A Curious Leader: Keep Asking Questions
“Be curious, not judgmental,” quotes the loveable protagonist from the acclaimed show Ted Lasso. This scene is a classic “mic drop” moment that I find inspiring. While the origin of the quote is murky, and the character is fictional, the sentiment is simple and effective.
Curiosity is an underestimated and understated leadership trait. Asking questions and searching for answers is a powerful tool for any career.
Growth Mindset
In a world of constant change, curiosity is a sign of a growth mindset—a willingness and ability to change and adapt. Asking good questions allows you to understand challenges from all different angles to make better-informed decisions.
For example, one of my clients, Leslie, was promoted to a new role within the company she had been working at for years. Though she wanted to impress and was excited about the opportunity, she took the first few months to ask lots of questions. Despite her experience, Leslie knew that there was so much more to know about the workings of that new department and industry in general.
Harnessing her innate curiosity and pairing it with critical thinking, she evaluated the current processes set in place and found that several of the standards and norms had been created decades prior, according to the market at the time. By making a few tweaks to update and rejuvenate certain rules and regulations that better fit the current-day economy, she created several more earnings opportunities for the company that had been previously overlooked. Her process of asking questions paid off—literally. Nobody had thought to ask questions in years or reexamine the status quo. Her curiosity was key to both her personal growth and the company’s.
What If …?
Asking open-ended questions such as “What if …?” is also a marker of curiosity that aids leaders’ foresight in certain situations. Questioning current processes or wondering what the future will hold can help a leader anticipate and adapt to changes in the business world.
Resilience is the idea that people can take a challenge and make it into a beneficial situation. Curiosity allows them to do just that—urging them to examine all sides of a situation, ask questions and then come to a fuller understanding of every circumstance, which allows that leader to better navigate their team through it.
Relationships With Coworkers
Curiosity can also aid in team building and interpersonal relationships within your team.
In a diverse office, there are all types of backgrounds and personalities, so there are bound to be conflicts and misunderstandings on any given team. Asking open-ended questions can help people navigate tricky situations.
For example, Melissa worked on a tight-knit team of six people, and while her boss seemed content with Melissa’s work, her co-worker Alice wanted to go over every project that Melissa was working on. Melissa felt crowded and that her colleague was overstepping her bounds by making so many tweaks and changes to her projects. Instead of letting those feelings of frustration ruin the relationship, she let her curiosity take over.
She invited Alice to have coffee with her and asked questions such as “What interests you about this presentation?” and “Do you believe there is more I could be doing on this project?” and “Where does this project overlap with your responsibilities?”
Through this line of questioning, Melissa discovered that Alice was interested in learning more about the project Melissa was working on because she wanted to learn more about the subject material in general. Alice also thrived in a teamwork environment, so she felt that collaborating on Melissa’s project allowed her to better perform in her own tasks. In fact, she was hoping that Melissa would take the initiative to offer feedback on Alice’s projects to emulate a more collaborative effort.
By understanding Alice’s perspective, Melissa and her colleague were able to forge a better working relationship with boundaries and healthy collaboration. As Ted Lasso suggested, they decided to avoid judgment and pursue curiosity.
Final Thoughts
So, how can leaders foster curiosity in themselves? If curiosity does not come naturally to you, it can be practiced and cultivated in a variety of ways. We can—and should—be perpetual students.
By participating in workshops or taking classes relevant to your industry or career, you will automatically be learning new things and sparking new questions. You can also make a point of regularly talking to a variety of people with different backgrounds and perspectives. Asking about their viewpoints and thoughts can spark fascinating and eye-opening conversations. Schedule time in your calendar to reflect on them, too.
By consistently asking questions and searching for answers, leaders have the potential to disrupt the status quo and transform their work and teams into productive and rewarding places. So, what has you curious today?