Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between curiosity and learning, and how that relationship impacts the business learning essential for organizational success. The word itself came from the Latin “curiosis,” akin to “cura,” translated to “care.” We have to care about something, someone, even our own development enough to experience curiosity, to wonder, to want to explore, to be open to observation. (Quite apt that the Mars rover launched in 2011 is named “Curiosity.”)
When I picture a corporate training room at the start of a typical program, I wonder how many people bring into that room real curiosity about the topic, and what a difference it would make if they did. (Especially if it’s one of my own presentations, I wonder this. Do they care about this topic? How can I foster the caring, the curiosity?)
Soon after moving to Florida, I discovered a charming little French restaurant close to my condo. After several very pleasant experiences, I began to wonder if it would be possible to start a little dinner club there for other people who really like France and might want to know more about it. With the blessing of the owners, I put that idea out on the Internet through the Meetup site. Certainly I didn’t know the outcome in advance, but was delighted to welcome 14 people to the first meeting—people from all over the world. The evening sparkled. An even bigger surprise was when a handsome Dutchman came to the second meeting, a Francophile fluent in the language, who became my friend and is now my husband of five years.
Shortly before that, I was curious about changing the nature of my coaching practice from face-to-face meetings in executive coaching into doing all sessions on the phone. After all, I now lived a long distance from most of my clients. The outcome was very positive and expanded into a combination of personal and business coaching, which I call transition coaching. It is working well and I’m grateful for the curiosity that led to this outcome.
Wonder, curiosity—they thrive on uncertainty. Research reveals that these emotions lead to more meaning and happiness in our lives. A football game is more fun when you don’t know if your team will win. (Well, I’ve had moments with my Packers when I might have traded that uncertainty for a sure thing.) Generally, we don’t like spoilers. So welcoming uncertainty and learning to be cozy with it will lead you to honor your own wondering and curiosity. A regular dose of uncertainty helps keep you healthy.
In any of your business (or personal) relationships, curiosity will lubricate the development of positive outcomes. If you honor your curiosity, you will reflect an interest in the other person, you will be less likely to judge and you will be more likely to want to discover the why and how behind what the person says. Your language will reflect this and the engagement will be more fun, even sometimes playful, and individuality on both sides will be honored.
Think about how your curiosity has served you. Curiosity can enrich almost any experience in your daily life. Think about what the people in your organization want to know more about. How can you arouse their curiosity in the concepts you believe they need to know more about in order to be productive and find more satisfaction within your organization?
If they are curious, they will learn. If they are learning, they will more likely stay with you. The launch team of the Business Learning Institute found in 1999 and again in 2011, that “to be successful in a rapidly changing and complex world, a professional’s rate of learning must be faster than the business environment’s rate of change and faster than their competition.”
-Jo Gorissen is a certified transition coach and a former Milwaukee area resident. She can be reached at jgorissen1@gmail.com.
