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Are you scared to ask for help? I’m not….anymore!

Have you ever had the opportunity to dive head first into a project or assignment you were extremely interested in but did not have the work experience or knowledge beforehand?

Well I had the unbelievable opportunity to lead a project for theInstitute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP): to roll out a new company website over the last number of months. Before I tell you about my experience you have to understand that I’m the furthest thing from an IT person and have little knowledge in the technology world. So to say the least, I was a little nervous and overwhelmed.

In the beginning I was experiencing a substantial learning curve in order to become familiar with the platform. It was like playing chess for the first time, or learning to skate when I was 2 years old. What had I gotten myself into?! I was trying to do everything on my own. This was my project, right?! I wanted to learn everything before I asked for help from a team that was waiting to support me. I felt I needed to know more than them. I did not allocate tasks that could have been passed on to the appropriate teammate to be efficient and completed on time. (To people who might already have the knowledge and or skills in an area I didn’t.)

The underlying reason for why I was unable to delegate appropriately was due to my own ego and fear of how my team would think of me for needing support. I really wanted to have all the knowledge on everything involved with this project so I could speak confidently when presented with questions from the team. I felt as though my stock or value as an employee would be compromised for asking for help as it can be seen as a sign of weakness.

In the end, I had to realize this was not the Tyler project and that it was the IHHP team project. I pushed my ego aside and finally understood that I was not expected to be an IT wizard overnight. My team did not think any less of me, they actually thought more highly of me for being able to step up and say “I don’t know” or “can you help me”. The project started moving along faster and with less effort from a particular individual (that’s me). My team had stepped up and provided me with the support to finish the project. I’m not saying that I worked any less or not as hard. My boss wouldn’t be happy if that was the case. I was able to work smarter and more efficient.

So I thank you team for the support on this project!