Offering help to a troubled colleague can be tricky territory. I hope that won’t hold you back from enquiring about the well-being of a colleague and being ready to extend your support.

The link above points to a recent article from the NY Times that provides some simple and practical advice. A couple of of points that resonated with me:

– you should explain that you’re offering support, rather than judging or blaming
– keep in mind that you’re speaking as a concerned colleague not a therapist

Some will not want to talk about it (whatever ‘it’ is), still you can extend a friendly hand, lend an ear, or suggest other avenues of support.

I know you don’t know what to say.
No-one knows what to say.

Try something, say something, pick-up any feedback and adjust approach…

* Post title taken from the lyrics of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother