Page 114 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

SPOTLIGHT THE BUSINESS CASE FOR CURIOSITY

A body of research demonstrates 4
focused on learning goals, such as exploring in the importance of curious employees.
how to be a better salesperson. That cost “It’s better to train and have them leave
them, because the company awarded a than not to train and have them stay,”
bonus of $300 for each unit sold. she told me. But according to the Society

employee benefits report, only 44% of
that framing work around learning goals Let employees explore and broaden for Human Resource Management’s 2017
(developing competence, acquiring skills, their interests. organizations provide or support cross-
mastering new situations, and so on) rather Organizations can foster curiosity by training to develop skills not directly
than performance goals (hitting targets, giving employees time and resources to related to workers’ jobs.
proving our competence, impressing others) explore their interests. One of my favorite Leaders might provide opportunities
boosts motivation. And when motivated examples comes from my native country. for employees to travel to unfamiliar
by learning goals, we acquire more-diverse It involves Italy’s first typewriter factory, locales. When we have chances to expand
skills, do better at work, get higher grades in Olivetti, founded in 1908 in the foothills our interests, research has found, we not
college, do better on problem-solving tasks, of the Italian Alps. In the 1930s some only remain curious but also become more
and receive higher ratings after training. employees caught a coworker leaving the confident about what we can accomplish
Unfortunately, organizations often factory with a bag full of iron pieces and and more successful at work. Employees
prioritize performance goals. machinery. They accused him of stealing can “travel” to other roles and areas of the
Leaders can help employees adopt a and asked the company to fire him. The organization to gain a broader perspective.
learning mindset by communicating the worker told the CEO, Adriano Olivetti, that At Pixar, employees across the organization
importance of learning and by rewarding he was taking the parts home to work on a can provide “notes”—questions and
people not only for their performance new machine over the weekend because advice—that help directors consider all
but for the learning needed to get there. he didn’t have time while performing his sorts of possibilities for the movies they
Deloitte took this path: In 2013 it replaced regular job. Instead of firing him, Olivetti are working on.
its performance management system gave him time to create the machine Employees can also broaden their
with one that tracks both learning and and charged him with overseeing its interests by broadening their networks.
performance. Employees meet regularly production. The result was Divisumma, Curious people often end up being
with a coach to discuss their development the first electronic calculator. Divisumma star performers thanks to their diverse
and learning along with the support they sold well worldwide in the 1950s and networks, my research with the University
need to continually grow. 1960s, and Olivetti promoted the worker of Toronto’s Tiziana Casciaro, Bill McEvily,
Leaders can also stress the value of to technical director. Unlike leaders who and Evelyn Zhang finds. Because they’re
learning by reacting positively to ideas that would have shown him the door, Olivetti more comfortable than others asking
may be mediocre in themselves but could gave him the space to explore his curiosity, questions, such people more easily create
be springboards to better ones. Writers and with remarkable results. and nurture ties at work—and those ties
directors at Pixar are trained in a technique Some organizations provide resources to are critical to their career development
called “plussing,” which involves building on support employees’ outside interests. Since and success. The organization benefits
ideas without using judgmental lang uage. 1996 the manufacturing conglomerate when employees are connected to people
Instead of rejecting a sketch, for example, United Technologies (UTC) has given as who can help them with challenges and
a director might find a starting point by much as $12,000 in tuition annually to any motivate them to go the extra mile. MIT’s
saying, “I like Woody’s eyes, and what if employee seeking a degree part-time—no Bob Langer works to raise curiosity in his
we...?” Someone else might jump in with strings attached. Leaders often don’t want students by introducing them to experts
another “plus.” This technique allows people to invest in training employees for fear that in his network. Similarly, by connecting
to remain curious, listen actively, respect the they will jump to a competitor and take people across organizational departments
ideas of others, and contribute their own. their expensively acquired skills with them. and units, leaders can encourage employees
By promoting a process that allows all sorts Even though UTC hasn’t tried to quantify to be curious about their colleagues’ work
of ideas to be explored, leaders send a clear the benefits of its tuition reimbursement and ways of doing business.
message that learning is a key goal even if it program, Gail Jackson, the vice president of Deliberate thinking about workspaces
doesn’t always lead to success. human resources when we spoke, believes can broaden networks and encourage the

56 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018