3 Ways to Foster a Culture of Curiosity (and Why You Should)

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3 Ways to Foster a Culture of Curiosity (and Why You Should)

By Jason R. Waller | Entrepreneur Magazine | October 17, 2023

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The author believes that a culture of curiosity pays dividends to not only any organization but also any relationship. In his work with his clients, especially when coaching co-founders and leadership teams, he sees that nothing creates disconnection faster than an attachment to being right. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing the right answer or having conviction in a point of view, but the danger is when a point of view becomes connected to our own egos and identities. This is not the search for what is right, but rather an individual righteousness that flies in the face of truth.  Curiosity, on the other hand, fosters connection and builds up relationships. It creates space for innovation and creativity. It allows, still, for strong perspectives, but it creates the openness to evolve. It is the lifeblood of healthy, adaptable organizations.

So how, then, can we each take the responsibility to be curious, role modeling that for our teams and our peers?   Three ways of helping to invite more curiosity into the workplace: staying present in the here and now, separating observation from imagination and letting go of binary thinking.

1. Staying present in the here and now.  The author often says that “the past tense is the language of blame.” It’s incredibly hard to have a grounded, curious conversation when we’re pulling in stories and arguments from the past. The same goes for spending too much time in the future tense. Sure, we need to learn from past mistakes and plan for future considerations, but these conversations should be grounded in the present around what we can learn or what we can do now.  The risk of being too past-focused is that we end up arguing about our own versions of history and the he-said-she-said. The risk of being too future-focused is that we speak in hypotheticals, usually focused on our own supporting facts and data. Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with looking to the past or future, but to foster curiosity, try staying in the here and now. Lean into your own present-focused statements around your beliefs and feelings.
2. Separating observation from imagination.  It’s helpful to keep the distinction in mind between observation which is objective in nature and imagination based on this observation which is subjective. The implication here is that, while we can be reasonably confident in our observations, we must create some space for curiosity when our imaginations make up a story. Even more powerful is to use this language in practice.  Call out your observations and imaginations out loud.
3. Letting go of binary thinking.  The risk of binary thinking, or thinking in black-and-white, absolute terms, is that we might oversimplify a complicated idea and miss other perspectives. Most often it comes to when receiving feedback. The natural human response, when we get a piece of feedback, is to ask “Is it true or not?” Implicitly, we’re putting the feedback into either the “true” bucket or the “false” bucket. In doing so, we’re missing out on the precision of asking “Which parts of this are true?”  The latter approach invites openness and learning, while the former does not. It can be difficult to spot binary thinking, as it’s an easy default for our thought processes. But anytime we can spot it, we create an opportunity to expand the conversation away from either/or and into curiosity.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. A culture of curiosity pays dividends to not only any organization but also any relationship. Nothing creates disconnection faster than an attachment to being right. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing the right answer or having conviction in a point of view, but the danger is when a point of view becomes connected to our own egos and identities. This is not the search for what is right, but rather an individual righteousness that flies in the face of truth.  
2. Curiosity, on the other hand, fosters connection and builds up relationships. It creates space for innovation and creativity. It allows, still, for strong perspectives, but it creates the openness to evolve. It is the lifeblood of healthy, adaptable organizations.
3. Three ways of helping to invite more curiosity into the workplace are: staying present in the here and now, separating observation from imagination and letting go of binary thinking.

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Topics:  Curiosity, Innovation, Creativity, Teams