The complaint:

“We can't get anything done.”

That's what people say. What they usually mean is:

There's a lot of motion, but nothing's actually moving.

The real question: Is this going somewhere real?

Activity feels like progress. Busyness feels like commitment. But speed without direction just creates drift.

Direction isn't about going faster. It's about knowing whether the effort is pointed at something that matters— or just discharging the discomfort of standing still.

What to notice:

• Who — Who's absorbing the stress of this work? Sometimes urgency concentrates on the wrong people.
• Does What — Where is energy actually going? Is it solving the problem or just responding to pressure?
• By When — Is the timeline driving the work, or is the work driving the timeline? Urgency can distort judgment when deadlines become disconnected from reality.

Direction is not about speed. It's about making sure the effort is pointed at something real—not just at discharging the tension of uncertainty.

What Happens When These Collide

Ownership, Alignment, and Direction don't always cooperate.

Sometimes being accountable means moving before you're aligned. Sometimes getting aligned means slowing down when direction is screaming “go.” Sometimes what looks like progress is actually diffusing ownership.

The deeper materials—available to Practitioners and Stewards—explore what happens when these collide, and what it takes to hold the space instead of collapsing into a bad tradeoff.