Curious
Why so certain?
The obvious is so very tempting... Sales are down because no one has money. We're missing deadlines because supply lines are slow. People are not doing their job because they are lazy. I can't find good staff because no one wants to work.
I am sure you could insert your own favourite cliche you hear (or say) regularly.
These statements are convenient while doing their best to encapsulate and explain individual circumstance with zero nuance or real insight. They tend to therefore be unhelpful. Even if they were helpful by summarising a thread or trend being experienced, they can only have limited value as they provide little in terms of understanding for decision making, no matter the context.
Next time we are faced with a scenario and everyone looks to us for some kind of response an alternative to making a statement may be to ask a question. Even though it seems counter-intuitive to 'ask' when people may expect an 'answer', Harvard Professor, Francesca Gino's own research (Why Curiosity Matters)shows us how game-changing this can be. Gino, the author of Rebel Talent, and Behavioural Scientist has advocated breaking free of the status quo in a lot of her work. In one of her surveys she found that only 24% of people describe themselves as curious (i.e. they think and talk in statements), while 70% feel they could ask more questions at work.
Imagine what our workplaces looked like if we didn't feel we had to have the answers all the time and instead posed questions to generate discussion, understanding, and accurate decision making. It is almost impossible to imagine as many of us simply have not lived in this world or worked under leaders that role model and reward this!
A group I worked with years ago. Strategic Facilitation sessions run on the premise of 'relentless curiosity' to deep dive into challenges and gain strong and valuable agreements. When a group gets the opportunity to stop and extract themselves from their day-to-day tasks, the value of asking questions and engaging people to be curious is the fasted way we can get to our destination. We must 'go slow to go fast'.
Gino highlights why we make it difficult to be curious with the following Barriers:
Afraid of Messiness and conflict - asking questions can be hairy. People may find it accusatory or disrupting, especially where status and hierarchy are involved. Maybe we feel the need to save face for someone in a meeting. Or, we want to keep a client sweet and avoid potentially embarrassing them. Or, we may want to save ourselves from wading into murky waters of some type. We are told curiosity killed the cat, and we believe it!
Prioritise Efficiency - clogging up the day with pesky discussions gets in the way of getting things done. We don't have time to fuss about with talk, talk, and more talk! The rush and chase for efficiency where doing more with less resource continues to intensify. Culturally, we can find ourselves in a workplace where stopping to ask questions and dig deeper can be discouraged in the name of 'busy' and 'task-orientation'. Curiosity tends to be squeezed out.
But, if we can shift behaviour towards curiosity and away from certainty there is an opportunity for the following Benefits:
Less Bias - when we are curious we spend less effort trying to find information that supports our argument (confirmation bias) and more effort on learning. Old out-of-date ideas tend to be swept aside and are replaced by open and flexible thinking. It is quite freeing in my experience.
Less Conflict - when we are curious we are less likely to defend our position to the bitter end. We tend to listen more, lower our barriers and entertain other's ideas. And isn't this a world we truly want to live in? If someone on my team has come up with a great idea and we make a great decision then does it matter who came up with the idea? It is this mentality that can catapult a team forward and elevate Return On Effort dramatically as wasted time and energy over silly quarrels is dispensed with.
More Creativity - Gino states research where creativity increased by 34% in two weeks once a curiosity survey was performed. When we ask more questions we tend to harvest more information to problem solve more effectively. We also tend towards lateral thinking when problem solving. I believe this way of thinking energised us around problems we are solving, feeding creative juices and sparking momentum for our work.
More Empathy - By asking questions we generate more discussion for shared understanding. When we become skilled in questioning we can lay a platform for others to understand our position better as well as being able to lay a welcome mat out for others to tell their perspective. More understanding of each other creates connection, belonging, and cohesion - all things crucial to a high performing team environment.
More Sharing - Teams that are curious perform better as they listen to each other and are able to share they're information more freely. Not only because they are given the space and invitations to share, but because they tend to trust each other more than those full of people making statements and telling each other what they're position is with little listening or enquiry.
In a world where uncertainty has been (and continues to be) so troublesome we may find it helpful to be less certain in our opinions, mentality, and communication. Bringing in more questions around subjects, presentations, and general discussions may be the most technically proficient leadership and performance skill we can leverage in the modern workplace. I wonder how and where we can use this? How might this be useful to us? What if we role modelled curiosity every day? What if our team's curiosity was seen in every meeting?
See what I did there...?
Banner Image Source: NY Times
