Leaders are often unaware of the impact and mad scramble their requests for information have on those below them and behind the scenes. Unless the leader knows how they will use the information or data, they should probably avoid asking others to spend countless hours doing busy work or creating reports pejoratively known in many organizations as “reports for the entertainment of management.”
In a past life, I was a data analyst and report writer. I'd get requests from business leaders for a certain report. I would call them up and ask them what questions are they trying to answer with the data or what problems are they trying to identify and/or solve. To my surprise, most business leaders didn't have a good response. Most were mildly perturbed by my question. But I found that over time, my persistence of asking questions help me provide the right reports and data they were looking for (even if they didn't know it at the time).
In a past life, I was a data analyst and report writer. I'd get requests from business leaders for a certain report. I would call them up and ask them what questions are they trying to answer with the data or what problems are they trying to identify and/or solve. To my surprise, most business leaders didn't have a good response. Most were mildly perturbed by my question. But I found that over time, my persistence of asking questions help me provide the right reports and data they were looking for (even if they didn't know it at the time).
Thanks for sharing resources that have practically worked for you, Patrick.