How can you create a culture of curiosity in the workplace?

Alignment is a perennial issue. One effective approach I employ to foster an understanding of individual roles is by formulating an 'equation' for my organization, whether it's for an entire company or a specific team. This equation comprises a comprehensive list of the critical value-creating steps that culminate in the desired outcome, typically revenue generation. To gain a deeper understanding, some of these pivotal steps are further dissected, enabling a more profound comprehension. Crucially, it helps identify the specific elements within each step that each team member can influence to contribute to the overarching objective. This approach allows every team member to gauge whether their efforts align with the overarching goal.

As a leader, I believe the most important step in fostering a culture of curiosity is to start by being curious yourself. Model the kinds of questions you want your team to ask - be inquisitive about your customers, your industry, and even your own assumptions. Admit when you don't know something and be willing to say "I wonder..." out loud. Bring your whole self to work, including your innate human curiosity.

Encouraging questions involves creating a psychologically safe, supportive environment where people feel comfortable expressing thoughts, opinions, and doubts. Leaders can model curiosity by asking questions themselves, along with listening actively and empathetically to the responses. By promoting an open exchange of questions and feedback, organizations can tap into the diverse perspectives of their workforce and harness their collective curiosity to drive learning and innovation. This two-way communication strengthens relationships, engagement, and alignment around organizational goals.

Ongoing learning is key to harnessing curiosity within an organization. Providing learning opportunities allows employees to gain new skills, knowledge and competencies stemming from their curiosity. This can include stipends for career programs, encouraging mentorship in the broader industry, attending virtual and in person events, and more. The internet is endless with continuous learnings and leaders can provide direction about where to look.

What proves most helpful here is an action-reward loop. When someone expresses curiosity about a new industry, skill, or role, they are naturally full of curiosity. Nothing fuels it better than having that curiosity satisfied. When someone wants to explore a new role, I assign them a project and ask for a 'spec,' outlining desired outcomes and questions to answer. From the outset, it's clear what knowledge and skills my teammate lacks. Once they finish the project, they gain clarity on the path forward and, importantly, recognize their gained insights. Witnessing personal growth empowers them to invest more in their curiosity.

Diversity is not only in race or gender, but in strengths and natural interests and values. Allow people to feel comfortable to be their diverse selves and thrive collectively through their ownership of their unique selves.

The culture of an organization is shaped by what is rewarded and penalized. While no organization would openly admit to discouraging experimentation, many still factor in failed experiments when evaluating individuals and teams' performance. It's crucial to establish a clear goal and definition for each experiment before undertaking it. This ensures that we can distinguish between incorrect assumptions and poor execution. While poor execution should be discouraged, incorrect assumptions should not. Learning from mistakes is the essence of experimentation; it's why we conduct experiments—to validate or challenge assumptions. Reward based on learning, not solely on the success of experiments.