How To Ask The Boss For Help With Your Work
If you are stressing about an aspect of your work, you may be negatively impacting your productivity. Perhaps you need support with a project’s deliverables or how to manage a coworker. You can’t fix or solve everything on your own. It is okay to ask for help.
However, do not assume other people know you need help. It is part of your job to make your manager aware. Tell your boss. Here are four tips to help you ask your manager for support:
1. Identify the issue.
What do you need help with? You may need more people to complete and deliver a pitch deck on time. Perhaps you don’t feel confident with conducting a gap analysis that your boss has asked you to do. Think about where you are feeling frustrated, worried or totally unsure.
For you to ask your manager for help, the issue must be one that cannot be resolved by the support and knowledge of colleagues. Utilize your teammates, and ask questions. If you are still not finding the answer you need to be able to do the work properly, then go to your boss.
2. Don’t think or say you can’t do it.
You have your job and your role for a reason. You have what it takes to figure issues out. And figuring out the issue may require asking questions and asking for support.
Most likely, you can figure out the thing that is concerning you. Don’t automatically think you can’t do something. And do not go to your boss and say that you are fed up.
3. Consider a possible solution.
Before you go to your manager, try to problem solve. Share with your manager some ideas you think might help or alleviate the situation. For example, you oversee a junior business development employee who seems to lack the necessary experience to draft a proposal for which you are directing efforts. Consider inquiring with your boss (who manages the department budget) if this junior employee could attend a workshop as a way to invest in their skills and knowledge for future company projects.
You may not have the answer, but share a reasonable possibility. You don’t have to know exactly how to fix or resolve the issue, but you should demonstrate that you have thought about it. Go to your manager with options for them to consider. Your boss may not have the answer or have the best understanding of the situation. It benefits you to come to the conversation prepared with some ideas.
4. Ask about their priorities.
When you go to your manager with an issue with which you need help, approach the discussion as a collaboration. Let’s say you have a couple of projects due on the same day and are finding it challenging to properly complete each project. Ask your manager about their priorities. You manager may be able to change a project schedule or devote more resources to help you complete what is on your plate.
Your goal is to find a solution that works for both parties. The workplace is a team effort. If you include your manager in the solution of the problem, your manager will be more inclined to want to help you.
Figure out what the issue is before you approach your boss. Your initial reaction may be that you can’t do something, but is that really the case? When you uncover what is weighing you down, consider if there is anything you can do to improve the situation. Go to your manager with some ideas, and ask about their priorities.
Ask for help with your work. Decrease your stress. Increase your productivity. Be the best professional you can be.
