My boss told me I should have solved a difficult work problem myself. Was I wrong to speak up?

I brought up an issue with my boss that I thought was moderately serious and had the potential to get worse. My boss seemed miffed that I’d raised the concern, and asked what I’d done to “fix” it. I wasn’t sure what they meant, as this was not a matter I have the skills or authority to make right. I said this, but they said words to the effect that my inaction pointed to me being a poor team player.

My initial reaction was shock, but after the discussion I told myself to take a deep breath and consider the “feedback” in a less emotional state after work. I’ve been trying to work out how I could have done things differently ever since.

Should I have made a better effort to “fix” this problem before raising it with my manager?

I think this is a clear case of your manager shamelessly avoiding responsibility. That whole meeting sounds like a person doing everything they can to shirk an important part of their role: resolving complex problems. The fact that they were “miffed” by your tactfully stated observation is bad enough. That they had the audacity to assert this was a difficulty you could have resolved on your own, implying in the process that you were somehow burdening them with an unnecessary piece of work, is disgraceful.

Questioning your contribution to the group they lead is similarly pathetic. Part of being a good team member is knowing your strengths and your limitations. One of many characteristics exhibited by poor (or even mediocre) team members is poor self-awareness. They step on others’ toes and drift into professional territory they have no good reason to be in. Your understanding that it wasn’t your place to solve this by yourself – and that even if it was, you didn’t have the expertise or cultural knowledge to improve the situation – is the trait of someone most people would enjoy working with.

So often, it’s the people flailing and floundering under the pressure of responsibility who resort to the least helpful and poorly thought-out management platitudes.

I suspect your boss has over-imbibed on the corporate cliche that goes something like, “Don’t bring me a problem without bringing me a solution”. This may be passable advice if you’ve mucked up and have decided to come clean to your boss – a generous translation in cases like this would be, “Don’t worry about the mistake, but start thinking about the remedy”.

It may also be sensible if you’ve come across a “sickness” in your workplace and its “treatment” is well within your remit. But even then, a decent manager will work with you on the “fix”; they won’t flamboyantly reel from it like a medieval aristocrat meeting some poor, leprous soul.

In the situation you’ve described, though, “bring me the solution” is a ridiculous demand. And, if I was permitting myself a moment of conjecture (based in part on some of what you told me in your full email), I suspect it was made by someone who is out of their league. So often, it’s the people flailing and floundering under the pressure of responsibility who resort to the least helpful and poorly thought-out management platitudes.