An interesting trait of highly effective leaders is that they readily ask for help.
This might seem counterintuitive. After all, humility is not often ascribed to leaders.
But high-performing leaders have two things in common:
- Self-awareness
- Results-focus
Self-awareness and Results
Leaders are very self-aware. They are clear about their strengths and weaknesses. That knowledge is useful when focusing on results.
Because leaders focus on outcomes and speed, not process, they rarely waste time doing things they are not good at. Instead, they look for who can do it and then co-opt them into the team. Essentially, they proactively seek help.
In addition, leaders rarely squabble about who will take the credit. (They still get the credit anyway, since they are visible and vocal.) For example, if an intern has the answer to a problem, an effective leader will get off their butt to look for the intern and then invite them to tackle the issue.
Necessity of Delegation
Leaders are very good at influencing people to do things. And when the task is important, they have no problem stepping out of their comfort zones to enter other people’s spaces.
That’s why leaders are fantastic at delegation. Delegation is simply an assessment of the resources at hand and the optimisation of those resources to deliver a desired outcome.
In a leader’s mind, asking for help is not about the virtue of humility. It’s about getting things done quicker.
Be a good leader today. Assess your strengths and weaknesses and then seek help.
Thank you for reading.
