Two Things That Happen When You’re Curious
Many years ago now, I was lucky enough to spend some time with a corporate anthropologist, Michael Henderson. We engaged Michael to study the culture of our law firm. Michael and I visited the offices, interviewed staff, asked questions and observed. Just watching and listening. Someone would make a comment in a meeting or Michael would see something on a desk, and he would pull out his leather notepad and write down his observation, with a question mark. He had such an inquisitive nature about him, I guess most anthropologists do.
The biggest lesson and take-away from my work with Michael was the power of curiosity.
Curiosity is a fundamental ingredient of great leadership. As a leader, you need to have a willingness to learn. A hungry mind! This is now more important than ever because we're working in a fast-paced, innovative, uncertain business environment.
If you stay curious as a leader, 2 things happen:
You will be less judgemental and more accepting of diverse opinions. You will seek first to understand. You will spend more of your time asking questions instead of giving answers. Your people will feel valued and listened to.
You will be able to accept ambiguity and uncertainty. You will actually be energised by complexity, rather than intimidated by it. You will be able to sit with being uncomfortable. You will experiment and take risks.
It’s a bit like doing a huge jigsaw puzzle. At the start, there are pieces everywhere. it’s all over the place. You have a few bits here that go together and then a few pieces over here. You might get all the corner pieces in place. The most important thing to do at this point is to stay with the uncertainty, stay with the feeling that at the moment you're not sure how all of this is fitting in.
Then over time, the puzzle starts coming together. ‘Oh yes, I see now, these pieces belong over here and that blue section is actually the sea not the sky. Ah, got it!!’
There is a new level of understanding, the process gets faster and you end up finishing the puzzle - achieving the result.
Leading with curiosity is just like that. Sometimes one piece of the puzzle or situation doesn’t make sense in isolation. You have to find out more. You have to ask more questions. You have to discover the context of the situation and learn more. You have to be ok with the uncertainty. Once you gain greater understanding, you can move into action and start making effective well-formed decisions.
If you lack curiosity as a leader, you’ll become stagnant and conservative in your approach. You won’t take risks or push the boundaries. You’ll rush decisions in your need for certainty and closure and instead of seeking out new ideas, you’ll do everything you can to validate your own opinions. This will result in little creativity or innovation in your team and organisation.
So, how can you become more curious as a leader?
Seek out new influences, ideas and experiences
Spend more time asking questions than giving answers
Admit your mistakes and learn from them
Generate ideas from your team members
Question your own assumptions and beliefs
Let go of having to be ‘right’
Commit to being a lifelong learner
Routinely ask yourself reflection questions, such as How can I continue to grow as a leader? What am I fearing right now? What challenges am I facing? What can I do to create more meaningful relationships?
“We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
- Walt Disney
Your role as a leader is to be inquisitive, to be future focussed and to inspire people to follow you down a new path. It's time to get curious!
Midja x