Building A Culture Of Curiosity

A curious mindset is easy to cultivate early on. We don’t know much, so in an effort to close the gap between where we’re at and where we want to be, we explore. We experiment. We try ridiculous things often with ridiculous results, but sometimes we’re pleasantly surprised.

As we gain more and more skill, it’s easy to leave the exploration that comes with our curiosity behind. Our work becomes less of an art and more like plugging in a formula.

This isn’t surprising. Most workplace cultures reward us when things go well and punish us when things go wrong. I’ve struggled with this from the other end as a business owner as well. I’ve worked hard to develop a reputation as someone who can get shit done, so when I try things that don’t work out it can feel like I’m degrading that reputation, letting the team down, and even calling into question my capability to lead.

It’s so easy to forget that one of the reasons I’m in the position to lead is my willingness to experiment and explore.

Formulas do have their place. Constantly reinventing the wheel with everything we do would be overwhelming and unproductive. So the challenge is to discover where our real gifts lie, and within that space figure out a way to continually engage our curiosity and encourage those around us to do the same.

It’s relatively simple to teach someone how to give good service. There's a formula for that. It’s a different level entirely to spark genuine care for the people who walk through your doors, which is the only path to giving great service.

From a leadership perspective, it’s easy to tell your leaders to hold their team accountable and get the job done, but it's a whole different ball game to help foster genuine care and curiosity for the people they hope to lead.