Is Asking for Help at Work a Good Strategy?

In my latest post, I talked about the fears that keep employees from asking for help at work. But that’s not the only bug that prevent employees from sharing their knowledge – answering to colleagues’ requests pose similar dilemmas.

So is asking (and at the same time offering) for help at work a good strategy since it brings a certain level of discomfort to some of us? You’d be right to go for the affirmative answer. I have a whole bunch of reasons that I’d list to support my statement, but I’ll go for 6 advantages, 3 of each side.

Asking for help

Advantage no.1: Saving time. There are people that sometimes sit on projects for weeks because they didn’t want to ask for help. That’s doesn’t sound like productivity to me.

Advantage no.2: Avoiding over-perseverance. Being overworked affects your health and definitely doesn’t help when it comes to efficiency. In worse cases, it could also get you tangled, failing to respect deadlines.

Advantage no.3: Becoming a trendsetter. Showing you don’t lack the confidence to step forward and talk about what you don’t know will inspire others to do the same. Self-confidence attracts people like a magnet, particularly because they’re not looking for external validation.

Offering help

Advantage no.1: Building authority. Sharing your expertise is the best way to promote yourself as a leader, in an unobtrusive way. People will feel stimulated if you offer guidance and show your support and availability.

Advantage no.2: Showing your intrapreneurial skills. Having the ability of an entrepreneur and deciding to use it within an organization is the most efficient way to attract attention from upper management. Seize this opportunity of showing your self worth when asked to help.

Advantage no.3: Affirm yourself as a team player. Self-seekers don’t build comfortable environments and they’re not popular among any group. So be the other guy, aka the team player. As this article shows, winning as a team is the best way for individual team members to achieve success.

It’s true that a healthy organizational culture helps a lot with making collaboration feel like the natural activity that it truly represents. But culture sometimes goes from bottom up. Your own attitude has the power to set up a higher quality work climate for all.

Happy Knowledge Sharing!