When our curiosity is triggered, we are less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias (looking for information that supports our beliefs rather than for evidence suggesting we are wrong) and to stereotyping people (making broad judgments).
Encouraging people to be curious generates workplace improvements.
When we are curious, we view tough situations more creatively. Studies have found that curiosity is associated with less defensive reactions to stress and less aggressive reactions to provocation.
Curiosity encourages members of a group to put themselves in one another’s shoes and take an interest in one another’s ideas rather than focus only on their own perspective.
Thus, conflicts are less heated, and groups achieve better results.
- Hire for curiosity. Identify naturally curious people through interview questions and tests.
- Model inquisitiveness. Leaders can encourage curiosity throughout their organizations by being inquisitive themselves.
- Emphasize learning goals. Framing work around learning goals rather than performance boosts motivation.
- Let employees explore and broaden their interests.
- To support curiosity, encourage people to ask good questions.
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Leaders with a strong results orientation tend to emphasize the importance of efficiency and productivity and to prioritize the highest-value work.
- The Fascinated – they score high on all dimensions of curiosity, particularly joyous exploration.
- Problem Solvers – score high on deprivation sensitivity, and are midrange for other dimensions.
- Empathizers – score high on social curiosity, midrange on other dimensions and much lower on stress tolerance and thrill-seeking.
- Avoiders – score low on all dimensions, particularly stress tolerance.