There’s an opium field on our property

At any given organization, there are certain tasks that are just not going to get done.

The probability of execution is effectively zero. It’s nobody’s fault. The principle of ordinary inertia is simply too powerful. Objects in motion stay in motion unless they’re acted upon by an unbalanced force.

And when each team member has a project list a mile long, what typically leads to a failure to take action is the sheer volume of work. It’s not always because people lack the skill, desire or knowledge to do things, although those variables do come into play. More often, it’s a question of prioritization.

At all of my jobs, I’ve had to contend with this principle of inertia. And between you, me and the internet, I find it rather enjoyable. Because when you’re new to a team, there’s a profound opportunity to pay off some of the organizational debt that’s been accruing for so long. And debt compromises alignment, kills motivation and stalls execution.

But there are always the projects that everyone dreads confronting. Changes that people should have made a while ago, but didn’t. You can come in with fresh eyes and no emotional baggage and say:

Oh, is that it? That’s the project you’ve been avoiding for the past eleven months? No problem. Give me two days and I’ll knock it out. What else ya got?

It’s such a gift to give to your team. And if you can get skilled at teasing out those threads, it’s amazing what kind of value you can create, impact you can have and impression you can make.

In my experience, it’s a combination of curiosity, generosity and virtuosity. You start by asking two questions.

*What important work task are you too busy to do that you would love somebody or something to do for you?

*What cool project have you really wanted to do, but you didn’t have time, money, support or will to do it?

Virtually every person you work with will have at least three items on that wish list. My recommendation is to keep an inventory. Look for the overlapping tasks on the list that multiple people are asking for.

Prioritize based on energy, resources and market need. Or as my old boss liked to say, must have, should have and nice to have. Then start moving a portion of those projects out of the backlog and into reality.

You’ll find that paying down that debt pays real dividends. Once you secure quick wins that were previously being held hostage by inertia, your team’s sense of lightness will be calming and energizing.

It’s like finally cleaning out your closet after years of living in denial that you still fit into that hundred dollar pair of skinny jeans from college.

Now, in addition to asking people direct questions about their wish list projects, another tool to pay down organizational debt is to run an audit. Nothing formal or structured like an accountant or consultant might do.

But there’s still a degree of rigor that’s required.

Once again, I find this process to be quite enjoyable. In the same way that certain people crave coffee first thing in the morning, and crave a cheeseburger late at night, I get cravings for knowledge all day.

I remember when my coworker first told me there was a library of every video call our sales team had ever made. Not only that, but the conversations were transcribed and searchable. No need to listen to hours of recordings in search of slivers of insight. Just type in a keyword for the most important information.

Excuse me, but did I hear you correctly? Did you just tell a heroin addict that there’s an opium field on our property? Cancel all my meetings. I’ll be occupied for the next seven to thirteen days.

That really happened to me, and it was a dream come true. Because within that library of sales calls were the keys to unlocking our debt. Product requests and pain points and customer stories and use cases, just waiting for somebody to mine those fields of gold.

Which is how I spent my second week on the job.

Now, that may sound overwhelming to you, but it’s heaven to me. It’s one of my superpowers. What others call chaos I call patterns we haven’t recognized yet.

And so, the rigor was a joy that gave me energy. Ultimately overcoming the ordinary inertia that weighed other people down, and paying off some of our sales and marketing debt.

How are you bringing clarity to your team’s collective execution? Are you using curiosity, generosity and virtuosity to move others forward?

Honestly, I have no sense of whether other people think about this kind of stuff when it comes to their work. It’s quite possible my debt reduction strategy is expensive, labor intensive and rooted in some kinds of difunctional, people pleasing, codependent fever dream.

But until it either burns me out or gets me fired, I’m going to crack on.

Considering our country’s national debt just crossed the thirty trillion mark, I think my skills are better deployed on a smaller scale.

I might not be balancing the national budget, but at least I’m being useful to others.

What are people never going to do themselves, but would love that you did for them?