Page 115 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

Leaders can stress the value of learning by reacting positively

to mediocre ideas that could be springboards to better ones.

cross-pollination of ideas. In the 1990s, ask questions, and they don’t worry about questions. Bob Langer has said he wants
when Pixar was designing a new home for whether others believe they should already to “help people make the transition
itself in Emeryville, across the bay from know the answers. But as children grow from giving good answers to asking good
San Francisco, the initial plans called for a older, self-consciousness creeps in, along questions” (see “The Edison of Medicine,”
separate building for each department. with the desire to appear confident and HBR, March–April 2017). He also tells his
But then-owner Steve Jobs had concerns demonstrate expertise. By the time we’re students that they could change the world,
about isolating the various departments adults, we often suppress our curiosity. thus boosting the curiosity they need to
and decided to build a single structure with Leaders can help draw out our innate tackle challenging problems.
a large atrium in the center, containing curiosity. One company I visited asked Organizing “Why?” days, when
employee mailboxes, a café, a gift shop, all employees for “What if…?” and “How employ ees are encouraged to ask that
and screening rooms. Forcing employees to might we…?” questions about the firm’s question if facing a challenge, can go
interact, he reasoned, would expose them goals and plans. They came up with all a long way toward fostering curiosity.
to one another’s work and ideas. sorts of things, which were discussed Intellectual Ventures, a company that
Leaders can also boost employees’ and evaluated. As a concrete sign that generates inventions and buys and licenses
curiosity by carefully designing their teams. questioning was supported and rewarded, patents, organizes “invention sessions” in
Consider Massimo Bottura, the owner of the best questions were displayed on which people from different disciplines,
Osteria Francescana, a three-Michelin- banners hung on the walls. Some of the backgrounds, and levels of expertise come
star restaurant in Modena, Italy, that was questions led employees to suggest ideas together to discuss potential solutions
rated the Best Restaurant in the World in for how to work more effectively. (For more to tough problems, which helps them
2016 and 2018. His sous chefs are Davide on the importance of asking good questions consider issues from various angles (see
di Fabio, from Italy, and Kondo Takahiko, before seeking solutions, see “Better “Funding Eureka!” HBR, March 2010).
from Japan. The two differ not only in their Brainstorming,” HBR, March–April 2018.) Similarly, under Toyota’s 5 Whys approach,
origins but also in their strengths: Di Fabio In one study, my colleagues and I asked employees are asked to investigate
is more comfortable with improvisation, adults working in a wide range of jobs problems by asking Why? After coming up
while Takahiko is obsessed with precision. and industries to read one of two sets of with an answer, they are to ask why that’s
Such “collisions” make the kitchen more materials on three organizational elements: the case, and so on until they have asked
innovative, Bottura believes, and inspire goals, roles, and how organizations as a the question five times. This mindset can
curiosity in other workers. whole work together. For half the workers, help employees innovate by challenging
5 “grow method”—our version of a control IN MOST ORGANIZATIONS, leaders and
existing perspectives.
the information was presented as the
condition. We encouraged that group to
em ployees alike receive the implicit mes-
view those elements as immutable, and
sage that asking questions is an unwanted
we stressed the importance of following
Have “Why?” “What if…?” and existing processes that managers had challenge to authority. They are trained to
already defined. For the other half, the
focus on their work without looking closely
“How might we…?” days. information was presented as the “go back at the process or their overall goals. But
The inspiration for the Polaroid instant method.” We encouraged those employees maintaining a sense of wonder is crucial to
camera was a three-year-old’s question. to see the elements as fluid and to “go back” creativity and innovation. The most effec-
Inventor Edwin Land’s daughter was and rethink them. A week later we found tive leaders look for ways to nurture their
impatient to see a photo her father had just that the workers who’d read about the “go employees’ curiosity to fuel learning and
snapped. When he explained that the film back method” showed more creativity discovery. HBR Reprint R1805B
had to be processed, she wondered aloud, in tasks than the workers in the “grow
“Why do we have to wait for the picture?” method” group. They were more open to FRANCESCA GINO is the Tandon Family Professor of
As every parent knows, Why? is ubiqui- others’ ideas and worked more effectively Business Administration at Harvard Business
tous in the vocabulary of young children, with one another. School and the author of the books Rebel Talent:
Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life
who have an insatiable need to understand To encourage curiosity, leaders should and Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed,
the world around them. They aren’t afraid to also teach employees how to ask good and How We Can Stick to the Plan.

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