It’s common for us to use our knowledge and experience to avoid curiosity; ‘I know about this issue and these people, I’ve done this work for years’. But to get a different result, we have to do things differently by challenging what we hold to be true and assuming that we don’t yet know the answers.

By staying curious about the world, the views and needs of others – and even about ourselves – we open our eyes, minds and hearts to new possibilities. This is how creativity and innovation become possible.

Curiosity asks us to:  

Accept that we can’t know everything
People and culture are constantly in flux so we cannot expect ourselves or others to have all of the answers. This means letting go of our expectations to be ‘right’ or the ‘expert’.

Question and listen intently
We have to ask creative and difficult questions to get past assumptions that can prevent us from learning more. Sometimes this means asking questions we are afraid of asking, and listening to uncomfortable answers.

See and hear it it all
Often we seek feedback after making decisions, but this means that we naturally ignore feedback that doesn’t neatly fit within our original plan. We must start with curiosity to see issues from many perspectives – including ones that, at first, don’t seem to make sense.

Be changed
We need to be open to changing how and what we think, through what we see, hear, feel and experience. Curiosity cannot work if we’re dogmatic and closed off to change.

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