3 Ways to Get a Yes From Your Manager

Do you need to convince your manager to give you extra personal leave? To give you a chance at an opportunity the manager might consider beyond your ability? Do you want your manager to investigate a problem situation that negatively impacts you?  Is there another area in which you need a “yes” from your manager before you can move forward?

If you’d like success when you make your request, try these three strategies.

Understand what leads someone to buy-in
Have you ever bought something way too expensive? If so, your decision-making process can give insight into how to talk your manager into a “yes.” Consider what the reasons you almost didn’t buy it and what led you to buy it. Chances are, you almost didn’t buy it because it cost too much and you realized you didn’t need it, both logical reasons. In contrast, you bought it because you wanted it, you felt you deserved it and it made you feel good. 

What leads someone to buy or buy-in? Emotional reasons, not logical ones. We all listen to the same inner radio station, WIFM: what’s in it for me? How does your manager benefit by saying yes? What matters more to your manager – productivity, morale, or how things look to those above the manager?

Make a “yes” easy
Despite the emotional component to buying in, if you want a manager to say “yes,” make it easy. Provide your manager something more substantial than your desire. Give your manager factual, accurate, objective information to support your request.

Additionally, anticipate any obstacles or your manager’s objections to saying yes. For example, if you’re asking your manager to give you additional leave, how do you plan to handle the impact on your workload? If you’re asking a manager to investigate a situation, you might say, “You may be wondering about the furor an investigation may create. Here’s how I think you can mitigate that.” 

Dialogue not monologue
When someone talks at you, how do you respond?  If you quickly answer, “It makes me back off,” that might happen to your manager if you talk non-stop when making your request. Monologues can lead the person you’re trying to convince into tuning you out. 

When you present a request to your manager, decide how you’ll intersperse questions into the conversation.  You might ask the manager, “Have you noticed this happening as well?” or “What are your thoughts so far?” After all, what will a manager believe more readily, what he or she says in response to your questions or what you say?

Do you need a “yes” from your manager before you can move forward?  Understand “what’s in it” for your manager, make the “yes” easy, and make your request a conversation – and you may get what you want.

 

 

 

 

© 2016, Lynne Curry, professional coach and author of Solutions and Beating the Workplace Bully. Follow her on Twitter @lynnecurry10 or on workplaceocoachblog.com.