Give others the chance to help you
Intentionally craft opportunities to thank someone else.
1.
If you are consistently a top performer in your team or company, there’s a chance you may find out you rarely need other people’s help to complete your tasks.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure you agree about the value of teamwork, and you already know your success depends on others. Still, you may find out you rarely ask for help.
There tend to be two different types of people in this camp:
The top performer, lone-wolf, credit-hoarder: This is a mindset destined to burn out and must change. For now, this one is outside of the scope of this post.
The top performer, not-so-lone-wolf, who wants to thank others but can’t find the right opportunity: This post is for you.
2.
Big corporations commonly have internal programs that encourage knowledge workers to recognize their peers.
The vast majority of us tend to roll our eyes about these type of programs, or do it once and never think about it again.
Google is the place I’ve seen the most people taking initiatives like this one seriously. People do put it in practice, but not the majority.
Programs like these, however, do point to something truthful: Giving thanks validates the value of your peers, it boost their morale, and it encourages mutual support.
This is especially important for people in Senior roles who are helping people in Junior roles to grow, or who inspire others at a distance, but never ask for help.
3.
My advice here is simple:
Give others the chance to help you.
Consciously make space to be helped.
If you’re a top performer, do some introspection and you may find out you’re at a point in which you rarely need other people’s help to complete your tasks.
There needs to be a mind-shift here:
It’s not about waiting until you hit a blocker, a thing you cannot do, to then ask for help. You may never hit a blocker.
It’s about consciously finding a task that can be a good opportunity for someone else to help you with, even if you can do it on your own.
Do not delegate a task as if you were their manager.
Truly make a space to be helped, with the intention of giving visibility and recognition to someone else.
At the end of the day, the objective won’t be about the task you needed help with, but about making the space for someone else to shine.