4 Steps to Leveraging Curiosity
🎶 Let your mind meander…just let your wonder wander.
Anyone else remember that song? I had to look up who sang this little tune that surfaces in my mind every once and a while.... turns out that none other than Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen are the ones to blame. Take a moment to relive the moment from a Full House episode here.
As hysterical as it is, it got me wondering how rarely we let our wonder wander. As in just letting your thoughts drift past the limits of how things are and feel the rush of a new possibility. The blissful feeling of letting possibility push past barriers, and limitations and spark fresh insights.
Follow with me....
When you visit your doctor and describe the symptoms you're having, they typically try to fit your situation into a silo diagnosis, when in fact, your symptoms could be leading too many possible diagnoses.
This is known as confirmation bias and it puts an immediate stop to any possible new ideas or solutions. Confirmation bias is defined as a "bias resulting from the tendency to search for, or interpret information in a way that confirms pre-existing ideas, and leads to incorrect conclusions."
We only know what we have experienced either personally or secondarily. And while the knowledge we have is valuable in solving problems and doing our jobs, it can also be limiting us by preventing us from discovering alternative ways to operate both in our personal and professional lives. Further, it limits us by tricking us into the false belief that we know everything we need to know, to succeed.
How Curiosity Changes Things
The phrase, "Curiosity killed the cat," implies that curiosity is a bad thing, essentially urging us to steer clear of asking too many questions. But Harvard professor, Francesca Gino (she's one of my favorite's) did multiple studies to make the business case for curiosity in the workplace. She found five benefits to curiosity:
Fewer decision-making errors
Increased innovation and positive changes
Reduced group conflict
More open communication
Better team performance
Additionally, Harvard Business author Dalia Molokhia reported that many of today's CEOs find curiousness to be an essential component to success, as well as Einstein who famously quipped, "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
Further, GBR reports three important ways curiosity effects employees in the workplace:
Improves interpersonal skills.
Fosters a growth mindset.
Curiosity not only changes group dynamics but also enhances personal relations as well as business culture. Also, we often feel this driving need to be "right" and/or to have the answers. Curiousness nips this in the bud, relieving us of the stress of needing to know everything.
Unfortunately, Merck's State of Curiosity Report shows that only 22 percent of employees describe themselves as "curious" at work, possibly due to 66 percent of them feeling they face barriers to curiosity in the workplace.
Leveraging Your Curiosity
Curiosity plays a major role in the future of work and within your personal future as well. Whether you are an employee, entrepreneur, or leader in an organization, there are a number of ways you can tap into and embrace your curiousness or that of your employees.
1. Fall In Love With "Ah-Hah!" Moments
Curious people prefer to have their minds blown, over cognitive dissonance. "Ah-Hah!" moments are powerful, life-altering, transformational breakthroughs in our lives that show us where we have been mistaken all along. Rather than feeling disappointed (or even devastated) by learning something new that contradicts previous knowledge, realize that your newfound knowledge has elevated your mind and expanded your perception.
2. Create A Curious Culture
While curiosity has obvious natural benefits, it can feel awkward for some to begin practicing it. However, if we open ourselves up to asking random questions of those around us, we begin to learn the value of being curious which nourishes our thirst for knowledge.
Imagine what would have happened if Sir Isaac Newton hadn't questioned why the apple fell to the ground (what a strange question, right?). But inevitably, his curiosity led to his discovery of gravity.
If you present yourself as someone who is authentically curious, others will be more likely to feel comfortable being curious along with you. Encourage employees to question things by demonstrating your own curiosity.
One example of how you can do this is to listen carefully to a question and be unafraid to say "I don't know. What do you think?" or "What are your thoughts on it?" without judgment. You may be surprised by the answers that come from a completely different perspective.
3. Practice Every Day Curiosity
We all experience moments where we silently wonder about something. It could be a minor detail ("I wonder how ducks see the world.") or something more complex ("I wonder what the history of that skyscraper is."). Regardless, we all have those quiet thoughts that generally get tossed out as we return focus to the task at hand.
Practice becoming more self-aware and recognize these passing thoughts. Rather than letting them fade from your mind, capture them and let the questions swirl in your mind. Who? Why? How much? How long? What if?
Sometimes, I even put myself in the room of something being created, or on the job site of a construction site and try to imagine the conversations, feel the energy and tap into the rawness of those moments.
4. Read... A Lot
Reading has countless benefits but more than a quarter (27 percent) of Americans report they have not read a book in the past year, according to Pew Research.
Reading is about more than just picking up a book and reading the words on the page. Bill Gates - one of the world's wealthiest men - is commonly known as a voracious reader - reading 50 books per year. He reports that he takes notes when he is reading his non-fiction books just to ensure he is absorbing the information he's reading.
And Bill Gates isn't the only corporate powerhouse to capitalize on books. Many successful billionaires share the habit of reading as much as possible, sometimes setting aside an hour a day to descend into the alpha state and drown in a book.
Curiosity not just about ideas or innovation, but also about people and relationships. We might discover a completely new world when we begin to feel comfortable asking honest questions about the people around us. Our unconscious bias can lead to us coming to conclusions that are patently false, but our curiosity - and willingness to ask questions - will help us get to know the people in our lives and what makes them tick.
You may be an expert at what you do, but, ironically, this can hinder you by limiting your thinking. Curiousness offers us freedom from the mental constraints of working within certain predefined parameters, opening us up to limitless possibilities that we may never have considered before.
To be more competitive, we must be willing to step outside of our comfort zones and into the unknown, where ideas swim in unfamiliar waters.
What is keeping us back from asking more questions? Is it that darn cat... if so it's time we let that one walk away and create a new beautiful approach to our thinking.
Remember… the world needs your best work and uhh oh yea…
🎶 let your wonder wander.
Talk soon.
Josh