According to Scott Shigeoka, curiosity goes far beyond simply being interested in learning new things. (Photo: 123RF)
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WAKE UP MORNING. It goes without saying that the curiosity of your employees is a trait that has great benefits for your company. However, this goes far beyond just their interest in learning new things, says author and consultant Scott Shigeoka: It’s also a powerful tool for making connections.
Managers who don’t recognize this difference or only encourage their team members’ ability to engage with different topics – which, by the way, makes the company more innovative – miss a golden opportunity to increase their retention rate.
“Using curiosity for this purpose and focusing on exchanges that go “deeper than the surface” can strengthen working relationships, promote better self-understanding as a leader, and help manage conflict or office anxiety,” he writes in one Harvard Articles Business Review paper.
When he studied what he calls “deep curiosity” at the Greater Good Science Center, a research institute at the University of California, Berkeley, he found that managers could implement it in their organizational culture by adopting four principles: accept, Not knowing everything, Paying attention to your teammates, recognizing that they are multidimensional beings, and being interested in what everyone has to say.
“Intellectual Humility”
In speaking with Fortune 500 companies, Scott Shigeoka finds that “many leaders are afraid to say ‘I don’t know,’ afraid of losing credibility because it gives the impression that they are not responsible for doing their jobs well equipped.” On the contrary, he believes.
According to American and German researchers, managers who recognize that they do not have extensive knowledge not only appear more competent in the eyes of their colleagues, but also increase their appreciation. Your employees will feel like they can trust you and that you are open to other people’s ideas.
After demonstrating “intellectual humility,” the manager must engage with his interlocutor and seek to learn more to encourage “participation, collaboration and problem-solving,” advises the author of the book “Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life.” and.” Changing the world.
Grab the stretched bars
Scott Shigeoka also recommends implementing a habit in business that works small miracles in a relationship: clinging to the bars set by your partner, in this case your employee.
So if an employee says that he is fascinated by what he is learning about a particular topic or that his work schedule is busy, a manager should ask him to tell him more. Otherwise, the expert warns that there will be missed opportunities to strengthen the relationship or trust, which could harm the organization.
“It can reduce employee burnout and stress […] Encourage creativity and innovation,” he writes.
More than a worker
Curiosity also helps you recognize when an employee’s workload is putting a strain on their personal life. Such “conflicts” affect your employees’ performance and productivity and reduce feelings of psychological safety, which ultimately increases turnover.
Therefore, it is important to recognize that what happens outside of 9@5 will inevitably have an impact on professional life.
Open your blinders
“The modern workplace is not only more interested in answers than questions, but it also has preconceived ideas about who has those answers,” criticizes Scott Shigeoka.
Just like Pixar, the American animation studio to which we owe many technological advances in cinema, companies should voluntarily ask themselves who within the organization might have a point of view, a different view of the situation, that could further the reflection.
By adopting these four principles, managers demonstrate the benefits of “deep curiosity” and inspire their team members to follow suit. “And that’s how you build a culture,” Scott Shigeoka remembers.
Telework or not, this question is causing uproar in many companies at the start of the 2023 school year.
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