How Asking "What Do You Need?" Can Transform Your Career

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Discover how a simple question—“What do you need?”—can transform your workplace dynamics and foster collaboration.

Are you ready to elevate your personal and professional life? Look no further than Be the Ultimate with Dennis Guzik, the podcast designed to equip you with powerful insights and practical strategies to thrive in today’s fast-paced world. Hosted by seasoned expert Dennis Guzik, this podcast goes beyond traditional advice, offering you tangible steps to unlock your true potential.

Key Takeaway: The Power of "What Do You Need?"

• Inspired by a TV show scene where an officer asks how she can help at an accident scene.
• Applying this question in professional settings can foster collaboration and improve work dynamics.

Application Scenarios

• • To a Superior:Shows initiative and willingness to assist.
  • Can lead to learning new skills and being seen as a team player.
  • To a Peer:Assists colleagues struggling with new tasks.
  • Strengthens relationships and team cohesion.
  • To a Subordinate:Demonstrates supportive leadership.
  • Ensures assigned tasks are completed effectively and efficiently.

Personal Anecdotes

• • Host shares experiences from military and civilian leadership roles.
  • Illustrates the effectiveness of asking "What do you need?" in various professional scenarios.

Daily Practice

• • Encourages listeners to integrate this question into their daily routine.
  • Applies to interactions with bosses, peers, and subordinates.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to become the ultimate version of yourself. Tune in to Be the Ultimate with Dennis Guzik today, and start your journey towards a brighter future. Subscribe now, leave a review, and share with friends who are also eager to grow. Let’s embark on this transformative journey together!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, folks.
Well, I'm back.
It's the old jarhead and I'mhere to give you some good
career advice, career advicethat I guarantee you will help
your career if you listen to itright.
You got to listen to it and yougot to put it into action.
So what are we going to talkabout today?

(00:22):
Well, so the other night I waswatching the idiot box or the
television, and I like to watchthese live PD shows cameramen
that follow actual policeofficers as they're conducting

(00:47):
their law enforcement businessand it's a really cool show and
it gives you a whole lot ofinsights into how things are in
the street and what things arelike for law enforcement
officers and everything.
But that's not the point here,right officers and everything.
But that's not the point here,right?
So the point is in one of thescenes, um, an officer is called

(01:10):
to a really bad trafficaccident and so she arrives on
the scene and there's twocrashed cars, there's injured
people, but there's also otherpolice and firefighters and
paramedics they're arriving to,some are already there and

(01:33):
they're working on helping somepeople and arresting other
people.
And she walks up and the firstthing out of her mouth was what
do you need?
Out of her mouth was what doyou need?
So think about that, right, thefirst thing she does is she
goes up to the person who's incharge and asks how she could be

(01:54):
of value to that person and tothe scenario that's unfolding in
front of her.
And that got me to thinking.
One, that was the exact rightthing to do.
And two, how could you applythat to your career?
So we've all been there.
You hear of something going onand it's difficult, and somebody

(02:18):
has an assignment or a taskthat, in addition to all their
other work, is making lifedifficult for them.
And why don't you use thosewords, right?
Why not use the words what doyou need to that person?
Now, that person could besomebody senior to you.
It could be your boss, right?

(02:39):
Or even your boss's boss.
It could be one of your peers,or it could be somebody
subordinate to you, could besomebody that you assigned a
task to, and I think that partis what is also really
interesting.
But either way, it's a reallypowerful question to ask.
So if you ask your bosssomething like that, you see

(03:00):
your boss is struggling withsomething and you ask her like
that, you see your boss isstruggling with something and
you ask her what do you need?
Now she may respond nothing,I'm good, but thanks for asking,
and then register that in hermind that, wow, that was really
nice of you to ask that question.
Or she may say can you take onthis portion of my task, a task

(03:25):
that maybe the CEO gave hersomething that now you can learn
from number one right, you canlearn something new from too is
you can help and you could makeyourself seen as a real team
player.
The other way is what if it'sone of your peers and they're
struggling with something andyou ask what do you need?

(03:46):
It could be something that theyhave never done before, that
they are learning for the firsttime, but that you have done
repeatedly.
And I saw that sometimes withaccounting for overhead costs
and things like that where a newbusiness unit leader had never
done it before and they'restruggling with it and you can
do it easily.
So you ask them what do youneed?

(04:07):
Well, can you help me figureout this stuff?
And you go sure, yep, and youeasily do it.
You help them, you help theorganization and again, good
colleague.
And then the last one is when asubordinate is choking on lots
of stuff that they have on theirplate, possibly stuff that you

(04:29):
assign them.
So I always felt when I was incharge of folks that if you work
for me, I work for you, andthat means one of the first
things I would do when I gavesomebody a task is ask them so,
what do you need from me?
What can I do to help you getthis done?
Maybe you need to talk tosomebody and I could help broker

(04:52):
that discussion.
Or maybe you need a budget andyou can come back to me and say,
yeah, I need $10,000 to getthis done.
Okay, then we could start thatdiscussion.
But it's really powerful.
You don't want to act just likethe boss who goes out there and
says here's your task, go away,come back to me when it's done.
You want to be engaged and youwant to ask your people what do

(05:14):
you need?
So, just to wrap up this quickpodcast here think about this.
Think about this in your dailylife.
Think about this every day atwork.
Look for people who haveproblems.
I've said it before solve yourboss's problems.
Well, this is kind of a subsetof that, but it's not just your
boss.

(05:35):
It's your boss, your colleaguesand the people who work for you
.
Don't be afraid to ask thatquestion.
What do you need?
I recommend you do that, allright?
Well, that's enough blabberingfrom the old jarhead for right
now, but I'll tell you it's goodblabber.
So thanks for listening.
Get a copy of my book.

(05:55):
It's been selling real welllately, so obviously it's got
some good gouge in it, and Isaid that all along.
So please take a look at thatand tell your friends.
Tell your friends about thepodcast.
If you think it's worth it andobviously you do.
You're listening to it.
So let other people know.
And, uh, thank you, thank you,thank you.