One of my regrets in life (and I have quite a few) is that I didn’t play any team sport when I was a kid. As I got older, the companies I worked for insisted on team building at least once a year. Team building did not, thankfully, involve climbing poles, but the activities were just not my cuppa tea… they were games that needed everyone to play in order for the team to win. So, I stayed away from company team building or arrived and stayed just long enough for my boss to register my presence.

The truth. Teams, I felt, slowed me down. Things got done faster and better if I did them myself. Of course, I learnt quickly that we couldn’t run the customer service department without the 10+ people that were part of my team. So, I learnt to play the team game, albeit grudgingly. Even with my own consultancy, I worked from home as regularly as I could. My team, I knew, were happier if I was around, yet I chose to stay away.

Two days into bringing my son home from the hospital, I discovered that things didn’t get done faster or better if I did them myself. They simply didn’t get done at all. Between feeds and diaper changes, or as soon as the baby I was asleep, I only had enough energy to crawl into bed. I only hydrated. I hardly ate. I was always tired. I was always tired.

Until one conversation with a good friend (good enough to be present at the birth of my son). She convinced me to ask for meals, to eat before that nap, to allow someone else to hold or burp the baby. To stop feeling that I was alone in this journey. To ask for help. Once I was open to help, I started to notice that friends and family genuinely wanted to help. And so I took it. Friends coming over to hold the baby so that I could eat and nap. Others driving us to doctor visits. Others coming over just to talk.

Does everyone in your team feel about the work as strongly as you do? Maybe. Maybe not. Whatever the case, everyone has a part to play and they will play it when you allow them to. Dear entrepreneur, manager, supervisor. Your team wants to help. You just have to show them how.