The Power of Curiosity

Being Curious

Curiosity killed the cat, they say…but only after it had used up its nine lives.  Being inquisitive and interested in people, things, and events is an admirable characteristic, both because it increases your own learning and also because it’s infectious.  If you display curiosity, those around you will be more curious than they would otherwise have been.

This will not only empower you you'll gain greater understanding, stronger relationships and learning from your friends, employees, peers or fellow networkers. 

An open, enquiring mind is a pre-requisite for continuous learning and development.  The alternative, a closed mind, is a recipe for stagnation and for the rate of change to exceed the rate of learning.

If you’re not already the sort of person who displays curiosity, it’s possible for you to learn to become so.  How easy or difficult this will be depends on your starting point.  If you feel curious, interested, and inquisitive…but don’t exhibit those behaviours, it’s comparatively easy to adopt behaviours that will demonstrate your curiosity.  You could, for example, embrace a commitment to talk to people about what interests them, ask lots of questions, and demonstrate how interested you are in them.  By feeling interested you’re already halfway there and these behaviours should be quite easy to adopt.

If you don’t feel interested, it’s quite possible to feign interest.  Most people will discover that if they pretend to be interested then they start to feel interested (fake it till you make it).  Your outward, exhibited behaviour will affect your inner feelings…rather than the other way round.

Curiosity provides the springboard for learning and development.  Curious, inquisitive people tend to:

• ask lots of questions

• think out loud

• play devil’s advocate

• dig and delve to find out more

• formulate and reformulate “theories”

• have lots of ideas

• challenge conventional thinking

This is an admirable list.  The downside is that people who are curious will often flit, butterfly-like, from one interest to another and not sustain their enthusiasm for any one thing.  As a result they fail to see things through to a conclusion.  They are good starters, but poor finishers.  If this describes you, even just sometimes, you can correct this tendency by working to maintain your interest, continually checking to ensure that your people are completing the things they've started.

Consistent curiosity is vital…the lifeblood of continuous improvement.  All learning and development emanates from an insatiable curiosity.

And that’s worth thinking about…

Here Are 10 Things You Can Do to Foster a Culture of Innovation and Creativity…

1.       Live in the possibility.  Know that every problem has many possible solutions. Stand in the belief that you and your team can find a better way to do anything you put your minds to.  Practice CANI—Constant and Never-Ending Improvement.

2.       Always question what you do and why you do it.  All too often tasks and projects creep into our processes that aren't necessarily in keeping with our mission and purpose.  Make sure everything you do is in alignment and produces the results intended.

3.       Challenge long-held beliefs. Just because something's always been done a certain way doesn't mean that it's still the best way.  As Anthony D'Angelo said, 'Just because something is tradition doesn't make it right.'

4.       Don't accept the first solution right away.  There are many possible solutions to every problem.  Most people go with the first plausible one that comes up and they miss the value of thinking longer and finding more effective and elegant answers.

5.       Read. You can't learn less.  The more you know about something, the more you find that you DON'T know.  By adding to your knowledge base, you find more and more associations.  And making associations is where seemingly magical things happen.

6.       Have fun. Coming up with ideas on how to do things faster, easier, with fewer resources really is fun.  And things that are fun to do get done more often.  Schedule regular brainstorming sessions and practice green-light thinking.  Order pizza for lunch and focus on a problem or process and generate as many ideas as you can.

7.       Get around people in different industries.  By stepping out of your familiar territory, you open the door to new and different viewpoints you can use to your advantage.

8.       Challenge your team to look deeper.  When Henry Ford asked his engineers to design the V-8 engine, they said it couldn't be done.  He said it WILL be done—and eventually, they did it.

9.       Make sure you have adequate 'moodling' time—time to do nothing.  When we're constantly engaged in DOING things, we don't provide the fertile ground for ideas to take root.

10.   Charge your subconscious. Give your mind something to work on while you sleep.  Select a problem you want solved, a process you would like improved or a new product you would like to create before going to bed and then forget about it.  Tell yourself you want at least three elegant ideas by the next day and then expect to receive them. Trust that it works.

And that's worth thinking about…