Give them a draft to get started.
When I was the rush chair of my fraternity in college, we sent a summer mailing to all of the incoming freshmen to introduce ourselves. All of the fraternities did this, so we wanted to show off our personality to stand out. Early in the summer, we had a meeting where people volunteered to write the different articles and content we would include in the mailing. The deadline approached, and nobody had done anything.
So I wrote all the content myself. And then I showed what I had hastily drafted to the volunteers. Their first reaction was generally “This is awful! I can do a much better job!” I said “Great! Please do!”, and off they went.
It’s hard to start from a blank sheet of paper. There’s a nearly infinite number of ways you could start, so how do you pick one?
It’s much easier to start from a draft, even a shitty first draft, to use Anne Lamott’s memorable phrasing.
So when you are asking for help from somebody, create a draft of what you’re thinking so they can edit and expand from there, rather than start from nothing.
This is particularly true when managing up, as your manager is often busier than you are. Asking “What should I do next?” is not helpful. Instead, say “I’d like your input on what to do next. I considered A, B and C, and I think C is the most important and here’s my first thoughts on how I’d proceed”. Then your manager can just respond to your plan, rather than doing the hard work of starting from scratch.
What’s an example of when you have offered somebody else a draft to get started?
#collaboration #managingup #coaching