Curiosity is key...
Most children are born with an innate sense of curiosity. Sadly, as we mature and are socialized – that innate sense seems to wane…we are often taught not to be curious because it is often seen as a waste of time – hence we learn to become efficient instead.
Don’t get me wrong – efficiency is important in our personal and professional lives, and yet we need curiosity to balance it.
The lead for the current issue of the Harvard Business Review’s current issue is “The Business Case for Curiosity”. This topic is vital and timely for businesses facing possible disruption and those wanting to innovate.
The series is led by an excellent article, Why Curiosity Matters, by one of my favorite researchers and authors, Francesca Gino. In it, she shares new research on why curiosity is so important, what gets in the way of promoting it, and how leaders can enable it in their businesses.
Encouraging curiosity resonates with me, and was one of the most important chapters in my LinkedIn Learning course, Creating a Culture of Change: Curiosity is key. In practice, curiosity is what a person, team or organization needs in order to develop learning agility and a growth mindset (based upon the seminal work of Carol Dweck).
These three characteristics – curiosity, learning agility and a growth mindset – taken together are what enable individuals and organizations to thrive on change, and use it as a dynamic force for growth, instead of being a passive victim to it – like the example I use in my course of Blockbuster Video.
Professor Gino’s research reveals a couple of mindsets that prevent companies from encouraging their employees to be more curious:
“…they fear it will increase risk and inefficiency”,
and
“…they believe the company would be harder to manage if people were allowed to explore their own interests.”
Finally, nurturing curiosity requires time for exploration and experimentation, which is challenge for most companies because of their focus on quarterly results and earnings.
What is preventing you and your company from enjoying and reaping the benefits of being more curious? And how will you overcome them??
The future belongs to the curious! :-) https://vimeo.com/34853044
It totally resonates with me! I believe that curiosity is more important than being certain / right in organizations.
(Part 2!) That said, it is possible to use established and efficient methods to propel ourselves into creative thinking - to 'practise curiosity'! For instance, "7-Ways". This approach pushes you to think of 7 (genuinely) different ways to solve a problem. The first 2-3 will be relatively easy, then it gets harder. You really have to 'push through' to get to 7, but sometimes the out-of-the-box thinking that you need to 'dream-up' the 6th / 7th solution might provide that breakthrough. Similarly, TRIZ (creative design conflict resolution) asks you to break-down a problem into basic principles and guides to answers which have been proven to work elsewhere, and which might actually be the creative breakthrough you're looking for in your situation. Creative and efficient at the same time. Teaching these skills to teams and coaching them on how to apply them to their daily challenges is (I'm told by my esteemed colleagues!) a really rewarding experience. Hope that goes some way to answering the question at the end of your article!
(Part 1) I completely agree that it can be hard to be both creative and pragmatic / efficient, and all too easily we fall into / are coerced into aiming for efficiency. In my experience, many organisations struggle to 'go slow to go fast' (i.e. spend a 'disproportionate' (in the eyes of most) amount of time on thinking and reflecting before DOING) as there is a perceived need to be seen to be advancing actions, sometimes to meet [sometimes arbitrary] milestones - a cultural paradigm. This often leads to more work in the long run as we correct mistakes or react to new information. So firstly, I think a cultural shift is needed to value creativity, thinking and reflection more highly.
I think my curiosity has been a gift in my life. I am curious about so many things. It think it can also lead to empathy. Great share.