More curiosity, less cat!

Safety warning.  No real cats were harmed in the writing of this article; they lived their full nine, curious lives.

As a curious person, I’m always seeking improvements and striving to address inequities. I struggle to understand an incurious leader. Can they truly be a leader? This question particularly resonated with me following reviews of the ‘Robodebt’ Royal Commission, which revealed a glaring lack of curiosity among senior bureaucrats and ministers and who inflicted great pain on vulnerable Australians. The Public Service Commissioner’s report stated “Curiosity should be a default setting for public servants” and I include ministers here. Curiosity didn’t kill these cats, rather the lack of it!

A curious leader isn’t a micromanager, nor do they feel the need to speak first or have the best ideas. Instead, they seek new ideas and experiences, driving innovation and problem-solving. Less obviously, curiosity helps build healthy conversations that lead to better relationships; it improves our persuasiveness, reduces bias and judgmental attitudes.

Psychologists recommend suggest that curiosity is an excellent way to navigate challenges and manage stress. Coaches note that it can help create high-trust teams, as curious leaders tend to be more self-aware, thereby building more trust and respect.

Curiosity, we know is crucial for a successful non-executive director career. An incurious director, like an incurious minister, who doesn’t look beyond the executive team might find themselves facing their own royal commission. Sounds like a true superpower!

It’s a Bit Complicated

Superpowers can be complicated.  Alison Horstmeyer, a curiosity researcher, adapted the five-dimensional curiosity scale from Professor Todd Kashdan of George Mason University, for leadership coaching. She identified four overlapping characteristics of curiosity:

In 2018, Harvard Professor Francesca Gino found that curious managers uplift their teams and help them reach stretch goals, while incurious managers stifle them. She found an intellectual paradox: despite leaders claiming to value inquisitive minds, many actually stifle curiosity due to fears of increased risk and inefficiencies. However, highly curious CEOs can find a balance between improved efficiency and innovation.

Leader Development: Everyone doesn’t just bring their best curiosity to the office every day. Beyond being role models, leaders need to establish habits (see tips below) and interactions that allow all to embrace curiosity, rather than seeing it as a leadership prerogative. Curiosity can be a powerful glue for team-building, talent retention, and overall workplace well-being.

Research shows that curious workplaces are rare and require deliberate and consistent behaviors and actions. A cross-industry study led by Professor Todd Kashdan found that autocratic and risk-averse cultures leave no space for teams to question decisions or explore new options. Sounds like our Royal Commission findings.

Professor Gino also found that decision-making becomes more rational with higher curiosity, adaptability increases, and curious leaders are more respected and energize their teams.

Team Development: The researchers found curiosity thrives in device-free zones. We need to be present, actively listening, and reflecting before responding. While curiosity is easier in face-to-face meetings, we now know intentionality is the key to successful hybrid working. The same goes for curiosity.

I’m often bemused when corporate values state “we value our people,” yet they fail to build a deeply curious culture—a sure way to lose your team. Curious leaders might say they’ve succeeded when their team relies less on them to achieve their goals. This allows leaders to focus on strategic thinking and future-building while further developing their teams.

The greatest challenge for many leaders in achieving a curiosity legacy will be accepting that they don’t have all the answers, being okay with being wrong, and genuinely being open to new ideas.

Unstructured play: Leaders could learn a lot from pre-schoolers’ unstructured play, where they develop negotiation skills, resilience, problem-solving, and relationship skills. In our hectic schedules, we need to carve out time for curiosity and open thinking—our unstructured play!

We leave our incurious ‘cats’ and join Albert Einstein, who once reflected: “I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.” Good enough for me!

More leadership curiosity habits

Many leaders feel pressured to have all the answers and avoid potential conflicts even if it is about ideas. This mindset limits team engagement and curiosity. Further tips include:

• Less Advice: More asking open questions, then listening, reflecting, and clarifying by confirming what you think was said. We all want to be well-heard and contribute.
• Use conflict of ideas: Sit with new or opposing views and seek to understand. Leaders build relationships, not point-score!
• No Blame Approach: Instead of saying “Why did you or we do this?” which infers blame, try “How did we get here?” Open-ended questions foster a “lessons learned together” approach.

References

Royal commission should have dissected robodebt culture further

https://www.themandarin.com.au/287012-rc-should-have-dissected-robodebt-culture-further-says-griggs/

Curiosity should be a default setting.  https://www.apsc.gov.au/about-us/working-commission/who-we-are/media-releases-and-statements/statement-australian-public-service-commissioner-robodebt-centralised-code-conduct-inquiry

The case for curiosity  https://widelensleadership.com/the-4-elements-of-curiosity-leaderships-superpower/

How The Art Of Curiosity Transforms Leadership, Colleen Bashar

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2023/01/27/how-the-art-of-curiosity-transforms-leadership/?sh=42a160f24e98

Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat! How Curious Leaders Keep Your Business Agile.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/curiosity-didnt-kill-the-cat-how-curious-leaders-keep/418417   Joanna Swash

Exploring How Curious Leaders Create Successful Cultures BY STEFAAN VAN HOOYDONK JUN 26, 2022    https://www.axialent.com/curious-leaders-create-successful-cultures/

Unstructured play https://www.apa.org/topics/children/kids-unstructured-play-benefits