Imagine you’re on a deadline for a big project, and feeling overwhelmed. Or you’re looking for a new job, but can’t seem to get your foot in the door. Or you’re facing a personal challenge, and just don’t know what to do. What do these problems have in common? They can all be solved simply by reaching out to a colleague, friend, acquaintance, or wider network and making an ask. Studies show that asking for help makes us better and less frustrated at our jobs. It helps us find new opportunities and new talent. It unlocks new ideas and solutions, and enhances team performance. And it helps us get the things we need outside the workplace as well. And yet, we rarely give ourselves permission to ask. Luckily, the research shows that asking—and getting—what we need is much easier than we think.
Here, Wayne Baker shares dozens of tools—used at companies like Google, GM, and IDEO—that individuals, teams, and leaders can use to make asking for help a personal and organizational habit, such as: SMART criteria for making an ask, “plug-and-play” routines that make requests a standard component of meetings, mini-games that incentivize asking within teams, and the Reciprocity Ring, a guided activity that allows people to tap into the giving power of a network.
DR. WAYNE E. BAKER
is Robert P. Thome (“Toe-May”) Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He is also Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan and Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research. He currently serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Positive Organizations.
His teaching and research focus on social capital, social networks, generosity, positive organizational scholarship, and values. He has published numerous scholarly articles and four books. His management and leadership articles appear in venues such as Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, and Sloan Management Review.
He puts his knowledge into practice as a frequent guest speaker, management consultant, and as an advisor and board member of Give and Take Inc., developers of the Givitas collaborative technology platform.
He has won various awards, including the Senior Faculty Research Award from the Ross School of Business and the Best Article Published in 2014 – 2016 from the American Sociological Association Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity.
Prior to joining the Michigan faculty, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago business school. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University and was a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard University. He resides with his wife, son, and Birman cat in Ann Arbor.
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