Have you asked for what you want recently?

Are you getting annoyed at not getting what you want? Did you get the chance to step up and manage a new project or activity for a few weeks? Did you do a great job? Then, well, nothing? No offer of doing it permanently? Just back to the same old boring work that doesn’t light you up?

Did you ask for it?

Just because they know you are awesome, doesn’t mean the decision-makers in your organization will give you that next step.

In fact, if you are awesome at what you do, you may be making the case for leaving you exactly where you are - not because you wouldn't do a good job of whatever it is you want, but because letting you do something else requires your boss to figure out what to do with the role you are in. 

But, you do have control. And you do have the ability to get what you want. It's all about asking for it!

Let's dig into asking for something. 

? STEP 1: Figure out what you want. 

This probably sounds obvious - you already know what you want. Right? But here’s what I want you to do here: get specific. If you are going to ask for something, especially something that hasn’t just landed on your plate, you want to know that what you are asking for is worth going for. If you are clear, and the thing you are asking for is well defined, or indeed moderately trivial, then just go for it. But if it is a little bigger, such as taking on responsibilities, decision making, or anything where someone is going to be trusting you with something that they haven’t trusted you with before, then it's worth taking the time to know what you want and why you want it. 

? STEP 2: Ask yourself: what is the next step to get you more of what you want and less of what you don’t want?

? STEP 3: Get specific on what you are asking for and identify the decision-makers (even if they aren’t the people you will be speaking to)

? STEP 4: Identify concerns and issues that might arise from granting this request, and outline how they could be avoided/mitigated, particularly what you will do to ensure continuity of anything you are doing at the moment.

? STEP 5: Paint a picture of outcomes and how it fits into the interests and priorities of the decision-makers involved. Get into their heads and show them how this will make things better for the organisation.

? STEP 6: Make an active decision and plan out how, where and when you will bring your request up.

Remember, if you don’t ask, you probably won’t get it!

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If you want more details on how to ask for what you want, check out Episode 4 of the leading Women in Tech podcast where we break this down and expand on how to get ahead at each stage of the 'asking for what you want' process. 

https://tonicollis.com/episode4