Last week was my University's finals week. The due date for books was this past Saturday. Thus, our semesterly inundation overwhelmed my office. (We tend to handle a regular month's worth of books in a week.) To complicate things, my staff (with my permission) go MIA so that they may focus on their studies. This leaves me short staffed at the busiest times of the year. Thus, I call for backup in the form of full-time employees who want to get overtime for shelving books. It works.
Part of doing your job well is knowing when you need help. Sometimes we get too busy to handle everything that comes our way. In order to do what we need to do, it may be beneficial to ask for help. The help does not have to be permanent - just enough to get you over the hump. When you need to call for back-up, it's best to have a plan of action in place. To snag what you need, you must be able to explain why you need the extra hands, what they will be doing, and for how long the help will be needed. If you can show how and why you are inundated, it's easier to persuade those you need to ask.
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Rather, it shows that you know what tools you need to complete the tasks of your office.
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