When should you request an honest career conversation with your boss?

- You want a raise. You need more resources. You're ready for more training. You see it, but your boss doesn't, yet. Let's walk through the timing, the strategy, and the techniques to ask for an honest career conversation with your boss and how to be sure your message and request are received well. Now, you might be thinking, but this just feels awkward. I want them to recognize what I'm worth. I understand that. It's hard to ask for what we think we're worth. We might fear rejection or ridicule if we claim to be worth something someone else doesn't see. The reality is this is your career. And you need to ask for it. There are no guarantees your request will be granted. But to just cross your fingers and hope you'll be recognized, well, that gives away your power. In today's workplace, we can either wait for good things to find us or we can pursue them with intention and purpose. When we take control over our career and advocate for ourselves, we see better results. So let's take a look at some of the reasons you might want to sit down with your boss and have this kind of discussion. Number one, perhaps you're at a point in your career where you want more responsibility, but that responsibility keeps being given to other people. Number two, are you stuck in your position because your skills need updating or upgrading to enable you to add more value? Maybe you need to finish that college degree or get some kind of an advanced certification to do your job better. And number three, have you been in the same role, adding value for quite some time but at the same pay grade? Are others around you being promoted and given raises while you stay the same? These are good examples of times when you might need to request and have a conversation with decision-makers, in this case, your boss, to get some resolution. Now, let's move from hope to action and talk through what you need to do to get ready to have an honest career conversation with your boss. You're going to start by asking yourself these questions. First, what is the key issue, concern, or request I want to address? Stripping away all the emotion, ask yourself, what do I want? Next, are there external factors I need to consider? For example, does my boss have decision-making power? Then ask yourself, how's my timing? If I'm asking for a promotion or a raise, when are budgets due? And finally, what will I consider success from the conversation? Am I asking my boss to consider my request, decide on the spot, offer me feedback, what? An honest career conversation should be just that, honest. You should speak with directness and heart, but also have your thoughts and goals organized to make the best use of your time and your boss's time. So stop, take a moment. Consider what you'll be asking and how you will decide if the outcome is a success.