People and Talent

Why?  The short version – curious people naturally have an interest in learning, seeking and acquiring information and knowledge.  This interest remains with them, and because of it, they always find ways to move forward.  In summary, their natural drive to seek and understand means they will build on their skills and capabilities and continuously grow.  

The problem with hiring for specific skills and experience at any given time is that those requirements will definitely change, and unless your employees are able to change too, their once relevant skills and experience could very well become redundant.  You need your team to be able to adapt to new requirements, to continuously grow and learn new skills and solve new problems – otherwise, you’ll find that the team is unable to meet new demands and challenges as they come up and become the new basic requirements.  As explained in this TED post, the important question you should ask when evaluating candidates for a role is not whether or not the person can currently do the role, but whether he could learn it.  And the people who are able to learn new skills continuously are those that have an innate sense of curiosity.  

So what makes curious people more valuable to your organization?

The inquisitive nature of curious individuals is a great asset to your organization because of the various behaviors that arise because of this trait.  These behaviors are all highly beneficial to businesses across the board because they ultimately lead to better work environments, more collaborative teams, and better idea generation.  

The most notable behaviors observed in curious people that provide the biggest benefits to organizations are:

Curious people never stop learning

They are always seeking to understand things – how something works or how something can be solved or made better.  In order to understand these things, they are constantly asking questions and receiving answers – either from other people or through their own experiments.  In fact, the more they know, the more they want to know, as the acquired information then opens up new doors and new questions.    

Curious people are better collaborators

Because they want to learn, curious individuals are open to receiving information from others, as opposed to thinking they have all the answers themselves.  They are also flexible, stemming from being comfortable with either not knowing the answer to begin with, or understanding that the answer they are seeking might contradict, and therefore challenge, information they had previously acquired.  This results in these individuals having to learn new things as well as unlearn things they  already knew.  Because of this flexibility in learning and unlearning information, curious people are more able to see things from other peoples’ points of view and ultimately work collaboratively towards a common goal.  

Curious people are more innovative 

Curious people are constantly building new circuits in their brains, through the questions they ask and answers they receive.  These new circuits set them up for creativity, as their minds remain active.  Also, as author Austin Kleon points out in Steal Like An Artist, “every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas”.  So the more ideas an individual is exposed to, the more likely they are to develop new ideas, and these new ideas are more likely to be superior to those founded on fewer, less diverse ideas.  

Curious people are better problem solvers

Curious people constantly seek new information and new ways of doing things, which sets them up to be more naturally able to solve new problems.  In fact, not only are they more able to solve problems, but they enjoy the process, making the solutions they develop more creative than others’.  This problem solving ability is directly attributable to the genuine interest that they have in solving problems and the multiple ways they can connect ideas to form new ideas, as mentioned above.  

So… Do You or Will You Begin to Start Hiring for Curiosity?

In summary, in good times and in difficult times, it is highly beneficial to any organization to have curious individuals within its workforce, and – very importantly – to nurture this curiosity.  A great organization would not only nurture existing curiosity but also cultivate it throughout the business.  

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with and for many different types of leaders.  I have seen leaders go from good to great, and I have seen leaders who are able to inspire and positively influence people they not only directly manage but those they do not have a direct responsibility over, too.  What follows is a definition of what true leadership is, followed by the 5 behaviors and qualities possessed by all the great leaders I have been fortunate enough to work with, as well as others who I have followed and read about but have not had the opportunity to work with.

Leadership Definition 

Leadership is the ability of a person to lead others.  But great leadership is the ability to inspire people to bring forth their highest potential in alignment with a common objective or goal set by the leader.  It is the pursuit of this positive outcome that is sought after by people striving to become great leaders.  A great leader is able to influence many aspects of an organization – its ethos, creativity, efficient and effective operations and its culture.  This is not only beneficial in difficult times, but in good times too, as great leaders encourage the culture and behavior across their organizations (or teams) to produce great returns, be it new discoveries, more efficient working environments or employee loyalty.  Of course, when times are difficult, great leadership becomes even more important.  Your employees will look to you for reassurance and direction.  The importance of the behaviors you exhibit at this time become amplified as all eyes are on you to lead at these critical moments within your career.   

Leadership Quality #1 – Great Leaders Communicate

Great leadership is almost synonymous with great communication.  Being able to communicate and articulate your message clearly, concisely and in a manner that invokes inspiration in others is a behavior every great leader absolutely must exhibit.  This behavior is critical in conveying goals and objectives to people, in getting them to understand why the goals and objectives are important and how they they can contribute to them, and, most importantly, in getting them to want to contribute to them in the first place.  Good communication also sets precedence and creates open environments where people feel comfortable sharing ideas.  Times will get tough over and over again.  And when that happens, as it inevitably will, people will look to leadership for direction, hope, reassurance and strength.  Most leaders will choose to communicate less at bad times.  Understandably, it is uncomfortable and most (if not all) shareable information will likely be bleak.  But a good leader always communicates, even if to say “we’re still figuring it out”.  By not communicating, you open the door to rumors, loss of productivity as people try to fill in the narrative expected from you, and potentially higher than required levels of stress and concern, as people naturally associate the lack of communication in bad times as a sign that things are much worse than anticipated.  

Leadership Quality #2 – Great Leaders Listen

Great leaders listen to their employees – because these are the people creating your products and delivering your services, and as such will be closest to problems faced and opportunities available and are also closest to your customers.  Your employees have so much information and ideas, and when you listen to them, you will undoubtedly come across many practical solutions to the issues your organization faces.  Listening to your employees also helps you understand the type of information they wish you hear about from you, their concerns, their areas of focus – all of which should be addressed in some manner by you, whenever and however you choose to communicate with them.  When leaders don’t listen to their employees, a disconnect is created from the gap between what is important to employees and what the leaders communicate about.  This gap can result in employees feeling unheard, unsupported and uncared for.  And that, in turn, will affect your bottom line though attrition, loss of productivity and loss of creative problem solving or drive.  

Leadership Quality #3 – Great Leaders Know the Importance of People

Remember that it is the people who make or break your company – your customers and your staff.  Employees will treat customers the way they themselves are treated.  The companies with the best customer satisfaction scores treat their employees much better than others.  They treat them with respect and empathy, empower them, and listen to them.  Reputation studies have shown that over the course of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, customers began attributing a better reputation score to organizations that treat their employees fairly.  Another thing to consider in case of redundancies is the people who remain, as well as those you make redundant.  Don’t underestimate the impact of fear of “being next” on productivity.  This is especially important if you are making large manpower cuts.  And even more important if you make cuts that include hardworking and intelligent people – things that others will have associated with being safe, possibly from a value-add perspective.     

Leadership Quality #4 – Great Leaders are Positive

A great leader is someone who others find inspiring, who they enjoy being around, who they like to listen to and align efforts with.  It’s difficult to be that person if you’re not a positive person.   A great leader is able to maintain a positive outlook because they look for solutions, not problems.  They also maintain their positive and professional demeanor, not just because that is the more professional thing to do, but more importantly because that sets the expectation of everyone else in the organization.  People imitate what they see their leaders do.  A positive attitude, where people’s voices are heard, failures are not punished, but rather learned from, and where collaboration is encouraged, sets the tone for the culture of the organization, which is absolutely a leader’s responsibility.  In hard times, in particular, you’ll need your employees to be able to stay positive, so that solutions can be found, and so that productivity doesn’t fall, and most importantly, so that they work together to keep the organization afloat.  

Leadership Quality #5 – Great Leaders Set An Example

By now, it should be apparent that a great leader is also a great role model.  Great leaders around the world set an example that others strive to follow.  People tend to imitate those that they report into – so you’ll absolutely want their efforts to be something that contribute positively to your organization.  In difficult times, it is crucial to keep this important behavior in mind.  Be mindful of change you make to your employees salaries, benefits, working hours, etc.  and make sure to demonstrate that those expectations are set and modeled by yourself.  Your employees need to see that you are also making sacrifices, that you are in the trenches with them and that all the decisions and expectations coming from you are fair and an example to live by.  

And one day, when you look around and see your employees creating environments in which they listen to each other, communicate clearly and invoke inspiration in others, valuing one another, maintaining a positive demeanor, mindset and environment, and inspiring people around them, you’ll know you had a little something to do with that.