I was talking to a girlfriend the other day and she was saying that she gets quite a few emails forwarded to her from her boss that on the top line simply say: See below…
She then went on to say that she felt it was time for her to have the authority to delegate, to pass things on, to write “see below”. Today, I was cc’d on an email that said “see below” to the main recipient, and I just smiled.
I have to say, that in the past, I was one of those people that always felt like I had to do everything myself and would never ask for help. Or, in a position of authority, I would never want to assign a task to someone . Some say that’s a trust issue or a control thing. Or maybe it’s because I wanted to feel like superwoman—like I was capable of doing it all. OK, I’ve gotten over that and in situations where I simply have too much on my plate, I’m not afraid to ask for help. At this point in my life, I know what I really want to spend my time on and if I can get help with some things, it allows me to have more time to spend on the other things. What I have seen by doing this is that not only does it free up time to work on my priorities, it builds relationships. It builds a sense of teamwork; it builds trust; it makes people feel worthy and confident. It also gives me the time to reciprocate. This is one of the best things about it, because it feels great to be helpful, and to feel worthy, etc. And in the end, I think we’re all here to help each other out.
Are you willing to ask for help?