The Sign of a True Professional: Asking for Help When It’s Needed
Many people believe asking for help is a sign of weakness. This misconception is understandable, given the competitive and individualistic nature of a traditional education. With some exceptions, we are taught that collaboration on an assignment is “cheating.” We expect to be rewarded for what we know and what we do on our own. People believe they were hired for their intelligence and talent, so they worry that asking for assistance will somehow undermine their standing in the eyes of peers or employers.
But one of the common threads among successful people is that they are quick to acknowledge what they don’t know and to ask for assistance. Honestly admitting to limitations in your knowledge is the mark of a true professional.
Early in my career, I was fortunate to work for a mentor who encouraged me to ask not only for the answers to questions, but also for guidance about how I might have answered that question myself. This accelerated my learning and let people I was asking for help demonstrate their knowledge and expertise.
Later in my career, one of my favorite kinds of interview questions was asking a possible recruit a question for which they could not possibly have an answer to see how they would behave. Admitting they didn’t know the answer got them partial credit. If they also had a suggestion about where or how they might seek out an answer, they got full credit.
It’s important that we develop teams that are capable of learning and have the courage to admit when they don’t know an answer. It’s also important that they know the difference between what they know and what they infer or assume. Inference and assumptions are essential to problem-solving and planning, but we need to know the difference between what is true and what we merely believe to be true based on what we can observe and our prior experience.
If I worked for you and didn’t know the answer to a question you asked, would you want me to make up an answer?
If I were stuck and didn’t know how to proceed, would you want me to guess or to ask for assistance?
Do you make it clear to your team that you value people who are candid about what they know and what they don’t?
Have you had a conversation about asking for help when needed?
Some of your team won’t have learned these lessons yet. It is incumbent upon team leaders to help them understand that asking for help when needed or admitting when they don’t know something is a sign of a true professional.
