Applied Curiosity

Why valuing curiosity alone is not enough - and a model for applying curiosity to overcome that.  

Here is what you need to know.

Curiosity is in danger of becoming a buzzword at work and in leadership.  And that is not surprising given the benefits being curious can bring to individuals and organisations.

I'm seeing more and more organisations talk about how they want people to be curious, how they value curiosity or that it's one of our core fundamental values.  And that's great.  

But saying curiosity is something you value alone is not enough - it is how individuals and organisations bring that value to life that matters.  It is our applied curiosity that makes the difference.

So why should we care about curiosity?

There is a growing body of research into the business benefits of curiosity which is summarised in this article from Harvard Business Review.

  The key benefits identified by the research are:

And it is hard to argue against these benefits - all from developing and applying curiosity at work.

As well as treating curiosity as if it is a value we can talk about, the other problem I have we the way people and organisations talk about curiosity is the implication that a person is either curious or not. 

I see this in the literature (and I have read a lot about curiosity) and in my experience talking to organisations and individuals about curiosity, I don't think that's true, it is far more complex than that.  

I believe that everybody is curious, and what is different is how we choose to apply that curiosity, or indeed if we choose to apply that curiosity to our work.  Do we turn up our curiosity dial or turn it down?

For us to apply our curiosity, we need a number of environmental factors to be in place, such as:

Also built into the assumption that people are either curious or not is the implication that curiosity is not something you can develop.  This simply is not true.

The Applied Curiosity Model

When we consider applying our curiosity as a set of skills that we apply to a process, then curiosity becomes something we can develop, and that we can really harness as leaders.

Let’s start by considering the process.

Research

Research is the stage where we are gathering data, finding our information, discovering facts and opinions.  We are exploring using skills like listening to understand, asking great questions, reviewing what others have done, reading, listening to podcasts etc.

Reflect

Reflect is where we assimilate and add context to what we have found, turning our data into information we can base our next steps on.  

Reflection creates the opportunity to add in our reactions, feelings, aspirations, hopes, and what we have learned in the past.  It also allows us to explore how the new data links to everything else we know.  In the work context, it also allows us to determine the relevance to what we are trying to achieve.  

Reflection involves giving yourself time to think and adding some structure to that thinking time.  Skills and techniques that can be applied at this stage include discussions, coaching, journaling, thinking walks and other thinking models.

React

This is the ‘so what’ stage of the Applied Curiosity Cycle - where we take what we have found and take action on it. 

Without this stage, our research and reflection have just been academic and enjoyable though that is, it is only when we take action that we see the actual benefits for ourselves and our organisations.

We need to form a hypothesis and then experiment with it to see what happens, and this in turn provides new information which starts the cycle all over again.  When it comes to work, we need to build this experiment into our work using our planning processes and skills as well as the skills we have been using in the research phase.

The Next Steps

If you are looking to get the benefits that curiosity can bring to your leadership and your organisation, being more deliberate about how you apply curiosity is going to be key.  

To practice using the Applied Curiosity Cycle,  I suggest picking one challenge you are working on at the moment and running it around the three stages, research, reflect and react, so you experience the benefits for yourself.  Like any new process, it will get easier with practice and repetition.

If you want to know more about this process, support bringing it to your organisation, coaching, or facilitating the development of the skills you need to use it effectively, get in touch and we can discuss how I can best enable you to become an expert in developing and applying your curiosity.