Yearning for a raise but not sure how to ask for one? Here are 5 ideas you can try, each is based on one of the five S.I.T. (Systematic Inventive Thinking) templates of innovation. Are you daring enough to try them?
1. The Division template tasks us with dividing a project into its elements to come up with new creative angles. Imagine you are in sales and currently receive a base salary + commission. The sequence of your job includes: 1.Making cold calls 2. Following up with emails 3. Meeting one on one 4. Closing the deal 5. Receiving your commission. Now imagine you approached your boss and said “I’ve been here a long time and I’d like to make a change – I want to receive a bonus of x dollars after I obtain a one-on-one meeting, and receive the actual commission after the deal is closed. This way, I can also be judged on my efforts as well as the results!” Hmm, what do you think your boss might say to that?
2. The Subtraction templates asks us to eliminate a component in a counterintuitive way – Try it: “I’d like to work one less day a week and still guarantee that I still get all of my work done. Would that be ok?” “Instead of getting 2 weeks of vacation/sick days, can I just have one week off and receive a higher salary instead?”
3. The Task Unification template has us assigning additional jobs to someone or something – “Can I take on this additional task officially? I’ve been doing it already for some time and I’d like to be compensated for it.” “Can I take on an additional (small) task so I can receive a better salary?”
4. The Attribute Dependency template encourages us to create new relationships (or dependencies) that never existed before. A raise would normally depend on the type of work you do. Instead it would be tied to the
a. Amount of hours you work – “I’ve been putting in an extra hour a week and would like x dollars”
b. Quality of the work you do – “I’d like a raise because all of my projects have been rated a 10/10”
c. Amount of work you do – “I’d like a raise because I was hired to do x and I do x and y, or I was hired to do x and now I want to take on y”
5. The Multiplication template ask us to multiply what we have. Try asking for three raises - in different ways – and settle for one! “Can I have a salary raise, better benefits package and more vacation days?” Or, try asking for one raise with a few payment installments or a bonus based on hitting certain metrics.
Using S.I.T. is the quickest method to finding innovative solutions to problems you are facing. Can’t solve your own problems or not as quickly as you need to? Don’t hesitate to get in touch for a free consultation. I’d love to help you innovate quickly and efficiently!