Episode 241 - Curiosity is Productive Inefficiency

Summary

We often treat efficiency as an unquestioned good, but curiosity works differently. A major new research review describes curiosity as "productive inefficiency", slowing us down in the short term while helping us find better ideas and solutions. This episode looks at where leaders should deliberately make room for curiosity.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 241 of the Leadership Today podcast, where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at curiosity and why being less efficient can sometimes help us produce better work.

Most organisations are trying to become more efficient. We want shorter meetings, faster decisions, streamlined processes and fewer wasted hours. As leaders, we're often trying to help people get to the answer more quickly. But we're also wanting people to demonstrate greater curiosity, which works in almost the opposite direction.

A major new review of research into curiosity at work describes curiosity as a form of "productive inefficiency". When we're curious, we tend to slow things down. We ask another question, we look at an issue from another perspective, and we might even explore an option that ultimately leads nowhere. Instead of accepting the first reasonable answer, we spend a little longer wondering whether there might be a better one.

In the short term, that's inefficient. But the researchers argue that this apparent inefficiency can contribute to things like creativity, adaptability and better solutions over time. The catch is we're often trying to encourage curiosity while simultaneously removing the space it requires.

Imagine someone brings you a problem. You know what they should do, so you give them the answer. That's efficient. The problem disappears and both of you can move on. Compare that with asking, "What do you think is causing the problem?" or "What options have you considered?" That takes longer. They may suggest ideas that aren't particularly good. You might end up at exactly the same solution you would have given them five minutes earlier. But something different has happened. They've had to think about the problem rather than simply receive your answer. And perhaps they've noticed something you hadn't considered.

The same thing happens in meetings. We can become so focused on getting through the agenda that questions start to feel like interruptions. Someone says, "I wonder why we still do it this way?" and the response is, "That's a bigger conv