What even is ‘curiosity?’ How can we define it?
I found an interesting article, in Harvard Business Review, on the ‘five dimensions’ of curiosity. It’s written by authors Todd B. Kashdan, David J. Disabato, Fallon R. Goodman, and Carl Naughton. They write: ‘Synthesizing [past] research, and in conjunction with our George Mason colleague Patrick McKnight, we created a five-dimensional model of curiosity.’ Read the original piece here.
To read the part I found most interesting, click the image below.
Above is a PDF with some of the highlights that I found curious. I’ve re-worked the text to eliminate some of the wonkiness and put it into InDesign so that I could give it some color.
You know. A bit of zazz.
Sometimes these articles can sound so tired.
Different ways of being curious
There are different facets to how we inquire, investigate, and ask questions. The more I look into this, the more intriguing this topic really is. Did you know that when our curiosity is satisfied, we get a dopamine hit? I had no idea bout that but it might explain all the fun I’ve been having looking up things, and reporting from the field, in Atelier S P A C E’s many roundtables, salons, and zinemaking moments to find things out that I wanted to. What about you? How are you finding ways to sate your curiosity?
These days I feel like there are so many things that are getting in the way of that. I think I read in the HBR series about ‘barriers to curiosity’ and you can imagine what was there.
A culture of stifling us from asking questions, seeking new inputs, and going out on a limb, I feel, is the problem. I had imagined that this was just something that was going on here, where I am, in Southeast Asia, with its hierarchical style. But the articles, which aren’t too new, tell the story of realities of working life. Talking about curiosity is one thing, but actually fostering the environment for it to thrive, and flourish, is quite a difficult thing to actually see happening, apparently, in real life, out in the 3D world. Or?
What are you doing in your day to day to inspire, and encourage, space for more curious, open and inviting ways of living and going about your work, too?
Then, for SME owners, How can you encourage that in your workplace? What can you do to leverage our innate curiosity?
That’s the topic of another article in this series by HBR. Making space for people to explore their own curiosity helps them feel like they can ask questions, instead of getting shut down or fearing that what they say will not be taken seriously. I’m editorializing a bit, but my reading of the article series pointed me to those ideas and also, intriguingly, I read that many times, leaders talk about wanting to have this kind of curious, open culture but actually stifle it.
They might focus too much on efficiency or results. They might stop people from wanting to ask questions and that means, naturally, the space for thinking in a way that innovation requires will be squashed. I’m wondering how often this really happens in the big world. Being a small team here at DK, with mostly freelance experience or short-term partnerships with our clients, who’ve tended to be SME owners, by and large, we’re wondering if there are ways to introduce playfulness again into bigger, wider workplaces so as to invite, and encourage, more curiosity.
What do you think?
We’re curious what you think about these ideas. I am wondering, What do the five dimensions of curiosity as defined by these authors say to you? We’ll talk about it, in S P A C E, on our next group voice call over Zoom. These calls are for a max of 4, limited to those who sign up first, and they are a chance for those of us subscribing to S P A C E and discovering new ideas to meet, to talk, to dialogue, and to just say ‘hi’. Why not? Yes, let’s.
Your ideas are welcome. Your perspective is invited.
To be part of this, please check out the page on S P A C E. You’ll need to get a subscription to be part of the online events like the dialogues and conversations that we host from time to time. It’s always simple, curious, open, and fun. At least, that’s my feeling, since a search for that kind of conversation space was what made me build S P A C E stages, in the first place. You’re very welcome to join us.
Here is a link with more info.
https://designkompany.com/zine
