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Aurelius · Work & Leadership
Knowledge + Guidance

Why do we just use what's handed to us instead of sourcing it?

Someone upstream sends the leads, the data, the files, the client list. You use what arrives. When it's thin, you complain about it in the hallway. You call this 'how it works here.' This is not fate. It is a choice your team makes, every single cycle, to wait rather than hunt. Sourcing is a muscle. Left unused, it weakens. You have let it weaken, together, and then blamed the supply. The fix is not a new vendor or a better tool. It is your team deciding, out loud, to go find better inputs before you are handed worse ones. Nobody is coming to fix your sourcing for you. You are the sourcing.

◆ How this problem reads on the two dials
GuidanceKnowledge
More coaching
Some to learn
1:1 with AureliusWith others (a Pod)
Some one-to-one
Practise with peers
The team mostly needs a push to act and a structure to sustain it, with a small amount of teaching on what active sourcing actually looks like.
How the two dials adapt to you →
What’s really going on

You use what's delivered because waiting is easier than hunting, and you've called that easiness 'the process.' Sourcing is a skill you practice, not a gift you receive. Choose, as a team, to spend time each week looking before you're forced to use what arrives.

🔒 What you’ll build togetherUnlock by starting
A moveName one input your team only ever receives — write down where it actually comes from.
A moveAssign one person, each week, to find one alternative source before anyone asks for it.
A moveBring one unsolicited option to your next meeting, even if no one requested it.
A moveCount, out loud, how many times this month you went looking versus how many times you waited.
A moveStop any complaint about poor input unless it comes with a named action you took instead.
PractiseMap the Pipe · a Pod of 4 · 30 min

What changes unlock by starting

  • You know exactly where each input comes from, not just that it arrives.
  • You have at least one backup source ready before you need it.
  • Your team stops mistaking complaint for action.
  • You can point to a number — how many times you went looking this month.

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