“That’s not my job” is a wall. Deadline, extra pair of eyes, a small fire — and you get a job description instead of a teammate.
The person saying it is often not lazy. They are burned out, or they were trained to stay in their lane. They polish their own work and ignore the frayed thing next to it because it is not on the list.
The opposite failure is the meddler: jumps on every problem, grabs work without context, "helps" in a way that creates more work and implies nobody else is competent.
Two ditches. The useful place is: I own my work, and I also care whether the project succeeds.
- Be excellent at your actual job, and still look up.
- Trade "no" for "how can I help," or "talk to Sarah, she knows this."
- If you want to jump in, ask first. Accept "I've got it."
- In a real fire, job descriptions wait.
You do not have to do everyone else's work. You do have to notice when the work is on fire.