The Power of Curiosity at Work

Curiosity is an incredibly powerful force. Explore how it can create an expansive space that promotes open and honest dialogue while opening up new vistas of awareness and understanding.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of traveling for a week with a client who was the CEO of a tech company. We were meeting with a major supplier for his company, as well as a potential investor, a potential new business partner and a prospective client who could mean a lot of business for the company.

I was facilitating conversations with all of these current and potential stakeholders. My role was to create a space for open and honest dialogue, and to help with negotiations, due diligence and relationship building.

And at the core of all of that was curiosity.

Curiosity is incredibly powerful. It’s a state of being that gets energy flowing between people. And it opens up all kinds of new awarenesses and understandings.

If you’ve ever spent time with a three-year-old, you understand the power of curiosity. Three-year-olds are constantly asking questions, and most of them begin with the word why. Why is the sky blue? Why do I have to brush my teeth? Why can’t I put chocolate syrup on my chicken (an excellent question!)?

You’ve probably noticed that three-year-olds don’t ask just one question, either. They keep asking and asking and drilling deeper. Often, they get to a point where we adults just can’t answer their questions anymore.

While interacting with three-year-olds in this way definitely can get frustrating, it’s also empowering. Three-year-olds come from a place where everything is fresh and new and interesting, and sometimes they bring us with them and we get to see things in a new way.

How Being Curious Affects Others

Curiosity can serve the same purpose in business. For example, when something is going wrong, we can approach it with an attitude of interrogation: “I’m going to demand answers and get to the bottom of this.” Or we can approach it with an attitude of curiosity: “I wonder what’s going on here.”

Can you feel which attitude is going to create a space for open and honest dialogue and new awarenesses and understandings… and which attitude is not?

Our attitude very literally affects the energy of the people we speak with. Our attitude can cause someone to withdraw and become quiet, defensive and guarded. Or our attitude can cause someone to blossom and become clear, inspired and creative.

Our personal power here comes from recognizing that we have a choice, and then consciously choosing our attitude. To tap into that personal power, we simply have to:

1. Pause before we take action;
2. Re-center ourselves if we’re feeling “off” in any way; and
3. Choose how we are going to show up in that moment.

Sometimes I’ll choose to show up with compassion. Sometimes I’ll choose to show up with appreciation. And often, I’ll choose to show up with curiosity.

How Being Curious Affects Me

Being curious obviously affects how others respond to me at work. Curiosity creates an expansive space that can really energize other people.

And… there’s another big bonus to showing up at work with curiosity: Curiosity energizes me.

While it’s true that I may feel lots of energy flowing through me while I’m interrogating someone, afterward, I’ll be left feeling drained and depleted, and so will the other person.

In contrast, when I show up with curiosity — for an hour or for an entire day — I’m left feeling satisfied, and often feeling eager, excited and energized.

Curiosity literally has the power to remove “friction” from our physical, mental and emotional systems. It reduces that internal resistance, which creates space for an easier, more graceful and more fruitful unfolding.

In other words: Being curious at work is life-enhancing — and productive — both for me and for the people I’m interacting with. Plus, being curious is fun, and goodness knows we can all use more fun at work!

An Invitation to Get Curious All Day Long

If you’d like to experience the power of curiosity at work today, simply ask yourself: How many times can I choose to shift into a more curious space? This is setting the intention to engage your curiosity. (You also can put sticky notes all over your desk, if that works for you!) Then, moment by moment during your day, you’ll receive loads of opportunities to pause and choose curiosity.

For instance, if you feel yourself getting frustrated or upset in any way, you can take a moment to recenter yourself, then choose to move forward with curiosity. Or, if you need to learn something new, you can choose to engage your curiosity (perhaps instead of approaching it with irritation or overwhelm).

If you’re involved in intense negotiations… or building new relationships… or almost anything, you can shift the trajectory of the experience — and the outcome — by simply pausing for a moment, recentering and choosing to show up with an attitude of curiosity.

Odds are, you’ll feel better right away AND you’ll be more productive, too.

This article was first published in the Workplace Energetics blog on March 30, 2015.