Why asking for help is an important part of your development in Account Management

Having recently had twins it has reminded me how important it is to ask for help. This is something that does not come naturally to me. A mistake I made as I was starting out in the agency world was to think that I had to have all the answers. This belief continued with me until I was quite senior; I would be asked to deliver a task and if I weren’t equipped with the information I needed to complete it, panic and self-doubt would set in. I would then spend time trying to figure out the answer even though looking back there was no reason why I s hould know the answer or know where to find it.

Asking for help and asking key questions when being set a task, shows a level of confidence, maturity and forward thinking.

If you don’t really understand what is being asked of you then you can try asking the following questions;

1) Can I repeat back my understanding of what you have asked me to do?

2) Is there a specific way you would like this done?

3) Has this been done before/is there information available that I can tap into?

If its something you’ve not done before and therefore not equipped with the experience or knowledge to complete it you can ask;

1) Is there someone in the agency who is best placed to help me complete this? (It’s a great platform to go in search of people who might have the information you need and make new connections. It allows you to learn new things)

2) Are there sources either on-line or within the agency that I can tap into?

Knowing where to find information and asking for it is the best first step in knowing you are going to be able to fully complete a task to the best of your ability. Going away and panicking about how you are going to magically conjure up the answers like I did is not!