A reader writes:
In my each skilled and private life, I discover a frequent theme, and I’m questioning what I’m doing improper. I handle people in my work life, and am the chair of a not-for-profit in my private life. In each conditions, I discover that I have a lot of problem getting people to help me with things.
For instance, we’re enterprise our annual fundraiser for my nonprofit, and when speaking with my board members, I get no response. I see the identical factor in my work—reaching out to ask for help from my employees, and typically getting no response. How do you ask for things and actually get people to help within the work? I am nervous that it’s in my supply—am I asking an excessive amount of, am I demanding of people or conversely too wishy-washy, what’s is it in my supply that people aren’t responding to?
As an instance, right here’s an electronic mail that I despatched to my board. I haven’t heard a single response from any board member, and nobody has accessed the hyperlink that I despatched (this electronic mail was despatched out two weeks in the past). I was actually nervous that perhaps my electronic mail didn’t ship, so I despatched a reminder yesterday, and nonetheless nothing. This is one thing that we ask of board members yearly, so it’s not one thing that’s new to them:
Hi everybody, and pleased Friday!
We have formally launched the Long Table Dinner, formally identified as the Autumn Harvest Dinner! I really want help gathering objects for the silent public sale/raffle. I’ve made a copy of final yr’s record, together with, wherever potential, the contact individual and what they donated final yr. If you possibly can help out by contacting some people, that may be nice (Jesse, the home cleansing final yr was tremendous well-liked!). Please see hyperlink beneath. I’ve additionally hooked up a copy of a donation request which you can give out.
Thanks a lot everybody!
The work points and volunteer work points is likely to be two separate points with two separate options — or they won’t be.
With people you handle at work, you will have the authority and the standing to not simply “ask for help” however to assign work, with particular duties and deadlines. I can’t inform should you’re doing that or not. If you might be assigning particular tasks/duties/duties with clear deadlines and your employees members are simply ignoring you, that’s a enormous downside! You’d want to sit down with every individual individually, title the sample, and inform them that it’s a requirement of their job to do assigned duties by their deadlines, and you’d want to deal with it as a critical efficiency challenge if the issue continues.
But the instance electronic mail you shared makes me marvel should you’re not doing that. I don’t need to learn an excessive amount of into it because it’s simply a single electronic mail from a completely different (volunteer) context, however right here’s what I see in that electronic mail: you’re not assigning particular duties and as a substitute you’re asking a giant group for basic help. So it’s straightforward for people to assume another person will step up. You’d most likely get higher outcomes should you as a substitute stated, “I need each board member to contact five people; your assigned list is attached. Can you please make contact with each person on your list by October 10? I’ll check in on October 1 to make sure you’re not running into issues.” The goal of the interim check-in is to keep watch over the work through the time interval you count on it to be taking place in — in order that if it’s not, you discover that out early and can course-correct, quite than not discovering it till the top. (Also, ideally you’d point out forward of time at a board assembly that that is coming, so people know to count on it and have the chance to increase any considerations they’ve about their capacity to do what you want.)
If you begin approaching work like that together with your board members and nonetheless aren’t getting what you want, that’s a problem to increase with the board extra broadly. Maybe they’re not ready to provide the degree of labor you’re requesting, perhaps they suppose your deadlines are unreasonable, perhaps they suppose employees needs to be doing a few of this quite than board members — who is aware of. But the following step can be to increase the problem and work out how to navigate it.
The first step although — in each contexts — is to be particular about what you want and who you might be asking to do what and by when. A basic “please help out” isn’t specific sufficient or individualized sufficient to get you what you want.
