The Curious Case of Organisational Curiosity

Curious about curiosity? Ken Govan opens up the case to explore what role curiosity could play in the workplace and how to grow the curiosity muscle. 

A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun, points it at the man, the man says, “Thank you”, and leaves. What happened? The answer’s at the end of this article.

If you’re still reading, then top marks for curiosity. You’re interested in the answer but rather than being tempted to jump straight through it, you’re probably trying to work it out for yourself. There are some good reasons to do that. The first is our friend dopamine; research shows that the novel experience of working something out releases dopamine, which we love.¹ Not only that, when we get curious and our hungry mind starts to explore and learn, the learning sticks better than when we are fed the information. 

So, with this in mind, I was a little troubled. In the world of learning and development, we hear the word “curiosity” a lot. It’s certainly a great thing to be, but what if you’re not? Can we build our curiosity muscle? How can organisations build curiosity as a good habit? Are we curious?

Curiosity itself is not a skill in the traditional sense; it’s more of a mindset or trait, and that takes us into deep waters when working on it. However, there are skills, both cognitive and behavioural, that enable and enhance curiosity, and as with all skills,
We can build them. 

Cognitive Skills

• Critical Thinking: helps individuals ask deeper, more meaningful questions and evaluate information objectively.
• Analytical thinking: encourages exploration beyond surface-level understanding. 
• Problem-solving: turns curiosity into practical solutions by investigating new possibilities. 
• Open-mindedness: The ability to entertain different perspectives without judgment.

Behavioural Skills

• Active listening: encourages deeper inquiry and understanding by truly engaging with what others say.
• Questioning techniques: knowing how to ask the right questions fosters more productive curiosity.
• Adaptability & resilience: being comfortable with uncertainty and willing to explore new paths.
• Self-directed learning: the ability to independently seek and process new information.

So, now that we know what skills drive curiosity, we can get to working on muscle-building. 

Developing A Curiosity Skillset 

• Practice asking questions: use frameworks like the “5 Whys” or Socratic questioning to deepen thinking. 
• Expand learning horizons: read widely, take courses outside our expertise, or engage in interdisciplinary conversations.
• Embrace uncertainty: treat not knowing as an opportunity, not a weakness. 
• Challenge assumptions: regularly question our own beliefs and perspectives. 
• Seek feedback and diverse perspectives: engage with people who think differently from us. 

We’ve nailed the skillset of underlying curiosity in individuals; next, we can put some steps in place to turn our organisation into a curiosity gym.

Make It A Safe Place to Train 

Curiosity thrives in environments where employees feel psychologically safe to ask questions, experiment, and fail without negative consequences. If looking for help on this, Amy Edmondson’s work is a great place to start. Some key steps we can take: 

• Encourage leaders to model curiosity by asking questions and challenging assumptions in public. 
• Create a “no wrong questions” culture to reward curiosity in meetings and brainstorming sessions. 
• Make learning from failure “what we do around here” by conducting “lessons learned” reviews instead of just post-mortems. 
• Try reverse mentoring, where less experienced employees can teach senior leaders new perspectives. 

Create Opportunities that Make Experimentation and Learning
Day-to-Day Habits

Create development programmes on the core skills. 

Change people’s perspectives through cross-functional collaboration and job shadowing. 

Have dedicated time for employees to learn outside of their core job function… “curiosity time”. 

Encourage stretch assignments that let employees take on projects outside their usual roles. 

Ring the Bell. Recognise and Celebrate Curiosity 

• Highlight people who ask bold questions, explore new solutions, or introduce innovations. 
• Make it fun. Use gamification to offer points or badges for exploring new skills, sharing knowledge, or mentoring others. 
• Formalise it with curiosity KPIs like learning engagement, innovative ideas delivered, and
  cross-functional collaboration. 

Just a few thoughts and suggestions and no doubt curious people are already questioning, creating, and challenging. Jump into the rabbit hole and let me know what’s in there. 

Oh, and returning to the man in the bar… He had hiccups, and the barman frightened him as a cure. Maybe you came up with a different answer or no answer. It doesn’t matter, your curiosity muscle is slightly stronger and ready for the next workout.