“And what is a possible solution?”
This is the question
one of my former V-Ps
would ask
every time a problem
was presented to him.
Of course, he knew
possible solutions.
That wasn’t the purpose
of the question.
The purpose was
to align problems with solutions,
to make us automatically
think of solutions
when we are presented
with problems.
One of the upsides of this policy was
it created a new idea friendly environment.
Yes, we would still see
the problems any new idea has
but, by proposing a solution
when pointing out the problem,
the originator of the new idea
felt supported,
not attacked.
“Explaining why you have doubts
about an idea
lets everyone understand
if they have different working assumptions.
And proposing a solution
helps advance the idea.”
When pointing out a problem,
ALWAYS suggest a possible solution
(even if this solution isn’t ideal).