There are so, so many articles about leadership these days, especially articles that espouse certain core values or behaviors as being essential to leadership in our current world. I skim most of these articles as I always learn something. But honestly, very few of the articles or the “nuggets of knowledge” stay with me for more than a day or two.
However, in the past few weeks, I must admit that the concept of curiosity as a desired – or even required – leadership trait has intrigued me. I am talking more with my clients about what employees need from a culture and what I’m hearing is not surprising. Employees want meaningful work; appropriate and flexible benefits; and they want managers and leaders to care about them. They want connection with their managers and they want to know that the overall organization cares about their well-being – both personal and professional.
Managers are telling me that they are exhausted and find it difficult to empathize at the level needed these days. So, several authors have suggested a shift in mindset of managers and leaders from empathy to curiosity. Now, I’m not sure I want empathy to fall off the list of leadership traits, but I do embrace the notion of authentic curiosity.
What might this look like for managers? Tap back into your natural curiosity about how things and people work. Think about what you still would like to learn. And then engage in REAL conversations with your employees using questions like these:
1) How would you describe your life right now? What are you finding most difficult these days?
2) What has been your biggest learning moment this past year?
3) How are you doing with your work schedule?
4) What would you like to explore during this next year?
5) How do you see your career growing throughout the next year?