The Context
One of the most frustrating challenges of working in an organization is, you often have to persuade your team members to work on your projects at the expense of other things vying for their attention. It’s a complicated interpersonal task, and the failure rate is extremely high. Not because people are evil, but because people are people, and they’ve more inclined to take on work that’s in alignment with their own interests. They have enough on their plates as it is, and they simply can’t prioritize your special project over their own responsibilities.
The Tool
Extreme Ownership
EXTREME OWNERSHIP — Create leverage through the attraction of working, not the arrogance of interruption
It's not always the best use of your energy to go on a crusade to get people to help you. Yes, the leverage of other people is powerful, and asking for help is an important skills that everyone should learn, but so is taking extreme ownership. Rodriguez, one of my indie filmmaker heroes, touts in his book the importance of having few resources. That constraint forces you to get more creative. Where you have everything to learn and nobody to blame. Next time you’re struggling to get people to help you, try reversing your assumptions. Ask yourself this question. How could you factor in nobody ever helping you? It will feel lonely at first, but it will also feel liberating. Because you won’t have to wait. You can just start doing meaningful work that nobody asked you to do, take the chance that you might upset someone with your initiative, and hope that one person will see it think, oh shit, that’s really cool, do you need any help with that? Yes. Absolutely. Thanks for asking. Would love to have you jump in.
The Rest
Recovery circles have a mantra they use for this form of leverage. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion. Meaning, be a living example of the miracles of the program, and when somebody is ready, they’ll approach you directly. Now, this is not the fastest way to enroll people in our vision, but in a world where we have a finite amount of energy, you have to think about sustainability. Sometimes it’s smarter to create leverage through the attraction of working, not the arrogance of interruption. Doing so can create a gravitational pull towards yourself that people can’t resist. And if nobody else in the group, at least you’re still learning, growing and creating value, which is a win no matter what. When in doubt, do as much as you can for as long as you can, and see what happens. How could you factor in nobody ever helping you?
The Benefits
Exponentially increase your learning and skills by going it alone
Grow your reputation as an leader who respects people’s time
Organically build projects around the right team members
Create a gravitational pull towards your projects so excitement for them grows