No professional is an island.

Even when you have a good working relationship with your coworkers, supervisors, and whoever else, you may feel hesitant to ask for their help with certain elements of your day-to-day work. Maybe you don’t want to bother them, maybe you don’t want to look like you don’t know what you’re doing, or, if you don’t have a good relationship, maybe you just don’t want to breathe the same air as them. Whatever the reason, though, there will, inevitably, come a time when you will need to ask a coworker for help with something, and when that time comes, don’t go into it kicking and screaming.

Most people, at least in my experience, are basically good, and want to help others when it is within their capacity to do so. If there’s something you don’t understand in your work or don’t think you can handle by yourself, don’t just let it stew in a half-done state while you flop around on the floor like a fish out of water, ask someone for help. As long as it’s something a coworker can help you with, they’ll probably do it, either out of the goodness of their heart or because they don’t want half-baked work to trickle down onto them. The same goes for managers and supervisors; if you have a question, ask it. You might get a sideways look if it ends up being something obvious, but a sideways look is preferable to having to do an entire assignment over because you didn’t know what you were doing.

Everyone has their own skills and expertise, and it’s those skills working in tandem that makes a healthy workplace. You do what your coworkers can’t do, and they’ll do what you can’t do. And when there’s overlap between you, you can shoulder the burden together.