The Seek-Help Solution
One of the small and personal silver linings in the past few weeks has been the opportunity to reflect, think and develop personally and professionally in a place other than an airplane or hotel.
I founded my first company in November 2002. Business was conducted much differently in those days because the internet, device technology and communication platforms we take for granted today were either nonexistent or in their infancy. Laptops and mobile phones were gigantic in size, heavy in weight and took an eternity to connect to an internet with virtually no content.
I was recently asked how the world of the entrepreneur had changed in the 15 years between 2002 and 2017, when I launched my current business. The biggest change for me was how the evolution of technology made it so much faster and easier to access help. The person who asked the question seemed surprised and confused by the fact that a business consultant, executive coach and crisis manager would need help with anything. Therein lies a problem — a problem I’ve seen with some of the individuals and companies I’ve worked with since 2002. Seeking help is often the last resort, and the costs incurred by delaying the inevitable are quite significant.
Technology enables a rapid connection to the world of help. There is absolutely zero shame in my game when it comes to seeking help needed to increase my capacity to excel. I’ll hire a coach, find a mentor, DM on social media or seek feedback from anyone who can make me a better consultant, coach, crisis manager, parent, spouse or person. My process to achieve excellence is simple — Learn. Apply. Assess. Adjust. It’s my own variation on Mr. Shewhart’s plan-do-study-act cycle, a systematic approach to process and performance improvement. Knowledge without application changes nothing. Action without assessment is inconclusive. Assessment without adjustment, if not getting desired results, is pointless.
It’s vital to understand the context of these words about seeking help. I know from family experience about the stigma attached to seeking help when it comes to dealing with medical and mental health issues. And even seeking help in other areas can carry a stigma in certain circles, where admitting to needing help in any way is seen as a weakness.
Here are some steps that could be useful, allowing you to reap the benefits of seeking help:
1. Find And Crush Your Barriers.
I believe there is a powerful simplicity to seeking help. The reality is that simple isn’t always easy. The process begins with self-awareness. I speak with many people who seek my help when their real intention is to resolve the problem with minimal effort, zero accountability and not changing a single behavior on their part. I also work with people who acknowledge they need help but don’t seek it due to fear. I believe the greatest of all fears is the fear of being judged by others. Arrogance, ego, lack of self-awareness and humility are other reasons that prevent people from leveraging this simple solution for personal and professional growth.
The longer you remain in the not-aware-enough or not-brave-enough stages of seeking help, the more the costs of inaction begin to accumulate. They can be financial, they can impact your physical and mental health and they can damage your personal reputation and company brand. Humble, smart and brave are proven performance and productivity multipliers when it comes to seeking help.
2. Isolate The Real Problem.
One of my first “achievements” when I started my second company was losing $25,000 in about eight minutes. Long story short, I really didn’t understand the mechanics of the whole online payments process when my system was set up. I intuitively reached out for help and found it by talking to several entrepreneurs who had a similar experience launching their companies and contacting a professional organization I belong to that referred me to a great consultant. The problem wasn’t my system — the problem was me. Once I realized I was my biggest barrier to success, the rest of the solution was easy. You may be familiar with the business adage that says, “The problem is never the problem.” I have a lot of real-world experience that shows how I reacted to the problem proves that point.
3. Eliminate The Box Mentality.
The box mentality is all about trusting the behaviors that made you relevant and successful in the past will guarantee the same outcomes in the future. I know and coach many senior-level executives who tried to make the transition from the corporate environment to becoming an entrepreneur. The inability to recognize you must unlearn a lot of corporate behaviors and relearn how to adapt to a world where the luxuries of huge budgets and large staffs are commonly nonexistent in the most critical period of launching and growing a business can lead to immediate and massive failure. This is one area where a lack of self-awareness and one’s ego must be overcome. Behaviors drive outcomes. Behaviors that worked in one career do not guarantee success or relevance in another.
4. Connect. Engage. Succeed.
Acknowledging that change is needed is often the most difficult decision for many to make. I have nothing but a sense of total understanding and empathy for people who find themselves in that position. My decision to leave the corporate world was easy given the impact of being in Silicon Valley in the 2001–2002 economic recession. The decision to transition to the chairman role at my first company in order to launch my current company was far more difficult and riskier. But once the decision to change was made, the rest was very familiar, and given the changes in technology between 2002 and 2017, it was an easier process. Connecting with individuals and organizations in the coaching and crisis management realm, finding information and data and getting feedback were easier. Accessing the content of the best and brightest minds in the world of business was for me by far the most value-added change technology enabled.
Seeking help is a strategic performance and productivity multiplier. To me, seeking help is intuitive and a smart thing to do. What do you think?
