Issue No. 27: Curiosity
& Chewing Over High Performance
“The best in business have boundless curiosity and open minds.” Robin Sharma
I have become really passionate about curiosity recently. I think I shied away from how curious I am due to my childhood nickname of “Nosy Nic”, which had negative connotations.
However, I now believe that it is essential for professional growth, development, scaling and business sustainability. I also believe it is a key component for leadership because it allows us to explore ourselves on a personal level.
Curiosity is really important to business performance because it helps everyone adapt to uncertain market conditions and external pressures. When our curiosity is triggered, we think more deeply and rationally about decisions and come up with more-creative solutions.
Other benefits include:
Fewer decision making errors because when our curiosity is triggered, we are less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias and to stereotyping
More innovation as we seek more information and therefore view tough situations more creatively
Reduced group conflict as curiosity encourages us to put ourselves in one another’s shoes rather than focus only on own own perspective
More open communication and better team performance because information is shared openly and listened to more carefully.
So, how can curiosity be encouraged and subsequently developed?
Model inquisitiveness as a leader through asking questions but even more importantly, listening to answers and being open when you don’t know the answers. This will encourage everyone in your team to be more open and curious.
Emphasising learning goals rather than solely results can help people by communicating the importance of the learning needed rather than by rewarding people only for their performance.
Foster curiosity by giving employees time and resources to explore their interests. Employees can also broaden their interests by broadening their networks which again leads to more open conversations and thought processes.
Set time aside for “Why…?” “What if…?” and “How might we…?” conversations. This might throughout normal meetings or specific time set aside to think about these questions and the possibilities.
As I said, I believe curiosity is the key to unpicking so many challenges and is key to growth, innovation, development and leadership.
What do you think? How important do you believe curiosity is?
Chewing Over High Performance
Chewing Over High Performance only has two episodes remaining of the series. The July episode will be with Peter Grinbergs on What does being an Entrepreneur mean? and the August episode is with Dr George Bownes on Why should Medicine lean into Wellness?
This series will then come to an end and I will take a break from this show. Thank you to Jack March, Jack Chew, Nookal and Jonathan Head for your support over the last 7 months.
Over the Summer, I will be recording and co hosting a new Podcast Series called The WellCare Podcast... more details to follow soon! Will you be tuning in?
The newsletter will be getting an update shortly. It will continue to be directed to leaders and founders in health and wellness, focusing on the topics I am passionate about in leadership and performance: ambition, innovation, collaboration and optimism.
If you enjoyed this content then feel free to share widely. If you have any questions or thoughts then I am always open to conversations and opportunities.
Many thanks for reading!
Nic