Thrive Global
Work Smarter//April 17, 2019
Fostering Your Curiosity Can Lead to Success and Happiness at Work — Here’s How
The CEO of SurveyMonkey shares his tips for encouraging curiosity at work and why it matters.
By
Elizabeth Yuko, Staff Writer/Editor at Thrive Global
stock_colors/Getty Images
stock_colors/Getty Images
Once you’ve been working at the same job for a while, what once seemed new and challenging can lose its sheen, becoming second nature and habitual, rather than exciting. You’re not necessarily in a rut, but could definitely benefit from a little inspiration — often in the form of accessing your curiosity.
When Zander Lurie took the helm of SurveyMonkey as CEO, less than a year after the passing of one of his closest friends (and previous CEO of the company) Dave Goldberg, he started by taking inventory of the values that are important to employees and customers, and one word came up consistently: curiosity, he writes in the Harvard Business Review.
This makes sense given that SurveyMonkey is a tool to help us understand and apply what other people think. The feedback from customers and employees pointed to a set of behaviors that define curiosity: asking good questions, listening deeply, being open-minded, valuing new experiences, challenging the status quo, and staying keenly aware that no one has all the answers, Lurie writes.
Following these survey results and conversations, Lurie decided to focus on cultivating curiosity in the workplace. And the truth is, anyone can benefit from tapping into their curiosity at work. Here are three lessons from Lurie on how to foster curiosity so it leads to happiness and success at work:
Encourage people to ask questions
You’re used to being prompted to ask questions — in school, at the end of presentations at the office, or after someone teaches you a new skill. But how often do you actually take advantage of that? It’s easy to remain silent when someone asks if you have any questions, or hope that someone else will ask your question for you, but that’s a missed opportunity for sparking curiosity.
At SurveyMonkey, for example, Lurie writes that not only are questions encouraged at the weekly town hall meetings, they also have a “question of the week” pulled from employees’ surveys. Telling someone they asked a “great question” is one of the highest forms of praise at the company. He also ensures that a question-asking culture is the norm by being open to asking and answering questions himself. “Asking people what matters to them — the heart of curiosity — leads to unexpected answers,” Lurie points out. Try this with your own team — you never know what you’ll learn, and what new ideas the conversation may generate.
Create a diverse team
If everyone looks, acts, and thinks the same way, a company may be overlooking entire viewpoints and ideas that could be hugely beneficial for everyone. Keep this in mind if you recruit or hire for your team. Lurie believes that “a diversity of people leads to better ideas and greater curiosity” — and practices what he preaches by assembling a diverse board of directors and senior executive team. Regardless of your position, be sure to engage everyone in discussions and decisions — your team will be stronger as a result.
Make curiosity a priority
Because curiosity typically happens spontaneously, it may seem counterintuitive to try and make it a priority. But it doesn’t have to feel forced: The idea is to create a work environment that encourages creativity as much as possible, giving people the opportunity to lean into questions or ideas that may be bouncing around in their head. Lurie likens curiosity to a muscle, with its strength eventually eroding if it is not used frequently enough. “Being curious requires space and time, and it can be pushed to the bottom of your priority list when life gets too busy,” Lurie says. “But we believe that curiosity helps employees engage more deeply in their work, generate new ideas, and share those ideas with others.”
Follow us here and subscribe here for all the latest news on how you can keep Thriving.
Stay up to date or catch-up on all our podcasts with Arianna Huffington here.
— Published on April 17, 2019
Curiosity,
Diversity,
Prioritization
Elizabeth Yuko, Staff Writer/Editor at Thrive Global
Dr. Elizabeth Yuko is a staff writer/editor at Thrive Global, and bioethicist and writer specializing in health and the intersection of bioethics and popular culture. Previously she was the health and sex editor at SheKnows. She is an adjunct professor of ethics at Fordham University and has written for print and online publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Salon and Playboy, and has given a TEDX talk on The Golden Girls and bioethics.
Share your comments below. Please read our commenting guidelines before posting. If you have a concern about a comment, report it here.
You might also like...
Wisdom//October 10, 2018
How Not to Be a Curiosity-Killing Boss, According to a Harvard Professor
by Jessica Stillman
Masterzphotois/ Getty Images
Wisdom//January 3, 2019
All Knowledge Starts With Curiosity
by Thomas Oppong
Community//September 26, 2018
“ Investing In New Technologies Such as Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain & In Our People Through Training” with Mike McGuire CEO Grant Thornton
by Breana Patel
Sign up for the Thrive Global newsletter
Will be used in accordance with our privacy policy.
“People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills . . . There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . . So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.”
- MARCUS AURELIUS
About Us
Contact Us
Leadership
Corporate
Media Partnerships
Careers
Press
Privacy
Terms
Thrive Global © 2019
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment