In the corporate or startup world, it is rare to hear someone calling for help. Why is that?
Because sometimes we are simply afraid of disturbing, afraid of not deserving it or even worse, afraid of being told no.
In this episode, Christophe Jouret, partner at Anais Digital, explains how to overcome our fears to achieve this.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How asking for help is a huge factor in success?
- Why not asking for help is a big risk for your digital projects?
- Which communication channels to use?
- Which method to use for your organization?
Highlights
(00:52) “People around us, whether professionals or users, love to share their point of view and help” ;
(01:06) “Don’t hesitate to ask for help. You’ll see how much positive feedback you’ll get and how much it feeds your projects” ;
(01:39) “Asking for help is a huge success factor. On the other hand, not asking for it is a big risk for digital projects” ;
(02:18) “Help can take many different forms but often people like to give their time”.
(02:31) “Asking for help can be done on internal company channels or on digital channels”.
3 Reasons to introduce the culture of helping in your company
Ensure the exchange of views
To ensure the success of your projects, start by sharing your ideas with your users, friends or colleagues. Take a step back from the situation and discover other avenues to exploit.
Value your team
Out of pride or fear of disturbing others, you don’t ask for help from those around you. However, calling on your colleagues allows you to value them. Get them out of their daily routine and allow them to feel useful and competent.
Mix your communication channels
Asking for help can be done internally or externally. For example: internally, use your e-mailing, your tactical and governance meetings or your intranet. Conversely, solicit Facebook, Linkedin or guerilla testing for external help.
Full transcript:
Hello Christophe Jouret, partner of Anais Digital and entrepreneur in the digital industry for the past twenty years, I am very happy to share my experience and some anecdotes on how to succeed in digital projects and avoid pitfalls. Today, I want to talk to you about a human dimension and in particular, it’s about knowing how to ask for help, whether it’s for the corporate world or for the start-up world.
Today, in our western culture, we are not used to asking for help. And the consequence of this is that sometimes, projects are conceived in a vacuum, based on the good feeling, the energy, the vision of the project leader, whether he is an entrepreneur or a corporate. And we forget that in fact, the people around us, whether professionals or users, love to share their point of view and help. And so, one piece of advice I always give to people I work with is don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’re going to see how much positive feedback you’re going to get, how much it feeds the people who help.
But it also nourishes them to get out of their daily lives, to be able to share, to be able to exchange and the help of people around us, experts, users, friends. In fact, it’s extremely valuable to get your head out of the sand and get ideas that are different from those that might come naturally with friends or project leaders, collaborators. I think that asking for help is a huge success factor today, or at least that not asking for help is a big risk for digital projects. What form can the help take to be a bit concrete? It can be as simple as asking people to answer a questionnaire. It can be asking people to participate in a workshop to share their opinion on what has been designed on the application. The project as it is thought, it can be shared. A lunch, a meal, a moment together to give feedback. The help can take many forms and can sometimes be financial too.
It can take many different forms. Often it’s time and people actually like to contribute. People like to give their time. So don’t hesitate and ask for help. A couple of additional and important things. First, the channels. What are the channels for asking for help? There are lots of different channels in business. It can be the internal company network, emailing, governance meetings or tactical meetings. It can also be digital channels such as Facebook. We are always surprised when we ask for help on Facebook. We always have three, four, five people who say “Oh, I can help, contact me in a private message”. On LinkedIn, it’s the same thing.
There is also what we call the guerrilla test: simply going out into the street, questioning people about the questions we have. And it’s incredible that even in the street, with people you don’t know, you can be surprised by the results you get.
That’s about the channels. And then, very importantly, leaders always have a role of example. And so, as a leader, not being too connected to your ego.
Having the humility to recognize within your team that you don’t know everything and ask for help. I think this is a good way to introduce the culture of help within your organization, whether it is a corporate or a start-up.
Do you have a question about a digital or entrepreneurial project? Write to us at nowaste@anais.digital
Voice : Christophe Jouret
Production : Antidote.
Credits : Anais Digital.
