The golden thread of curiosity for workplace trainers
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Chamorrow-Premizic and the Curiosity Quotient
Tomas Chamorro-Premizic’s article Curiosity Is as Important as Intelligence was featured in the Harvard Business Review in August 2014 and asked the question ‘Why are some people more able to manage complexity?’ Chamorro-Premizic found solutions to the question he posed in individual temperament. He suggested the three psychological qualities of Intellectual Quotient (IQ) Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Curiosity Quotient (CQ) can positively impact job performance and assist the management of complexity at work.
IQ is a strong predictor of performance on complex job tasks that demand cognitive load. The article states that team members with high EQ have well developed interpersonal skills and are as less susceptible to stress and anxiety. These trainers are more likely to innovate, and adapt to complicated work environments. Team members with a high curiosity quotient are inquisitive and open to new experiences that generate creative ideas. These people thrive on novelty, become bored with routine and can tolerate ambiguity. Trainers high on the curiosity quotient think in sophisticated ways and are ideal candidates to provide simple solutions to complex problems. Whilst the article acknowledges the difficulties in coaching IQ, it suggests that EQ and CQ can be fostered in individuals and teams.
The trainer who fosters the Curiosity Quotient
As a trainer, placing questions at the core business of each day can be key to encouraging the Curiosity Quotient at work. Digital media provides powerful participatory tools for learning and building a curious work space is possible through trainers posing questions to their teams or participants. Developing an in house blog club or sending out a series of questions to a colleague before a face to face to virtual training activity provides insights into personalising the learning for that person. Posing questions and asking for solutions can help make training at work an authentic and creative experience for the learner. Honouring the questions that one poses as a trainer and giving considered answers is an essential part of developing a curious work place.
Maisie’s use of questions in building a curious workspace
Elliott Masie in his #907 Feb 13 newsletter outlined the positive impacts that employees crafting and publicising their questions at work could have on workplace learning culture. He suggested to trainers that they empower employees through encouraging and listening to their colleague’s questions.
He wrote
Questions of the Week might create a culture shift that would honour the curiosity of each colleague and empower conversations around individual and common queries.
Maisie described a curiosity building strategy where trainees wore their questions for the day on sticky labels on their chests. He found that the questions that the participants posed provided trainers with vital data for discussions and workplace improvements and solutions.
Fostering curiosity in the workplace with questions
Learning in the workplace needs to focus on what learners need to do to make organisations successful and your questions around these issues can often assist productivity and solutions emerging for work based issues. Involving questioning, debating and sharing ideas in an online social learning network provides the opportunity for the workplace to benefit from the innovation of colleagues with high Curious Quotient.
One way way of fostering curiosity at work may be to explore the strategic use of questions in the workplace environment. Try instigating an in house sticky note Question Board at work. Ask your team members to post work based questions on a notice board in the office or break out room. All team members could be welcome to pose or answer a question each day. The material gathered in this way could be discussed and reviewed in a five minute team chat at the end of a week.
Reflections on A conversation about Curiosity and the 70:20:10
Sparked by reading the ClueTrain Manifesto and imagining a utopian workplace where colleagues were constantly learning I recently posed a series of questions in A Conversation about Curiosity. In a training space on country I began a dialogue that modelled how addressing curiosity in the workplace can enrich interactions, improve satisfaction with work and contribute to greater productivity. I asked what ignites your strong desire to know? Posing questions such as these in training can assist you in coaching the Curiosity Quotient at work.
A curious work force exists firmly grounded in the informal 70 part of the 70:20:10 learning model. It thrives in teamwork, coaching, mentoring and computer based learning approaches that encourage feedback, questioning and imagination. Trainers that encourage active participation in their workplace and innovate ways for colleagues and trainees to ask questions, start conversations and suggest dialogues assist the golden thread of curiosity at work.
What questions could you ask to make the golden thread of curiosity luminescent in your workplace?
