Before jumping to solutions, Italians invest in understanding the full situation surrounding a problem. This means looking beyond the immediate technical issue to examine who is involved, what relationships are at stake, what the history is, and what the broader context looks like. The cultural assumption is that most problems are more complex than they first appear, and that a solution addressing only the surface issue will likely fail.
When working with Italian colleagues, do not be surprised if the initial response to a problem is a series of questions about context rather than an immediate proposal for action. This is not indecisiveness — it is thorough diagnosis. Italians want to understand what is really going on before committing to a course of action, because a solution that fixes one problem while creating a relational or political problem is not considered a real solution.
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