Who needs help?

Someone on your team needs help.

Maybe it’s one of your colleagues.

Or someone on your leadership team.

Or one of your first-line or middle managers.

Maybe you’re the one who needs help.

People in your organization need help.

They’re overwhelmed with a project deadline. They’re trying to figure out how to manage from home. They’ve offered to help someone else, and now they’re drowning in unexpected extra work. They’re trying to learn something new – whether it’s a technical thing or an interpersonal leadership challenge – and struggling.

But no one is asking for help.

People don’t ask for help. We’re not good at it, for a whole host of reasons.

People want to help.

Studies have proven over and over again that, when asked, people give help far more quickly and reliably than those asking expect them to.

So flip it around. Ask them.

Ask your team – who needs help?

Ask your colleagues – who needs help?

Ask your leadership groups – who needs help?

And ask yourself – what do you need?

This isn’t you helping everyone else.

There are a ton of options for creating what’s called a “Reciprocity Circle,” where people ask a group for help and whoever’s able offers.

A Slack channel. A company Wiki. A Workplace by Facebook group – or even a regular garden-variety Facebook group. Microsoft Teams. A Trello board.

Basically, any way for people to asynchronously post a request for help or a question they have – and whoever has the capacity or knowledge can respond.

Encourage people to ask for help.

Just think how much better your workplace (and families and communities) would be!

When your teams ask questions – do your first-line and mid-level leaders know the answers?

And on the subject of asking – are you nervous to ask for what you want in your career? There’s no Career Fairy Godmother! You have to ASK!

Or maybe someone keeps asking the same question, over and over. That article explains what might be going on, and includes a link to a video.