Advocating For Yourself At Work

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media | LIVE event on LinkedIn, where she interviewed the CEO of Advocate to Win, Heather Hansen.  They shared tips and personal stories about advocating for yourself at work. Here are the takeaways for VIP Comm Pass members:

• SEE technique, because you want to change what people see. 

  • Story - You have to have a story about why you should have the thing you want - raise, promotion, more resources, etc. Tell a story that resonates with the person you are asking, not you.

  • Evidence - You need to collect evidence to support your story. You need to intentionally collect your evidence.

  • Energy - You need to have an energy of belief and credibility, so people actually believe you.

• When you have a good story and you back it up with evidence and energy, you become a strong advocate for anything you want.
• Before you advocate, you have to see things from the other person's perspective. You want to see the world through your manager's eyes. You want to see what's valuable to your manager.
• If you never see anything from someone else's perspective, you will never change their perspective.

• If you can get people to feel seen as safe and special, they will be better listeners and more likely to give you what you want. 
• You need to get to know the other people so you can know their perspective and actually change their perspective.
• Create an army of supporters who will advocate for you when you're not in the room.
• Sometimes it can be hard to find the evidence; create a YAY! folder. Anytime someone says something positive about you and your work - put it into your YAY folder, for a boost of confidence or evidence that you're doing an awesome job.
• Getting a no doesn't necessarily mean the case is closed. Maybe it is the timing etc, but it doesn't mean you stop advocating for what you want.
• Rejection is just a moment in time, and you always have another moment. Reframe your story, and collect evidence to speak to their disbelief or their reasons for saying no. 
• You can't prove something until you believe it. It's really important for you to persuade yourself and your inner jury first, before you make your ask.
• 9x9W method -  You have to repeat something nine times in nine different ways for people to understand and change their perspective.
• No one can advocate for you as well as you can. You have everything you need to be your own best advocate.

https://vimeo.com/779685968

Advocating is a skill you can learn. When you have a good story and you back it up with evidence and energy, you become a strong advocate for anything you want.

*As a VIP Communications Pass holder, you get access to these show notes we’ve organized for you, so you’ll always remember what was shared. No worries if you didn’t take down notes. This is for you to keep!*