Are You Leading With Curiosity?

Caring about employees and understanding them are two different things. This article explores why curiosity is one of the greatest leadership traits, and the three components that make it a leader's responsibility, an evolving practice, and an intentional choice.

Imagine you notice one of your employees sending emails at 1 a.m. about a big project. Do you wonder whether they're working overtime? Do you assume something is going wrong with the project? Or do you simply think it's strange and move on?

Those are all understandable reactions, but they're also based on assumptions. Curiosity takes us one step further. Instead of deciding why someone is working at 1 a.m., we ask them about it. A simple question like, "How are things going for you with this project?" can open the door to understanding something we might otherwise have missed.

I'd argue that curiosity is one of the greatest leadership traits someone can have. When we look at curiosity in leadership, there are three important components.

We cannot assume that because we care about our employees, we understand our employees.

Curiosity Is a Leader's Responsibility

First, curiosity is a leader's responsibility. It is up to the leader to ask questions, not just up to the employee to volunteer answers. And asking questions isn't just about their personal lives, but also about how they experience their work. As their leader, you probably know (and if you don't, maybe take a look at that) what projects they are working on, what their daily tasks are, and what is upcoming. But dive deeper. How do they actually feel about the projects, daily tasks, and upcoming priorities? Are there challenges they haven't mentioned because they assume those challenges are simply part of the job?

Curiosity Has to Evolve

Second, curiosity has to evolve as we move through our leadership experiences. As we become more experienced leaders, our questions should not go away but should become deeper. Curiosity also means understanding and respecting that what might have been true a year ago is not necessarily true today. One downside of experience is that it can sometimes stop us from being open to curiosity because we think we already know most, if not all, of the answers. The longer we work with someone, the easier it becomes to rely on what we think we know rather than continuing to learn.

Leading With Curiosity Requires Intention

Finally, curiosity requires intention. Caring about employees and being curious about them are two different things. We all care about our employees (or I hope all leaders do!), but that doesn't mean we are actively seeking to understand them. As leaders, we have to make the choice to remain curious throughout the working relationship, not just when someone is new to our team. That means making room for conversations that aren't solely focused on deadlines, deliverables, or the next item on our to-do list. We cannot assume that because we care about our employees, we understand our employees.

Now think back to our earlier scenario. If you had been that leader, would you have been curious about that 1 a.m. email? If not, why not? And once you've answered those two questions, take that curious state of mind with you as you start your Monday morning.

Whether your team is here in Yuma or anywhere across the country, if you want support leading with curiosity and building leaders who stay curious about their people, I'd love to talk. Schedule a consultation.

Let's Talk!