New Manager - Raise and Promotion Request: Say No

This is a continuation of a series - the first article is here

The most important part of answering the raise/promotion question is mindset. This is especially hard to change when you were part of the team and now, the expectation is you manage the team.

The mindset shift is you need to have:

You need to say no to your team members.

By saying no right away, even for things that you want for yourself, as much as you want to make your team members happy and productive, handing out promotions and raises is not a good thing for anyone in the long term.

• Short term, yes - they get what they asked for, you avoid further conflict.
• Long term, no - when they ask again, you will eventually run out of things to give out, then what?

As a manager, you must take a longer view of your work, your relationship with the team, and role in the company.

Answering with “no” first will set the conversation up for the next part of the process.

Understand what happens next with team members in this process.