By Jonathan H. Westover, PhD
Abstract: This article discusses how cultivating curiosity in teams can benefit organizations by increasing engagement, creativity, problem-solving abilities and performance. It defines curiosity and outlines research showing its advantages, including improved adaptability to change. It then presents strategies that leaders can use to foster curiosity within their teams, such as modeling inquisitiveness, encouraging risk-taking and exploration, setting an open tone, and providing learning opportunities. Practical applications of these strategies are demonstrated for several industries, including healthcare, technology, education and non-profits. Leaders are advised to nurture an inquisitive culture by embracing questions, minimizing barriers to learning, and relating curiosity to strategic goals. Fostering workplace curiosity allows teams to continuously improve and better achieve organizational missions.
In today's fast-paced business environments, having an engaged, motivated team is crucial for organizational success. However, constantly shifting demands and priorities can leave employees feeling overwhelmed or disengaged. Research shows that cultivating curiosity in teams can increase engagement, creativity, and performance. Curiosity allows teams to adapt readily to change, seek new opportunities, and address challenges in innovative ways.
Today we will explore how leaders can foster curiosity within their teams and discusses practical applications for various industries. By cultivating an inquisitive culture and mindset, leaders can empower their teams to excel and continuously improve.
What is Workplace Curiosity?
Curiosity can be defined as "a state of depraved sensitiveness to a gap in one's knowledge or understanding, accompanied by an appetite for information that will help to close the gap and resolve the disequilibrium" (Litman & Spielberger, 2003, p. 75). In the workplace, curiosity involves an intrinsic motivation to learn new things, explore questions, and find solutions even without external rewards. It moves beyond simply gaining knowledge to actively seeking new experiences, perspectives, and ways of thinking.
The Benefits of Curiosity for Teams
Research has shown that cultivating curiosity in teams yields numerous benefits for employee engagement, performance, and the organization overall. Some key advantages include:
Increased Engagement and Motivation: Curiosity satisfies our innate desires to learn, understand and grow. It creates an intrinsically motivating experience that enhances engagement and job satisfaction (Kashdan et al., 2018).
Improved Problem-Solving and Creativity: Curiosity drives exploration of new ideas and perspectives which fuels innovation. It allows teams to consider challenges from a variety of angles and think "outside the box" for solutions (Reio & Wiswell, 2006).
Better Adaptability to Change: An inquisitive culture empowers teams to rapidly learn, experiment and adapt. This allows organizations to stay ahead of market changes and disruptions (Vogl et al., 2019).
Higher Performance: Several studies link curiosity to improved task performance, productivity, and learning outcomes (Litman, 2008; Reio et al., 2006). Curiosity cultivates a growth mindset that fosters excellence.
Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration: Curiosity encourages open communication, knowledge exchange between team members and cooperation to satisfy curiosity (Reio & Wiswell, 2006). This strengthens relationships and synergies within teams.
Leadership Strategies to Cultivate Curiosity
Given these advantages, how can leaders foster greater curiosity within their teams? The following sections explore practical strategies supported by research.
Modeling Curiosity: Leaders play a key role in shaping organizational culture and mindsets. To cultivate curiosity in others, leaders must first model inquisitiveness themselves. This involves being seen asking questions, openly admitting gaps in knowledge, and eagerly learning from others (Kashdan & Roberts, 2004). Leaders should highlight situations where they were curious to find solutions or better ways of working. Modeling inquisitiveness inspires others to follow suit.
Encouraging Exploration and Risk-Taking: Leaders can promote an environment where seeking new information and testing ideas is valued and safe to do. They should openly encourage team members to explore outside their comfort zones, take calculated professional risks, and propose experiments without fear of reprisal if efforts do not pan out (Schwab & Starbuck, 2017). By valuing novelty and nonconformity, leaders empower curiosity.
Setting an Open and Inquiring Tone: How leaders communicate influences whether teams feel psychologically safe to be curious. Studies show an inquiring communication style where leaders frequently ask open questions to draw out diverse perspectives boosts employees’ intrinsic motivation and creativity (Deci, 1972; Pink, 2009). Leaders must set an open, inquiring and inclusive tone where questions and possibilities are welcome.
Providing Learning Resources and Opportunities: While intrinsic curiosity exists naturally, it can be further sparked with appropriate fuel. Leaders should ensure teams have access to relevant learning resources, industry news and allow time for professional development to feed curiosity (Bell, Tannenbaum, Ford, Noe, & Kraiger, 2017). Internal sharing sessions, external experts and 'brown bag' seminars also provide learning opportunities to spark curiosity.
Highlighting Connections to Strategic Priorities: Curiosity is more likely to emerge when learning is intentionally tied to shared objectives. Leaders should emphasize how satisfying curiosity through different channels links back to the organization’s strategic priorities and overall success. This provides contextual meaning and value to inquisitiveness (Litman & Spielberger, 2003).
Giving Feedback that Focuses on Growth: Feedback approaches that focus on development and growth, rather than mere performance, intrinsically motivate curiosity. Highlighting areas where more information could provide new perspectives and encouraging questions stimulates ongoing learning and improvement (Schwab & Starbuck, 2017). Mistakes should be seen as opportunities to learn rather than fail.
Practical Applications Across Industries
The following sections demonstrate how leaders in different industries might apply curiosity-enhancing strategies.
Healthcare Industry
In healthcare organizations, fostering curiosity is crucial as new innovations and best practices continuously emerge. Nurses, doctors and other clinical staff working long shifts treating patients face burnout risks without intrinsic motivation. Leaders can model curiosity through asking thoughtful questions in rounds, sharing a recent medical journal they read, and encouraging clinicians to present on topics they explored. Designating funds for relevant conferences can also spark curiosity. Discussing how keeping updated links to quality of care priorities motivates ongoing questioning and learning.
Technology Industry
In fast-paced tech roles, curiosity drives innovation and allows teams to push boundaries. Leaders may kick off brainstorming sessions by posing open questions, and highlight cases where employee curiosity led to new solutions or capabilities for customers. Rotating team members across projects broadens perspectives. Internal 'hackathons' provide protected time to explore passion areas. Rewarding risk-taking on curated 'skunkworks' projects signals curiosity is valued. Ensure flexible learning and development policies to fuel intrinsic motivation through self-directed exploration.
Education Sector
Educators intrinsically desire to nurture curiosity in students. Leaders can demonstrate this by sharing lessons learned from educational research or classroom experiments. Model analyzing what drove student interest to encourage this reflective practice in others. Create learning communities where teachers openly exchange effective methods tried out of curiosity. Celebrate those who present at conferences on innovations piloted through curiosity. In department meetings, pose open questions to stimulate collaborative problem-solving around challenges.
Non-Profit Organizations
Non-profits rely on engaged, mission-driven employees amid tight budgets. Leaders who openly admit knowledge gaps and invite others to explore answers creates psychological safety to ask questions. Highlight cases where curiosity led to new partnerships, funding avenues or community outreach strategies. Host informal "idea cafes" where curiosity sparks can be shared over coffee without pressure. Rotate staff onto project teams addressing unfamiliar issues to spark new lenses. Encourage conference attendance by those passionate to learn cutting-edge practices in cause areas.
In each industry, cultivating team curiosity through the leadership strategies discussed can spark engagement, creativity and performance improvements to benefit clients, customers and organizational success. While intrinsic, curiosity also responds well to nurturing environments and being given space to flourish.
Conclusion
In today's VUCA world, having inquisitive, adaptable teams is crucial for navigating unforeseen challenges and capturing emerging opportunities. Research shows that curiosity intrinsically motivates engagement, collaboration, problem-solving and learning within teams. Leaders play an important role in shaping their organization's culture to value and foster inquisitiveness. By modeling questioning behavior themselves, removing barriers to exploration, tying learning to strategic priorities and providing resources, leaders can empower team curiosity. Whether in healthcare, education, technology or other industries, cultivating a spirit of curiosity allows teams to continuously improve, innovate and ultimately better serve customers, clients and organizational missions. Leadership approaches discussed provide practical pathways for nourishing this inquisitive mindset and transforming teams through the power of workplace curiosity.
References
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Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2024). Cultivating Curiosity: How Encouraging Inquisitiveness Can Transform Your Team. Human Capital Leadership Review, 11(2). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.11.2.3
