CEOs want people who can provide solutions, not just tell them about problems. But too often, employees ask for what one CEO described as "time to whine."
The same attitude is often manifested in discussions of promotions and raises in healthcare.
Consider the following remarks that this subject elicits from CEOs:
- "Our marketing VP seems obsessed with getting control of PR and communications. I'd rather have him worry about what he's going to do in his job in the coming months."
- "Every time I talk with the director of communications, she's got five new reasons why she should be paid as much as her colleagues who work in other hospitals. She ignores the fact that we're in a major financial crisis here."
- "The marketing and PR people go off to conferences and come back with these descriptions of how the functions are structured and who's in charge according to the latest survey. We're not in some 'average' market - we have specific problems that I could use some help with."
Given these sentiments, it's not surprising that marketing and PR people sometimes find their requests for promotions and raises met with something less than enthusiasm.
There are ways to broach the subject that generate more positive responses. Consider these pointers.
Always focus on your organization's situation-and the CEO's perceptions of the organization's needs.
Listen to the issues s/he talks most about and ask questions about future challenges. Then determine how PR and marketing can be relevant to those challenges.
Telling the CEO, for instance, how PR can help deliver messages to upscale consumers may fall on deaf ears if the CEO is trying to cope with rising costs due to ER utilization by uninsured parents with sick kids. Yes, attracting more upscale consumers may pay off at some point, but the CEO's problem today is those parents. So provide some solutions - from creating an urgent care center in existing space to developing educational materials for parents that tell them how to get care for their children without bringing them to the ER.
Expand your job and then, when the results are noticeable, ask for a raise or promotion.
Asking for a promotion or new job in advance can be risky, as one CEO conveys. "My marketing manager kept telling me what a VP's job should entail. He finally convinced me to go out and bring someone in to do that job."
Anticipate or discern organizational needs that aren't being met that you can subtly address.
If employee morale is potentially in danger, don't wait to be asked to do something about it. Partner with HR and develop an action plan to present to senior management.
If physician relations are rocky, conduct some personal interviews and identify one or two areas that are addressable. Present the situation and potential solutions to the CEO.
When you demonstrate your expertise in these emerging areas of organizational need, it's more logical that your job will be expanded to manage or lead them (with corresponding changes in title and salary).
Don't get obsessed with titles.
Simply wanting to be a VP because of the perceived status can seem petty and self-serving to a busy CEO and more than like will not result in a promotion.
Don't expect a salary survey that shows you're being underpaid according to an industry average to convince the CEO to give you a raise.
First of all, any smart executive can nullify salary averages by arguing that bigger hospitals skew the data.
Secondly, the salary comparisons make you vulnerable to a discouraging counter response of "Go work at one of those other hospitals."
Thirdly, and most importantly, your salary should be based on job responsibilities and how well you are performing them. Use salary data for background on whether the salary range for your position is in line with comparable positions at other similarly-sized organizations in the same geographical location.
Finally, know when to leave.
If your salary is off compared to similar positions within your organization and you can't get the position reevaluated, it's time to consider other employment opportunities.
It's also time to go if your CEO seems to have no understanding of your job and your responsibilities increasingly become trivial.
Update your resume and move on. Organizations rarely change overnight and you may be wasting your talents in a bad employment situation when you could be investing your skills elsewhere.
Kathy Lewton is SVP of Fleishman Hillard's healthcare/biotechnology division in New York.
She is author of Public Relations in Health Care: A Guide for Professionals. She can be reached at 212/453-2447, email: [email protected].