Welcome to International Working Out Loud week which will run from 7-13 November 2016. The Theme of this Wolweek is “Working and Sharing Purposefully”. 

Each day this week this blog will share a discussion of the 7 Days of Working Out Loud post. Thoughout the week and in the coming weeks we will also be sharing blogposts, interviews, and other content to help practitioners of working out loud to lean and to spread the movement.

Day 5: Share A Need

You need help. Your stakeholders need help. Working out loud is way to come together to share needs and solve them together in community.

Today is the last day of the working week. Every week is a reminder of the pressures and challenges of work. Just staying engaged in Wolweek to the end takes effort because of the many demands of our work. A modern worker must deal with too much information, too much communication, a greater visibility of stakeholders, more work to do in leaner organisations and a greater sense of urgency.

We all need help. We are not alone.

Through this week we have been exploring how we come to a more purposeful view of the relationships around our work. We have moved from seeing work as inputs and outputs to more of the two-way flow of a relationship. As we start to seek solutions to our needs we need to keep this in mind.

What is the biggest need you have to advance your work in a meaningful way? Describe in a way that is meaningful to others by clarifying the impact on purpose and their work. Leverage the connections, contributions and trust that is building in your relationship to ask for help.

When you ask for help, share that need with a relevant group of people with a goal to explore:

• whether it is a real need
• who else shares that need and might benefit from a solution
• who has a relevant part of a solution
• who may wish to participate in co-creating a solution
• whether there are other ways forward.

Sharing a need is more than asking for a solution. It is an invitation for your community of stakeholders to participate in the process of improving your work and the work of others. You aren’t asking for yourself. You are asking for everyone now and into the future that might share that need.  The answer will be available to them if you seek a solution in an observable way.

Take 5 minutes day to explore the needs you share with the community around your work.