The Art of Asking for (and Getting) Help

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2019

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Wayne Baker, professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, has spent much of his career researching the best way to effectively ask for help at work. Whether you're soliciting support on a tricky assignment or more resources for your team, it can feel uncomfortable to approach bosses and colleagues with hat in hand. But we rarely get what we need or want without asking for it. Baker highlights some of the most effective strategies for defining your goal, figuring out who to ask, and crafting your message so it will be positively received. He is also the author of the book “All You Have to Do Is Ask: How to Master the Most Important Skill for Success.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you work with early career professionals, my colleagues at
0:03.8	HPR have a great new podcast for you. It's called New Here. Think of it like the
0:08.4	Young Professional's Guide to Building a Meaningful Career on your own terms.
0:11.9	Share New Here with the Young Professionals in your life. a meaningful career on your own terms.
0:12.8	Share new here with the young professionals in your life.
0:15.9	Listen for free wherever you got your podcasts.
0:18.6	Just search new here. Welcome to the H-B-R-Ide- do it all the time. I might ask
0:50.0	another mom to pick up my kids before ways I ask for directions. One time when I
0:54.5	showed up at a fancy event in my commuting shoes with my heels back at the office,
0:58.5	I walked into a dress shop and asked to borrow one of those pairs they keep on hand.
1:02.4	In my professional life I'm not and ask to borrow one of those pairs they keep on hand.
1:03.0	In my professional life, I'm not so needy.
1:06.0	I do sometimes request later, shorter, and fewer meetings.
1:10.0	I've been known to call it IT Help Desk,
1:12.0	but if I'm struggling with a task, I usually just
1:15.2	keep at it.
1:16.6	Whether it's support on a tricky assignment or getting more resources for your team, it can
1:21.8	be hard to ask people for help at work. But unless
1:25.0	your office is a magical place filled with genies and fairy godmothers, you rarely
1:29.0	get what you need or want without asking for it. Today we're joined by Wayne Baker,
1:33.8	a sociologist and professor at the Ross School of Business
1:36.5	at the University of Michigan.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Harvard Business Review, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Harvard Business Review and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.