5 little-known tips for improving your employee engagement by being more curious.
The employee engagement – actually, curiosity killed thrilled the cat.
Ever watched a child playing with a seemingly simple thing – they’ll happily spend hours moving it around in different ways, creating a story for it, looking at it in detail – they are naturally curious.
And, while that means we spend a lot of our time telling small people not to touch things or post them into the video recorder (yeah – I know I’m showing my age), we know that every interaction they have is a learning experience.
At some point, that voracious curiosity seems to die down.
Many of us start to take what we see and hear for granted, become more aware of danger and fear of failure. It means we stop asking as many questions and sometimes accept things the way they are. Do we want that for our employee engagement?
Throughout history, there are clearly people that never lose that curiosity spark – the ones that never stop pushing boundaries, taking leaps into the unknown, taking risks to uncover the answer to ‘what if’. Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Sir Isaac Newton – they all kept a passion for unbridled curiosity.
Of course, we’re not all destined to make discoveries that change the world…
But a curious mindset can open our eyes to new possibilities every day. And the great news is, while we might have ‘forgotten’ to be curious – the skill still exists within us just waiting to be unleashed.
And it doesn’t matter where you are in the business. Leaders can struggle to motivate people to get along with each other, work smarter and be more productive, because they’ve often failed to develop the most critical ingredient to success.
Curiosity is the spark that ignites motivation and drive and leads to improvement in the employee engagement, engagement, innovation and productivity.
IN PETER SENGE'S THE FIFTH DISCIPLE...
The real barriers to collaboration and communication remain in people's heads.
We fear asking ‘stupid questions’ or making suggestions. We assume something could be too complicated or people just won’t be interested. So how do we snap out of that mindset?
Like any other muscle, the brain thrives on a decent work out – and exercising it regularly will make it stronger and fitter than ever before.
So, here’s 5 tips to a more curious future…
1. Gather information from lots of sources – seek views from a range of people, read around (articles, white papers, books, magazines) – always looking to widen your perspective.
2. Never take things for granted – dig deeper into things, build out your knowledge
3. Question everything – ask what, where, why, how – use your inner detective to create a richer understanding of the subject
4. Always keep an open mind and be prepared to learn and unlearn – you won’t always be right and that’s okay!
5. Don’t be afraid to be curious. Some of history’s most important discoveries came from people who asked that extra question, unearthed that little bit more information and looked at things differently.
Curiosity is a gift within all of us – it can take you places you never imagined and broaden your horizons. So, give it a go, and see where your curious mind takes you…
Fancy reading more on what kind of curiosity you might be, head over to Rosie’s helpful tool.
The Spark of an idea, a feeling, a sense, a curiosity.
It’s the best catalyst for creativity, connection and breakthrough thinking.
This is your weekly spark – who knows what it might ignite for you.
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