During challenges or times of change, smart leaders understand when it’s time to start asking for help. While your ego may like to think you know everything, can you afford to have professional blind spots?
For some, asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness or fear. You want to prove that you belong in your position and thus know everything. That belief can work against you and may isolate you from others who can help.
It’s a strength to understand limitations and act on them before problems grow too large. Let’s take a strategic approach to asking for help, with these tips:
Know or Manage?
Sometimes the time you think it will take to learn something new, keeps you from asking for help. While you may need to understand something new, you may not need to be an expert.
For example, most of us don’t need to know how to build a car. We do need to know how to drive one. It takes a lot less time to learn how to drive a car, rather than put one together.
Understand that difference and seek out expertise accordingly. Don’t waste time learning things you don’t need to know.
If you’re managing something new, you may only need to be able to explain the process in three to four sentences. That may be a perfectly acceptable level of supervision. You’re managing people who are better than you with the task.
The expert you work with needs to be someone who can clearly communicate concepts to you. It’s important they can share progress or challenges in simple terms that you can later share with others.
Knowledge Saves Time
In any job, there’s the skill based part and then there’s everything else. These organizational processes are smart to learn because while they are not too complicated, they can take up a lot of time if you don’t know how to do them the right way.
Take for example, if you’re at a new business, do you understand the process for submitting a purchase order? Knowing how to do it correctly will save you time and frustration.
When a new coworker welcomes you to the organization or a new position, they will often say, “Let me know if I can help with anything.”
This is your invitation to start asking for help with questions like, “What’s the best way to submit a purchase order and how long does it take to be approved?”
You want to know how the process works and if there are any quirky gatekeepers you need to keep happy. Shorten your learning curve with these kinds of processes by getting them defined as soon as possible.
Encourage Heroes
When you start asking for help, it can feel like a one-way transaction. But it really isn’t, as the other person is showing you support and kindness.
In today’s workplace, you’ll find lots of heroes. They don’t have superpowers and don’t run into burning buildings. But they share their professional expertise to help people.
The workplace has become the place where we can be heroic. Give someone a sense of satisfaction, when they have a chance to help you.
Return the Favor
Make sure you are thanking those who help you. Today’s workplace can be busy and pressure packed, so time spent answering your questions should not be taken for granted.
One day the situation will likely be reversed. Take the time, support, and empower someone who feels like they’re stuck in a knowledge hole.
Let’s Create a Memorable Meeting
