Make your job and the people around you more interesting by cultivating your curiosity.
Many people have had the experience of thriving in their work up until the point that it starts to become repetitive, routine and boring. Slogging it out like this every day, work becomes more like a prison sentence then an exciting career. This is the exact time to build fascination for your job and the people you work with.
Many work most of their lives for an organization and know so little about it. Spend a full day being curious about your job, your co-workers, your industry, your organization, and your corporate culture. Seek out and question why things are the way they are?
Who does what? Why? Where? and how. This is not with the intention to be noisy and upset people and processes but with the intention to learn, create motivation and improve.
Through this discovery you will cultivate an ongoing curiosity about your work, your co-workers, the industry and more. You will start to see the connection between people, departments and products and how you are an integral part of the puzzle. Pride and enthusiasm will swell.
High level executives from across the globe will start to seem real and integral to the operation- instead of just a name on a letter head.
For a full day, let your curiosity take hold and seek to:
• Discover the often fascinating story about where your organization originated from, who was involved, how quickly it grew and why.
• Appreciate the struggles that others have had to bear to pave the way for the job and thriving business climate that you enjoy today.
• Understand how your industry and organization has changed, been challenged and evolved.
• Know what your organizations mission means and how it relates to everyday work.
• Appreciate what other departments do for the organization. How does each integral person work in line to build this work community?
Through this discovery you may come to appreciate that some people work harder than you or have more challenges or opportunities. Regularly many of your colleagues take one for the team, pull up their socks and go above and beyond just to keep chaos at bay. Most of the time, this effort goes unnoticed.
Understanding your rich past and the connections between people and departments builds congruency and integration.
Most diverse organizations that have survived have been through tremendous change over the years. To survive, they have roughed it out and been forced to innovate. Many have been challenged to do more work with fewer resources, downsized and even relocated.
Knowing your history fuels fascination and builds pride for your work. Expressing your natural curiosity will drive innovation and build concrete connections that fuel passion.
As a leader you can fuel your team’s curiosity by encouraging questions and avoiding blame. When people are curious and start to ask questions sometimes others get defensive and the cover up, denial chain reaction takes over.
Avoid this tentative speculation by encouraging a curious culture. Facilitate genuine curiosity by removing any doubt in advance. Educate and empower others to embrace open learning, dialogue and sharing. Give credit for good ideas and acknowledge the effort it takes to understand others.
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Jody Urquhart is a professional motivational keynote speaker and author. She has been inspiring associations audiences since 1996. She works and helps people of all the industries. She specializes in working with health care professionals to help them reconnect to the joy and meaning in their work. She is the author of the book “All Work & No Say”. For more motivational tips check out her blog.