Calm, Clear, and Prepared: Advocating for Yourself in the Workplace
Self advocacy is one of your best tools for professional development
Once you establish yourself in your workplace, your manager might begin to speak with you about professional development opportunities. You will be encouraged to build your own path and seek your own avenues for growth. However, from this point, your manager may step away or become less involved in that growth, as the onus for the development falls to you as an established employee. You may be faced with the challenge of advocating for yourself in order to reach your goals or be presented with new opportunities. You may even advocate for yourself in other contexts, from verbalizing your needs for your role, standing up for yourself (respectfully of course), requesting an accommodation pursuant to a disability, or relaying the needs of others. In this Article, we provide five best practices to hone your advocacy skills and present your best argument.
Be Clear On What You Want
First and foremost, you have to know what you want from the conversation. If you go into the room with open hands and no plan, you will not only not receive what you want, you may even be seen as disorganized or needy.
Your manager is not a mind reader; unless there is an established path for growth or regular milestone development rewards, you will not receive anything for which you don’t ask. So then how do you figure out what you want? Consider your strengths and weaknesses in your role: what aspects of your work do you enjoy? Would you like to do more or less of any aspect of your role?
If you’re not clear on what you want, it’s harder to advocate for yourself and ask others to speak up in your absence. And it’s impossible to know what you want unless you know what you’re good at, what you like, and what type of environment enables you to do your best work. (1).
Also consider that you may be advocating not only for a raise or bonus, but additional, more challenging work. You can seek more regular contact with a different department or more face time with leadership. Be creative and varied - you never know which of your goals will be easiest for your manager to approve.
Once you have an idea of your needs, write them down. You can draft loose notes or a conversation outline in preparation for the conversation, create a timeline of milestones and related rewards, or even create a formal agenda for the meeting. Consider sending your polished materials to your manager in advance of the meeting. In order to advocate for your self effectively, the purpose and goals of the conversation should be clearly articulated and achievable.
Know Your Value
Now that you have established your goals, you will support your milestones with feedback about your current performance; use the good things others have said about you to your advantage.
When advocating for yourself, tie your contributions to business results. It's not enough to remind leadership of your accomplishments. Look at notes from company meetings or annual reports to see what's important to leadership. Tie your contributions to those initiatives. Did you help with a new product launch that increases revenue? (2).
How has your work directly impacted the company, either from a financial or cultural perspective? Do you have screenshots of messages calling out your good work or “thank yous” from your colleagues for your support? Can you capture any email text with the same sentiments?
In the same thought, recognize the contributions of others to your successes. Not only does this demonstrate teamwork and professional maturity, it shows inherent leadership and trustworthiness.
I think a powerful way to advocate for future success is to effectively publicize current accomplishments in a thoughtful and factual way. And if the success was part of a group effort, don't be afraid to give credit to the team. Leaders love to see employees giving credit where credit is due. (2).
Be creative and don’t forget to brag as much as your personality allows (and would be appropriate for the temperature of the room).. No one will hype up your achievements with as much enthusiasm as you will; channel that enthusiasm into your advocacy.
Find Allies
One of the most underrated aspects of advocacy in the workplace is understanding how others will advocate on your behalf. You may need the assistance of others to further your goals or rely on trusted colleagues to provide a positive impression of you. You may also need an ally who can back you up in the event you are bringing concerns to your leadership.
While not direct advocacy, building cross-functional relationships can also help you refine your goals, brainstorm additional opportunities to hone invaluable skills, or help you understand new business concepts.
To advocate for future career success, employees should build relationships and network across the organization while being transparent about their aspirations. This can provide an opportunity to raise their hand for initiatives outside of their day-to-day responsibilities, obtain feedback, ask questions, gain a sponsor or mentor and ultimately open up doors. (2).
Stay Composed
Your conduct during your advocacy will be just as important as your tone. You will want to stay calm and composed in order for your message to be positively received. One way to help this would be to come to each meeting fully prepared with examples and even results of your work.
It's essential to remain professional when advocating for yourself. Speak to your colleagues respectfully and communicate your opinion while maintaining a positive tone. For example, you can calmly reiterate or rephrase your point if you're expressing yourself and your manager disagrees with you. An excellent way to do this is by providing clear examples that prove your point and show your contribution to the workplace. You can display self-control and seek clarification before answering questions to ensure that you communicate your point successfully. (3).
Be Prepared For Feedback
Once you have spoken to your manager and stated your position, it is time to actively listen to feedback; receive positive feedback gracefully and address negative feedback with composure. Be prepared to have multiple conversations or reiterate your point to multiple stakeholders.
Advocacy isn’t about venting— you’re committing to having a series of conversations and taking actions to help you, your team, your manager, and the entire organization improve. Even if you don’t get exactly what you want, you will have learned, improved, and grown through this process.(1)
Once you have received actionable feedback, you can take this into consideration in your next moment of advocacy. What went well about the conversation? What could be improved in the future? Which messages was your manager most receptive to?
Advocating for yourself in the workplace is an important corporate skill. Over time, you will become more comfortable in these conversations and build confidence in your messaging.
Citations
Montañez, Rachel. “Ask an Expert: How Do I Advocate For Myself at Work?” Harvard Business Review, 3 June 2021, hbr.org/2021/06/ask-an-expert-how-do-i-advocate-for-myself-at-work.
Montañez, Rachel. “Ask an Expert: How Do I Advocate For Myself at Work?” Harvard Business Review, 3 June 2021, hbr.org/2021/06/ask-an-expert-how-do-i-advocate-for-myself-at-work.
Panel, Expert. “15 Empowering Ways To Advocate For Yourself At Work.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 18 Oct. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/10/18/15-empowering-ways-to-advocate-for-yourself-at-work/?sh=32b8495b7b03.
Team, BetterHelp Editorial. “How to Advocate for Yourself at Work with Professionalism and Respect.” BetterHelp, BetterHelp, 18 Oct. 2023, www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/how-to-advocate-for-yourself-at-work-with-professionalism-and-respect/.
Team, Editorial. “How to Advocate for Yourself in the Workplace (with Tips).” Indeed.Com, 18 Sept. 2022, ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-advocate-for-yourself-in-workplace.
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