First aid trainers teach you to point at one person and say “you, call 911.” A crowd waits. A named person moves.

Responsibility spread across a group evaporates. Everybody assumes somebody better qualified is already handling it, so twenty people stand still and each of them is being perfectly reasonable. Naming one person removes the ambiguity completely, which is why it works in an emergency and in every ordinary situation as well.

Stop asking groups for volunteers this week and start asking individuals for specific things. One name, one task, one deadline. If you are in a crowd where nothing is happening, you can also be the person who assigns themselves.