Asking for Help Builds Trust

In a recent study, over 1,000 leaders were asked: “What do your team members do that earn your trust?”

The most common answer? Asking for help!

Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it?

But here’s the thing, most leaders won’t delegate important work to those who don’t normally ask for help. Why? Because the leaders do not trust that a team member will raise their hands and ask for help when something is unclear, confusing, outside their skillset or they are feeling stuck.

If a task is too much work or doesn’t make sense, don’t you want someone to come back to you and ask for help, rather than powering on in uncertainty because they are afraid to ask for help?

Many of us perceive asking for help as a weakness, but the research (and my own personal experience) says quite the opposite. Leaders want to feel safe in delegating difficult tasks to others.

So when in doubt – ask for help!