Creating a Culture of Curiosity

I’ve been involved in many committees, councils, and initiatives over the years focused on innovation. Some were a complete waste of time and resources. The idea that a few executives can sit around in a bland corporate conference room (or worse, on a Zoom call) and come up with a formula for how to promote innovation within their company is kind of ridiculous. Often, the misguided goal is to somehow create the conditions under which their employees will spontaneously invent the next iPhone or Tesla. Surprisingly, that has never actually been the result of any innovation council I’ve been a part of.

However, I have seen many truly impactful and profitable innovations come out of the businesses I’ve worked with. In my experience, the most valuable innovation happens as a result of two conditions: a clear need and a culture of curiosity. The saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Similarly, when an organization recognizes that a particular process, product, or service has limitations that are holding them back from reaching business goals, the field is ripe for innovation. Customer requests for something just a little different, a little better, or a little faster can turn into an entirely new line of business. Even management expectations of cost savings or increased profitability can be the catalyst. But a culture of curiosity is what creates the fertile ground that makes the difference. Without a culture of curiosity, people accept the status quo and decide that “the way we’ve always done it” is the way we’re going to continue doing it. Those customer requests become an annoyance instead of an inspiration.

So how does one create a culture of curiosity in a company, team, or department?

I regularly convene the IT leaders from the diverse operating companies in my organization for the purpose of collaboration and knowledge sharing and learning more about the other businesses in our portfolio of companies. I use those meetings as an opportunity to promote the culture of curiosity within our group that I hope they will carry back with them to their respective teams and companies. In the summer of 2018, Lime and Bird scooters appeared for the first time on the streets of downtown Minneapolis. In the early fall of that year, I was hosting one of our regular IT leadership meetings on the 40th floor of the RBC Plaza building at 6th and Nicollet. I opened the meeting, welcoming and thanking everyone for attending. But just as I was about to jump into the (fake) agenda for the day, I told the group that I had forgotten something important back in my office. I excused myself and told them I would be right back. Imagine their surprise when I returned to the conference room riding a Lime scooter. (Also, imagine the conversation I had with our building security guard earlier that morning.)

I explained that I had a completely different agenda for the day. I asked each of the attendees to install either the Bird or Lime app on their phones if they didn’t already have it. I then told them to go downstairs to the street, find a scooter to rent, and for everyone to meet back at a certain point on Nicollet Avenue as soon as possible. Once everyone arrived on a scooter, the VP of IT for our commercial real estate development business (my co-conspirator) led us on a tour of all the Pohlad Companies–owned buildings in downtown Minneapolis. We returned to the conference room an hour and a half later and launched into a discussion about the activity. I asked them to each share their experience finding and renting a scooter, and we talked about the strengths and deficiencies of the process and the technology. I then asked each attendee to consider how the overall concept of ride-sharing platforms has affected or might affect their industry. That led into a rich conversation about how they might apply similar concepts within their business to transform their employee or customer experiences.

Earlier that year, the same group met at one of our sister companies’ locations in Brunswick, Georgia. This time, I had conspired with a colleague to create a custom skill for the Amazon Alexa app that would sing “Happy Birthday” to one of the attendees when triggered by a specific command. As the other attendees filed into the conference room, eventually someone noticed the Amazon Echo sitting in the middle of the table. I gave the command, and we all joined in singing to our colleague who had the pleasure of celebrating his birthday on a business trip. This time, the opening activity for our meeting was to explore the potential applications of Alexa for Business to each of our companies. I asked each person to consider two questions.

How could digital assistant technologies like Alexa for Business be used internally to drive efficiency and improve the employee experience at your company?

How could digital assistant technologies be used externally to drive revenue growth and improve the customer experience for your business?

Again, what followed was a great conversation about possibilities and ideas. Not surprisingly, the discussion eventually turned to the topic of privacy and data security. This was a room of CIOs and other IT leaders, after all. But even that was a valuable conversation. I encouraged them to focus on how to address the security concerns so that we could support technology advances like this while still managing the organization’s risk effectively. I reminded them that our role as technology leaders is to solve problems, advise the business about risks, and figure out the best way to structure new solutions, rather than being the department that puts the “no” in innovation.

These two anecdotes are fun examples of how I have tried to build a culture of curiosity across our operating companies. I don’t think either of these activities directly led to a specific innovation within one of the businesses related to ride-sharing platforms or next-generation digital assistants, but that’s not the point. The purpose was simply to influence culture, to get a handful of people to think differently for a few minutes or a couple of hours. When those types of experiences are repeated often enough, even just once a month, they can begin to influence the way people think about their role and approach their day-to-day jobs.

Today, in nearly every meeting I attend, I try to share some new advancement or recent learning about artificial intelligence and spark a conversation about how AI can be leveraged within our businesses to drive growth and improve customer and employee experiences. Generative Artificial Intelligence presents the greatest opportunity for innovation that most of us have seen or will see in our lifetimes, and it demands a culture of curiosity to harness that potential.

Leaders, I highly encourage you to find small opportunities on a regular basis to inspire a conversation about the possibilities that technology can open up for your organization. You don’t have to ride scooters into conference rooms or sing along with Alexa, but a fun little object lesson always helps spark creativity and promote retention.?

You don’t have to be the one to come up with the ideas either. Ask your team members for ideas of cool new technology they’ve seen in action. From their stories and examples, simply facilitate a conversation about possible applications of the same technology for your business. It might seem completely unrelated and outlandish, but it will serve to get people thinking differently. These conversations are a great way to kick off a regular team meeting, as they get everyone engaged and in the mode of sharing and collaborating. It can transform the energy in the room from a boring routine status update to something forward-looking, open-minded, and generative. Try it once to see how it feels to give yourself and your team permission to be curious.