Tips to Creating Adaptive Organizations Through Curiosity

Curiosity is one of those terms that is association with exploration, trying new things, openness to experience, and pondering the possibilities. Organizations often look for workers but have a more difficult time fostering curiosity. The typical organization is highly rigid and often based more in fulfilling one's immediate workload with little to no time for curiosity. 

Not putting time aside for curiosity may not be the best long term choice from an adaptive standpoint. Consider organizations that need to keep innovating and developing to compete with other companies. Curiosity and the willingness to ask questions makes a big difference in long term development. 

While it isn't always a 1X1 equation it is an additive process. Some will waste exploration time and some will put more more into the process. Small changes discovered through many curious hands can provide a cutting edge advantages to companies. One big discovery/adjustment could revolutionize both the company and an industry (Why I believe that curiosity mixed with the right innovative environment can speed growth not only in one company but also many other companies within a cluster.)

You may want to read an article in the Harvard Business Review The Business Case for Curiosity
by Francesca Gino

There are many things that can improve, tweak and adjust curiosity but here are three that I think are broad and helpful to think about.

1.) Incentivize/Normalize Cultural Curiosity: Make curiosity a regular part of creative positions. Ensure they have the the time to create new things and are rewarded when something beneficial is found. The more creativity it is part of the culture, the more it will be a natural outcome of daily work life. 

2.) Match Ideas with ROI Resources: New ideas can be vetted to help ensure that they will be beneficial for the company. Those that have the greatest merit could be further developed and scaled for maximum benefit through further exploration and proper use of ROI resources. Those that are not immediately beneficial can be tabled for when they may be more helpful. 

3.) Maximize Stakeholder Benefit: Companies work within a business environment. There will be suppliers, partners, and industry associates that can benefit from new ideas. When plausible encourage stakeholders to maximize associated benefits to create environments where companies are growing and supporting each other's development.