Try Looking Through the Boss’s Lenses

What if you tried seeing things from your employer’s point of view? After all, your boss looks at your compensation from a different set of lenses than you do. The smaller the practice, the more this is true.  The paycheck he – or she – hands to you is a direct function of the firm’s profitability.  That’s the context for how your boss sees you.  So, it’s easier to make the case for more pay if you begin by making the case for your contribution to profitability.

There are lots of places to look, no matter where you are in the hierarchy.  Start with document production, for example.  Are there more efficient ways to put written reports together?  Are you running out of supplies at the most inopportune moments?  Would a more carefully managed inventory make a difference?  Suggest something.

When it comes to research, there’s always another angle to try to get just a little more information about a company or its industry.  Push yourself to bring something new into the process.  Something that supports—or rebuts—a particular approach.  The quicker you can move to stitching the parts into the whole report, the more profitable you can be.

The name of the game is to deliberately look for “what’s next?”  What is the next thing that inches you up the ladder?  Climbing the ladder at your practice isn’t necessarily a rung-by-rung proposition.  As a practical matter, it really is a game of inches.  Taking on this task.  Taking on that project.

Initiative like this gets the boss’s attention every time.  And it helps you make the case for better pay.

Initiative like this, ironically, may also be what’s required to assure yourself that this might not be the place for you, after all.  Only an all-out effort will let you satisfy yourself that you’ve given it your best shot and justify leaving.