Is Every Problem Yours to Solve?

Mark had always been the person people turned to when something went wrong. At work, he helped colleagues meet deadlines, stepped in when tasks were overlooked, and often stayed late to make sure everything ran smoothly.

One Monday, a colleague named Daniel told him that he was behind on an important assignment. Mark immediately offered to help. He rearranged his own schedule and spent several hours working through Daniel's unfinished tasks.

The following week, the same thing happened again.

Mark began to feel frustrated. His own work was piling up, and he wondered why he was always the one who had to make up the difference. Yet when Daniel approached him again, Mark found himself preparing to offer help before Daniel had even finished explaining the problem.

This time, he stopped and asked what had made the assignment difficult to complete.

Daniel explained that he had been given additional responsibilities without any change to his deadlines. Mark realized that he had been treating the situation as a problem he needed to solve, without first understanding what was causing it or who was responsible for addressing it.

Instead of taking over the work, Mark suggested that they discuss the workload with their manager.

For the first time, Mark approached the problem without immediately making it his own.

A Question to Explore
When someone around you has a problem, how do you decide whether to take responsibility, offer help, or leave the responsibility with them?