When you’re running sustainability solo, you might think asking for help makes you look unprepared or incompetent. The opposite is true.
The most effective sustainability leaders I know are masters at enlisting support from colleagues across the organization. It’s a skill I’ve had to work on. But here’s the secret: the key to getting help isn’t asking nicely. It’s making it ridiculously easy for people to say yes.
I call this the 80/20 rule for collaboration: Come with 80% of the work done, ask for the specific 20% you need, and deliver on your end fast.
This approach has transformed how I work cross-departmentally. It’s turned one-off favours into lasting partnerships. And it’s allowed me to accomplish far more than any solo contributor should reasonably be able to do.
Here’s how it works in practice.
The Problem with “Can You Help Me With This?”
Why Vague Requests Die in People’s Inboxes
Early in my career, I’d send requests like: “Hey, can you help me with our sustainability communications?” or “Do you have time to look at this carbon reporting project?”
These requests went nowhere. Not because people didn’t care about sustainability—many did. But because I was asking them to:
- Figure out what I actually needed
- Determine how much time it would take
- Assess whether they had the right skills
- Decide if it was a priority among their other work
That’s not a request. That’s a homework assignment!
Small team principle: Every minute your colleague spends figuring out what you need is a minute they’re not spending helping you.
An 80/20 Framework
Do Most of the Work Before You Ask
Here’s what the 80/20 rule looks like in this context:
The 80% (what you do before asking):
- Define the specific deliverable or outcome you need
- Complete all the foundational work yourself
- Identify exactly which skill or perspective you’re missing
- Estimate how much time you’re asking for (and be realistic)
- Summarize the necessary context in an easy-to-digest format
- Set a clear deadline that respects their other priorities
The 20% (what you’re asking for):
- A specific skill you don’t have
- A particular perspective (operations insight, customer feedback, financial modelling)
- Review and refinement of something you’ve already drafted
- Connection to a stakeholder or resource you can’t access yourself
- Final approval or sign-off on something ready to go
The person you’re asking should be able to understand exactly what you need, why you need it, and how long it will take—all within the first reading your request.
The Three Parts of Every Effective Request
Clarity, Context, and Consideration
When I reach out to a colleague for help now, my requests follow this structure:
1. The Clear Ask
State exactly what you need in the first sentence.
Example: “Could you review this 2-page carbon reporting summary and tell me if the financial implications are clear to a non-technical reader? I’d need your feedback by next Friday.”
Not this: “Hey, I’m working on our carbon reporting and wanted to get your thoughts on some things. Do you have time to chat sometime?”
2. The Context
Explain why this matters (briefly) and what you’ve already done.
Example: “I’ve drafted our Q3 carbon report, and I want to make sure the cost savings from our fuel efficiency improvements are presented clearly. I’ve included ROI calculations and a comparison to last quarter. I’m specifically hoping you can flag anything that seems unclear or needs more detail from a finance perspective.”
This shows you’ve thought it through, you’re not starting from zero, and you respect their expertise.
3. The Consideration
Acknowledge their time and make it easy to say yes (or no).
Example: “I estimate this would take about 30 minutes to review. If you’re swamped this week, I can also ask [alternative person] or adjust my timeline. Just let me know what works for you.”
This gives them an out, shows you understand they have other priorities, and demonstrates you’ve thought about alternatives.
Small team principle: People are more likely to help when they can see you’ve already helped yourself as much as possible.
Making It Easy
The Details That Make People Say Yes
Beyond the overall framework, here are tactical things I do to make collaboration smooth:
Use Shared Tools Everyone Already Knows
I draft everything in the tools our organization already uses. I don’t ask people to learn new software or create accounts on platforms they’ve never heard of. The barrier to entry should be zero.
Provide Numbered Lists for Feedback
When I need review or input, I include a numbered list of specific questions to make them easy to scan. For example:
- Does the ROI timeline in section 2 make sense?
- Is the language in the first paragraph too technical?
- Are there any claims here that need more supporting data?
This is infinitely better than “Let me know what you think!” because it gives them a clear path through the review.
Be Specific About Deadlines and Flexibility
“I need this by Friday” is less helpful than “I need this by Friday, November 15th, because I’m presenting to leadership on Monday the 18th. If you can get it to me by Thursday afternoon, that gives me time to incorporate your feedback.”
Context helps people prioritize your request against their other work.
Follow Up with a Summary
After someone helps me, I send a quick follow-up: “Thanks for your review—I incorporated your suggestions about the financial section and simplified the language in paragraph 3. Here’s the final version if you want to see how it turned out.”
This shows you valued their input, closes the loop, and makes them more likely to help next time.
The Reciprocity Principle
Why Helping Others Makes You Better at Asking for Help
Here’s the thing about the 80/20 rule: it only works if you’re also willing to be the 20% for other people.
I genuinely love helping colleagues in my organization, even on projects that aren’t directly sustainability-related. Need someone to review a customer-facing document? I’m happy to give it a read. Need a second opinion on a complex scheduling problem? I’ll take a look.
This reciprocity does two things:
- It builds genuine relationships based on mutual support rather than transactional favours.
- It teaches you what good requests look like. When someone asks me for help and makes it easy, I notice. When someone asks me for help and makes it hard, I notice that too.
The more you help others, the more you understand what makes a request manageable versus overwhelming. And when you do need to ask for help on a sustainability project? You don’t feel bad about it, because you know you’ve contributed value to your colleagues’ work too.
Small team principle: The best collaborators are generous with their own time and respectful of others’ time in equal measure.
When to Break the 80/20 Rule
Sometimes You Actually Need the Full Partnership
The 80/20 rule works for most requests. But sometimes, you’re not looking for someone to contribute 20%—you need a true partnership where the work is genuinely split.
You might need a 50/50 partnership when:
- The project requires expertise you fundamentally don’t have
- The project equally serves both your goals and your colleague’s goals
- You’re building something new that requires co-creation rather than refinement
- The timeline is long enough that shared ownership makes sense
In these cases, be explicit: “This isn’t a quick favour. I’m hoping we can partner on this together because it needs both our skill sets. Can we set up time to scope it out?”
The key is being honest about what you’re asking for. Don’t disguise a 50/50 project as a “quick review” and hope they won’t notice.
Your Constraints Are Your Advantage
Why Solo Contributors Can Move Fast
Here’s what I’ve learned: being a solo sustainability contributor actually makes you better at collaboration than people on larger teams.
Why? Because you can’t afford to waste anyone’s time—including your own. You learn to:
- Be ruthlessly clear about what you need
- Respect other people’s capacity constraints
- Move quickly once you have what you need
- Build relationships based on mutual value
People on bigger teams sometimes forget these principles because they have the luxury of internal resources. You don’t. So you get good at making every request count.
What You Can Do This Week
One Action to Practice the 80/20 Rule
Think of one sustainability project where you need help from a colleague. Before you reach out, ask yourself:
- Have I done 80% of the work myself?
- Can I state exactly what I need in one sentence?
- Have I estimated how much time I’m asking for?
- Have I made it easy to say yes?
If the answer to any of these is no, do that work first. Then make your request.
You’ll be surprised how much more willing people are to help when you’ve made it effortless for them to do so.
Photo by Maranda Vandergriff on Unsplash
What’s your biggest challenge when asking colleagues for help on sustainability projects? Have you found approaches that work well in your organization? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you—drop a comment below.
