Persuasion is a process whose aim is to change an individual’s or group’s behavior or attitude towards a certain belief, attitude, or behavior. Persuasion entails careful presentation of arguments, facts, and/or supporting evidence in a compelling and suitable environment.
The nature of Monica’s dilemma is such that she rightfully deserves a pay rise on account of her commendable performance in her job. In fact, this is one of the motivating factors that saw her accept the job, despite the fact that it paid 5 percent lower in comparison with her previous job.
Her boss, Allan, had promised Monica that upon the completion of 90 days, she would undergo performance evaluation and her salary would be reviewed upwards. Her boss has even commended her on several occasions for a job well-done but one month past the expiry of the 90 days period, she is yet to be evaluated.
Monica’s boss is under pressure to “make the numbers” and has been so preoccupied that he has not had the time to discuss the issue with Monica. On the other hand, Monica is fearful that she might get de-motivated if the performance evaluation is not done now as she might feel as though she is getting less than her worth.
Monica has been unsuccessful at persuading her boss to ensure that the performance evaluation is conducted as promised on account of poor communication strategy. Monica’s approach to her boss as regards her pending performance evaluation was gentle and soft.
She jokingly reminds her boss of his promise and her boss probably never took her seriously. As such, Monica did not present her case in a careful and panned manner. She also lacked the necessary documentation, data and facts to argue her case, although these are some of the key prerequisites of persuasion.
When asking for a pay rise, Monica might have preferred to use such strategies as hint dropping and “joking” as she probably assumed that her boss was fully aware of the promise to review her performance and give her the pay rise that she deserved once the 90 days are over.
As such, she did not wish to offend him and so she opted for a soft stance. Unfortunately, this strategy did not work because there was no effective communication between Monica and her boss.
Seeing that her boss is under pressure to “make the number”, Monica has to adopt a more persuasive strategy than she is currently using. This is the only way for her to be listened to. One such strategy that Monica can embrace is to propose to her boss to give her additional responsibilities as a way of enabling the company achieve its goal.
Definitely, her boss is bound to notice her amid his busy schedule. Then, Monica can seize this opportunity to arrange for an appointment when they can get to discuss her impending performance evaluation and salary increment.