect on their lives and take stock of the lessons learned and the abilities they’ve acquired. In those moments, they learned what they were ABLE to do because they remembered what they had been thru. And because they learned the lessons from the past, it becomes easier to practice the 4th Principle; Accountable for Expecting Success.