Here are three ways to see if your ego is hijacking your chance of true innovation through collaborative relationships.
“I will hurt for you”
You may decline help because you’re the strong one – it’s your identity. Asking someone else to struggle the way you do seems selfish at best. You may decline help because the feeling of someone thanking you is too good to give to someone else. It’s a popular myth that you can only get true recognition by struggling through weakness instead of serving from strengths.
“I can’t”
You may decline help because the effort of being the solution-person is too big a responsibility. The goal is too big and unwieldy for you to even start thinking about, so how in the world could you put into words what you’d need from others? This can also be tied to perfectionism where no one else can get to the standard that you know it should be. Obviously, you can’t trust anyone else with this.
“I told you so”
Once you give it a go and try to ask for help, you are disappointed and nothing got done. This always happens when someone else tries to get involved, it just isn’t right. Resentment, blame, and isolation bubbles up in you, keeping you in your comfort zone of lonely struggle.
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