Summary: The Workplace Curiosity Manifesto by Stefaan van Hooydonk

If you have a pen­chant for explor­ing a top­ic, delv­ing into it feels like an excit­ing jour­ney. Nonethe­less, stu­dents and insti­tu­tions fre­quent­ly over­look this innate human incli­na­tion to active­ly seek and assim­i­late nov­el infor­ma­tion. Edu­ca­tion­al spe­cial­ist Ste­faan van Hooy­donk is ded­i­cat­ed to alter­ing this mind­set. With­in this abstract, he presents a brief and clear man­u­al on fos­ter­ing con­struc­tive inquis­i­tive­ness among professionals.

Suggestion

Inquis­i­tive­ness is an asset in the busi­ness world. Learn­ing expert Ste­faan van Hooy­donk pro­vides a brief and clear man­u­al on nur­tur­ing pro­duc­tive inquis­i­tive­ness among pro­fes­sion­als, with­in teams and orga­ni­za­tions. The val­ue of inquis­i­tive­ness in busi­ness is wide­ly rec­og­nized, but the author ref­er­ences recent stud­ies, along­side illus­tra­tive instances and anec­dotes from his tenure as chief learn­ing offi­cer at Flip­kart, Cog­nizant, and oth­er firms. While his enthu­si­asm may lead to some rep­e­ti­tion, van Hooy­donk deliv­ers a dis­tinct, ben­e­fi­cial overview and valu­able suggestions.

Key Points

• Fos­ter a spir­it of curiosity.
• A cli­mate of change and uncer­tain­ty neces­si­tates an inquis­i­tive attitude.
• Curios­i­ty is advan­ta­geous for both you and your organization.
• Inquis­i­tive lead­ers achieve supe­ri­or results and fos­ter employ­ee curiosity.
• Inquis­i­tive teams cre­ate a secure space for the curios­i­ty of their members.
• For com­pa­nies, inquis­i­tive­ness bol­sters orga­ni­za­tion­al adapt­abil­i­ty, inno­va­tion, and enhanced listening.
• Cor­po­rate strate­gies that pri­or­i­tize curios­i­ty facil­i­tate both inno­v­a­tive explo­ration and effec­tive implementation.
• Inquis­i­tive­ness pro­pels dis­rup­tive and pro­gres­sive innovation.
• To enhance inquis­i­tive­ness in your orga­ni­za­tion, adopt 10 strategies.

Synopsis

Embrace a Curious Mindset

Curi­ous indi­vid­u­als have an insa­tiable desire for knowl­edge. Curios­i­ty involves being ready to chal­lenge estab­lished norms, embark on explo­ration and rev­e­la­tion, and acquire wis­dom. Curios­i­ty is often asso­ci­at­ed with child­like attrib­ut­es, yet stud­ies reveal that both chil­dren and adults har­bor sim­i­lar lev­els of curios­i­ty. The vari­ance lies in chil­dren’s enhanced readi­ness to take risks and endure dis­com­fort to pur­sue knowledge.

Curios­i­ty is sparked when encoun­ter­ing some­thing new and rec­og­niz­ing it as such. A prompt eval­u­a­tion of one’s capac­i­ty to delve deep­er into the sub­ject with­out risk­ing one­self fol­lows suit. If there is the assur­ance of explor­ing the mat­ter with­out appre­hen­sion, the action inspired by curios­i­ty ensues.

“I pos­sess no spe­cial tal­ents; I am only pas­sion­ate­ly curi­ous.” (Albert Einstein)

Curios­i­ty is piqued when indi­vid­u­als pos­sess some pri­or knowl­edge of a sub­ject. A bit of infor­ma­tion trig­gers curios­i­ty, and fur­ther learn­ing fuels its expan­sion. Once indi­vid­u­als believe they have exhaust­ed the sub­ject mat­ter, their curios­i­ty dimin­ish­es. Monot­o­ny, rou­tine, and stress also sti­fle curiosity.

Each per­son har­bors an inher­ent curios­i­ty, with some dis­play­ing more than oth­ers; curios­i­ty also appears to have a genet­ic ele­ment. Encour­ag­ing­ly, indi­vid­u­als can cul­ti­vate their curios­i­ty, par­tic­u­lar­ly with­in a con­ducive setting.

An Inquisitive Attitude for Dynamic Environments

In the pre­vi­ous­ly sta­ble busi­ness land­scape, orga­ni­za­tions excelled by pri­or­i­tiz­ing oper­a­tional effi­cien­cy. Dur­ing such times, lead­ers cher­ished con­ti­nu­ity, cer­tain­ty, and pre­dictabil­i­ty, suc­ceed­ing by lever­ag­ing estab­lished advan­tages. In today’s era of rapid trans­for­ma­tions, com­pa­nies cling­ing to out­dat­ed busi­ness mod­els and the sta­tus quo will face stagnation.

“Replac­ing fear with curios­i­ty opens end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties.” (Philoso­pher Alan Watts)

A con­stant­ly evolv­ing world neces­si­tates curios­i­ty, agili­ty, explo­ration, and inno­va­tion. Fos­ter­ing empow­er­ment and auton­o­my among employ­ees can ben­e­fit orga­ni­za­tions in this sce­nario. Today’s lead­ers must adopt open-mind­ed­ness and active­ly seek fresh oppor­tu­ni­ties. Plan­ning and con­trol mech­a­nisms must give way to inno­va­tion path­ways. This approach demands curios­i­ty, along­side the agili­ty and risk accep­tance it nurtures.

The Advantages of Curiosity for You and Your Organization

Indi­vid­u­als reap the rewards of inquis­i­tive­ness as it height­ens their involve­ment, dri­ve, and sat­is­fac­tion. This pro­gres­sion enables quick­er career advance­ment, improved inter­per­son­al con­nec­tions, an open­ness to nov­el expe­ri­ences, and reduced appre­hen­sion in the face of change.

Curios­i­ty enhances indi­vid­u­als’ readi­ness to har­ness their intel­lect and knowl­edge to bet­ter them­selves, their rela­tion­ships, and their under­tak­ings. It aids in cre­at­ing nov­el blends of con­cepts and dis­cov­er­ing solu­tions to pre­vi­ous­ly elu­sive prob­lems. Inquis­i­tive pro­fes­sion­als devel­op exten­sive exper­tise, trans­form­ing into “T‑shaped” employ­ees capa­ble of excelling in roles demand­ing cog­ni­tive chal­lenges and in-depth knowledge.

When inquis­i­tive indi­vid­u­als lack essen­tial details, they acknowl­edge the need to acquire them, exhibit­ing humil­i­ty. Curios­i­ty primes the brain to receive infor­ma­tion, enhanc­ing the ease of learn­ing for the curi­ous. They can tap into supe­ri­or mem­o­ry func­tions com­pared to those lack­ing curiosity.

“Curios­i­ty involves ven­tur­ing into new ter­ri­to­ries, acquir­ing fresh knowl­edge, nudg­ing the bound­aries of com­fort, and intro­duc­ing variety.”

Con­verse­ly, con­for­mi­ty, the antithe­sis of curios­i­ty, com­pel indi­vid­u­als to cling to what is known, refrain from mak­ing errors, and seek approval from the major­i­ty. The desire for sta­bil­i­ty and pre­dictabil­i­ty ema­nat­ing from an indi­vid­u­al’s cul­ture, soci­ety, and intrin­sic make­up dri­ves con­for­mi­ty. This hin­ders indi­vid­u­als from explor­ing new avenues, pos­ing queries, and ven­tur­ing beyond their com­fort zones. Curios­i­ty serves as an anti­dote to the sti­fling impact of conformity.

Empowering Leaders Through Curiosity

Curios­i­ty empow­ers lead­ers to make log­i­cal, delib­er­ate deci­sions, adapt adept­ly to uncer­tain­ty, and con­tem­plate fresh strate­gies. They can com­mu­ni­cate mind­ful­ly, being ful­ly atten­tive. Curi­ous lead­ers exhib­it a readi­ness to accept feed­back on their per­for­mance, show­cas­ing assured humil­i­ty by seek­ing assis­tance and acknowl­edg­ing their limitations.

Curi­ous lead­ers serve as exem­plars. A team lead­er’s ded­i­ca­tion to learn­ing encour­ages team mem­bers to embody this trait. When lead­ers exhib­it curios­i­ty, employ­ees per­ceive that the cor­po­rate cul­ture espous­es and nur­tures their inquis­i­tive­ness. Lead­ers must under­take spe­cif­ic mea­sures to demon­strate that the orga­ni­za­tion wel­comes inquis­i­tive­ness, both in inquiries and in the pur­suit of expand­ing knowl­edge and capabilities.

“While lead­ers express admi­ra­tion for curi­ous minds, they inad­ver­tent­ly sti­fle curios­i­ty, fear­ing it will ampli­fy risk and inef­fi­cien­cy.” (Orga­ni­za­tion­al psy­chol­o­gist Francesca Gino)

Many lead­ers suc­cumb to the pit­falls of leadership…out-of-date atti­tudes that hin­der them from embrac­ing inquis­i­tive­ness. These encom­pass the notion that curios­i­ty slows down pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and ham­pers con­cen­tra­tion. Alter­na­tive­ly, they might believe that inquis­i­tive employ­ees will be dis­or­der­ly and chal­leng­ing to over­see. They might pre­fer cen­tral­ized deci­sion-mak­ing and adhere to the idea that lead­ers should have all the answers and con­sis­tent­ly exhib­it author­i­ty. When author­i­tar­i­an lead­ers dis­cour­age their team mem­bers from chal­leng­ing their deci­sions or sug­gest­ing alter­na­tives, they sup­press curios­i­ty. Lead­ers who favor estab­lished solu­tions also restrain employ­ees’ curios­i­ty. They typ­i­cal­ly allo­cate min­i­mal time for their team mem­bers to explore inno­v­a­tive options – to the organization’s disservice.

Curious groups foster a secure space for their members’ curiosity.

Curios­i­ty enhances a group’s effi­cien­cy, coop­er­a­tion, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Curi­ous teams expe­ri­ence reduced con­flicts and a more respect­ful ambiance. Mem­bers of curi­ous teams encounter high­er involve­ment, con­tent­ment, and ded­i­ca­tion. Curi­ous teams often make sound deci­sions as they mit­i­gate groupthink.

Steer­ing a curi­ous team entails more than just gath­er­ing team mem­bers who show­case curios­i­ty. It involves estab­lish­ing a team that cul­ti­vates a cul­ture, ambiance, pro­ce­dures, and cus­toms to form an atmos­phere con­ducive to curios­i­ty. In the milieu of a curi­ous team, mem­bers feel secure, val­ued, sup­port­ed, and at lib­er­ty to voice their thoughts and investigate.

“Curios­i­ty and inno­va­tion go hand in hand, with curios­i­ty being in the driver’s seat.”

Explo­rations into curios­i­ty, orga­ni­za­tion­al per­for­mance, and team per­for­mance pin­point nine facets of curi­ous teams: The manager’s approach and rap­port with the team, the team’s learn­ing ethos, its diver­si­ty, its rit­u­als and sys­tems, its atti­tude towards open­ness, the psy­cho­log­i­cal secu­ri­ty it nur­tures, the role mod­els it offers, its vision clar­i­ty, and its pen­chant for inno­va­tion. Exec­u­tives should pro­mote curios­i­ty at the team lev­el where employ­ees will expe­ri­ence its advan­tages most intensely.

For corporations, curiosity bolsters organizational adaptability, innovation, and enhanced receptivity.

Curios­i­ty can ampli­fy orga­ni­za­tions’ capa­bil­i­ty to antic­i­pate future trends. It can enhance their abil­i­ty to heed their cus­tomers, work­force, and mar­kets. Fur­ther­more, it can ele­vate their com­pet­i­tive­ness, effi­cien­cy, and involve­ment. Curi­ous orga­ni­za­tions usu­al­ly ben­e­fit from pos­i­tive cus­tomer brand perceptions.

The com­pa­nies that thrived dur­ing the upheavals of the pan­dem­ic devised inno­v­a­tive strate­gies to cope with emer­gen­cies and flu­id cir­cum­stances. Pos­sess­ing the traits of curi­ous orga­ni­za­tions proved ben­e­fi­cial, as they were open to change, exhib­it­ed humil­i­ty, and retained a fas­ci­na­tion with poten­tial future sce­nar­ios. Curios­i­ty facil­i­tates orga­ni­za­tion­al learn­ing, feed­back mech­a­nisms, and the capac­i­ty to learn from errors. In curi­ous orga­ni­za­tions, indi­vid­u­als feel con­fi­dent express­ing diver­gent view­points and chal­leng­ing the sta­tus quo. Curi­ous orga­ni­za­tions gen­er­al­ly attract top tal­ent and then offer an envi­ron­ment where tal­ent­ed indi­vid­u­als can flourish.

“Curios­i­ty is a growth mind­set in action.” (curios­i­ty researcher Ali­son Horstmeyer)

Curi­ous orga­ni­za­tions under­take two actions that uncu­ri­ous orga­ni­za­tions do not or can­not: They con­struct an envi­ron­ment that sup­ports curios­i­ty, and they nur­ture a curi­ous out­look among their employ­ees, lead­ers, and teams. They exhib­it diver­si­ty among indi­vid­u­als and in view­points and expe­ri­ences. Start­up ven­tures tend to exhib­it abun­dant curios­i­ty, but orga­ni­za­tions of any size can fos­ter a cul­ture that encour­ages curios­i­ty. Most orga­ni­za­tions already pos­sess that groundwork.

Corporate strategies that prioritize curiosity facilitate both pioneering exploration and streamlined implementation.

Pio­neer­ing orga­ni­za­tions such as Microsoft, Novar­tis, 3M, and Google – among numer­ous oth­ers – have embraced curios­i­ty as a facet of their strat­e­gy. In a volatile busi­ness milieu, orga­ni­za­tions must strike a bal­ance between exploita­tion – which entails effi­cient exe­cu­tion – and explo­ration, includ­ing exper­i­men­ta­tion and inno­va­tion. While con­cur­rent­ly employ­ing exploita­tion and explo­ration pos­es chal­lenges, exec­u­tives with a curi­ous dis­po­si­tion can ampli­fy and gain from both strate­gic methodologies.

“The men­tal mod­els that got us this far will not be the ones tak­ing us into the future.”

Kodak’s down­fall exem­pli­fies how an uncu­ri­ous orga­ni­za­tion can fal­ter in rec­og­niz­ing and respond­ing to mar­ket shifts, result­ing in dis­as­trous out­comes. Microsoft’s nar­ra­tive show­cas­es the ram­i­fi­ca­tions of both curios­i­ty and incu­rios­i­ty: In 2000, Steve Ballmer assumed lead­er­ship of an entre­pre­neur­ial orga­ni­za­tion expe­ri­enc­ing remark­able suc­cess. He enforced an assertive, con­formist lead­er­ship style, lead­ing to a decline in Microsoft’s mar­ket val­ue. How­ev­er, when Satya Nadel­la assumed the role of CEO in 2014, he focused on cul­ture and fos­ter­ing curios­i­ty and a growth mind­set. This approach engen­dered an extra­or­di­nary transformation.

Curiosity drives revolutionary and gradual innovations.

Inno­va­tions in any sphere – whether in busi­ness mod­els, cul­tures, prod­ucts, or process­es – hinge on chal­leng­ing the exist­ing norms and pos­ing fresh inquiries. Com­pa­nies can pur­sue two dis­tinct paths to inno­va­tion, either by ven­tur­ing beyond the core busi­ness or focus­ing with­in it. Inno­va­tions stem­ming from exter­nal facets of the organization’s oper­a­tions gen­er­al­ly insti­gate dis­rup­tion. On the con­trary, inno­va­tions emerg­ing with­in the core busi­ness typ­i­cal­ly yield evo­lu­tion­ary changes, though they can also be dis­rup­tive. Both avenues rely on curios­i­ty. Focused curios­i­ty, which cen­ters around an exist­ing domain of exper­tise, leads to incre­men­tal inno­va­tion. Mean­while, broad curios­i­ty, and explor­ing new ter­ri­to­ries, can yield rad­i­cal innovations.

“All life is an exper­i­ment.” (philoso­pher Ralph Wal­do Emerson)

An organization’s incli­na­tion towards inno­va­tion hinges on three vari­ables: First­ly, whether the orga­ni­za­tion leans towards a hier­ar­chi­cal, fam­i­ly-cen­tric, mar­ket-ori­ent­ed, or ad hoc (such as start-ups) struc­ture, and whether it encour­ages or sti­fles curios­i­ty. Hier­ar­chi­cal and fam­i­ly-based enter­pris­es tend to reward con­for­mi­ty. Sec­ond­ly, the lead­ers’ incli­na­tion towards pos­ing open-end­ed or closed ques­tions influ­ences the impe­tus for inno­va­tion. As per Yury Boshyk, the founder of Glob­al Exec­u­tive Learn­ing and Busi­ness Dri­ven Action Learn­ing, lead­ers at McDon­nell Dou­glas rev­o­lu­tion­ized the company’s inno­va­tion approach by pos­ing open-end­ed ques­tions, yield­ing more insight­ful respons­es. Third­ly, whether the cul­ture nur­tures a pre­dis­po­si­tion for inno­va­tion, is prob­a­ble unless lead­ers opt to swim against that tide.

To foster curiosity in your organization, adopt 10 strategies.

High achiev­ers nat­u­ral­ly pos­sess an incli­na­tion toward curios­i­ty. Indi­vid­u­als expe­ri­enc­ing sub­par per­for­mance aspire to be curi­ous, but they might find that their curios­i­ty dwin­dles under stress, rou­tine, over­con­fi­dence, or due to the absence of role mod­els and a curios­i­ty-dri­ven cul­ture. The fol­low­ing strate­gies can height­en curios­i­ty among indi­vid­u­als, teams, and organizations.

1. Take curios­i­ty seri­ous­ly – Allo­cate time to cul­ti­vate it. If you over­see a team or orga­ni­za­tion, pri­or­i­tize curios­i­ty as a key agen­da item.
2. Trans­form curios­i­ty into a project – Assess the base­line lev­el of curios­i­ty in your team or orga­ni­za­tion, set objec­tives and a roadmap, eval­u­ate avail­able resources, and estab­lish a time­line for mea­sur­able enhancement.
3. Fos­ter self-aware­ness – Mon­i­tor your curios­i­ty lev­els and how they fluc­tu­ate across diverse cir­cum­stances. Inves­ti­gate your beliefs, val­ues, and moti­va­tions con­cern­ing curios­i­ty. Reduce stress lev­els. Height­en aware­ness of your lead­er­ship approach and prac­tices about curiosity.
4. Enhance trans­paren­cy sur­round­ing your curios­i­ty – Eval­u­ate the three facets of curios­i­ty: Intel­lec­tu­al curios­i­ty about the world, social/empathetic curios­i­ty about oth­ers, and intrap­er­son­al curios­i­ty about one­self. Ana­lyze your met­rics and mon­i­tor them over time.
5. Cul­ti­vate minor habits – Employ the tech­nique advo­cat­ed by Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty design lab founder B.J. Fogg to instill habits. Iden­ti­fy an anchor moment, a new behav­ior, and an imme­di­ate reward to make curios­i­ty a routine.
6. Inte­grate curios­i­ty into your lifestyle and encour­age oth­ers to do the same – Embrace serendip­i­ty and nov­el­ty. Intro­duce pro­duc­tive curios­i­ty to others.
7. Embrace con­tin­u­ous learn­ing – Expand­ing your knowl­edge base for­ti­fies your curios­i­ty. Expose your­self to con­cepts that chal­lenge your con­vic­tions and broad­en your perspectives.
8. Pose inquiries about mun­dane, triv­ial, or appar­ent mat­ters – This prac­tice for­ti­fies your curios­i­ty and pro­pels you to ques­tion the sta­tus quo.
9. Apply curios­i­ty to your con­nec­tions – Curios­i­ty about the indi­vid­u­als in your life will enhance your rela­tion­ships and expose you to diverse viewpoints.
10. Rec­og­nize the val­ue of set­backs – Fail­ures and errors present valu­able learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. Elim­i­nate the term “mis­takes” from your lex­i­con. Label them as sur­pris­es instead.

About the author

Ste­faan van Hooy­donk, for­mer­ly the chief learn­ing offi­cer for renowned com­pa­nies such as Cog­nizant and Flip­kart, estab­lished the Glob­al Curios­i­ty Insti­tute. He also serves as the Dean and co-founder of the Earth Academy.