I’m so curious what we hear about this topic from different sectors / communities / workplaces! Speaking from my own (engineering-land) experience, while pointing out a problem is expected and encouraged - not having a proposed solution or at least a start of an idea is looked on as lack of rigor.
I definitely share that view personally, possibly because my background is engineering, too…! I see a lot of problem-admiring in my role as a consultant, where challenges tend to be very fuzzy and are often around people and behaviours. But I don’t really know how this varies across fields as you say. I should have added a poll in the article!
Always try to provide thoughtful recommendations. Even if you're wrong, it's easier for clients to react to a suggestion than to generate one from scratch. Worse case, they'll reject it, in favor of a different idea. But best case, they'll appreciate that you gave them something other than just the data, or that you didn't just show them how to interpret the data.
I’m so curious what we hear about this topic from different sectors / communities / workplaces! Speaking from my own (engineering-land) experience, while pointing out a problem is expected and encouraged - not having a proposed solution or at least a start of an idea is looked on as lack of rigor.
I definitely share that view personally, possibly because my background is engineering, too…! I see a lot of problem-admiring in my role as a consultant, where challenges tend to be very fuzzy and are often around people and behaviours. But I don’t really know how this varies across fields as you say. I should have added a poll in the article!
Always try to provide thoughtful recommendations. Even if you're wrong, it's easier for clients to react to a suggestion than to generate one from scratch. Worse case, they'll reject it, in favor of a different idea. But best case, they'll appreciate that you gave them something other than just the data, or that you didn't just show them how to interpret the data.
💯 Your audience always needs a hook to continue the conversation.