“I suggest we do…” is easy to say in a sentence, but it comes with baggage. Suggestions are essential for the growth and improvement of an organization. Leaders and teams need them, but they are only useful if they come from a good place and are delivered properly. There’s a right and a wrong way.
Suggestions can sometimes be purely egotistical. A person might say, “I suggest…” with little thought beyond making themselves look smart or dissenting without good reason. (Is it a suggestion or just a complaint?) Others may suggest something with no intent of offering assistance: I suggest X, but someone else should do the heavy lifting. This is the suggestion box technique: write down the suggestion, drop it in the box, and move on with your life. Simply making a suggestion without forethought and a commitment to assist is a hollow and pedestrian way of contributing.
A More Thoughtful Approach to Suggesting
A different approach is to offer an idea with a caveat. I often say, “I’m thinking out loud here.” While this marginalizes the phrase a bit, it takes the pressure off anyone in the room from thinking I’m making a hard suggestion to take a specific course of action. I’m contributing and generating ideas, but since I haven’t done due diligence, I’m not making a formal suggestion yet.
How to Suggest the Right Way
Suggesting done right sounds something like this:
