I am a big rugby fan and I am always amazed by the ability of top goal kickers to slot over crucial kicks in front of a stadium full of onlookers. The one thing the likes of Jonny Sexton, Ronan O’Gara, Jonny Wilkinson & Dan Carter all appear to have in common is the ability to focus and drown out all the distractions and focus solely on the process at hand.
In many respects this clarity of focus should be applied when one is weighing up counter offers. It is often very difficult to hand in your notice and when the time comes it is certainly a good boost to the ego to receive a counter offer.
Your boss tells you how important you are to the company and that they will do x, y & z to get you to stay. Breaking up is hard to do and when it comes to your career you need to drown out the emotional connections you have made with your colleagues and focus on the facts and how they relate to your career.
In counter offer situations the new salary offered is often your next pay review being brought forward. In most instances people don’t just move jobs because of salary it is usually due to accessing a different work life balance, better long term career progression opportunities, increased responsibility or a more convenient location to name but a few. In most instances where people accept counter offers they end up moving within a 6 – 12 month window regardless.
Usually this is because the problems that led them to look elsewhere have not gone away, they are overlooked for longer term progression as their loyalty has been called into question. People often wonder why they had to hand in their notice to get what they felt they deserved and they wonder if they will have to repeat the same exercise every time they wish to push forward.
So remember if you do find yourself in a counter offer situation drown out the distractions and focus on the facts. The three main things to remember when counter offered:
- A counter offer will ALWAYS benefit your employer more than you
- Promises made only need to last long enough for the other option to disappear
- Push factors rarely go away and will get worse when you reflect on what you have missed out on
How to think calm thoughts when dealing with a counter offer scenario by Ross Wynne | 01 531 2424 | ross@amicus.ie
Nov 2014