It’s human nature to process information and form an opinion.
Whether this information comes in the form of books, podcasts, social media, ‘that new business guru,’ our families, teachers… the list goes on.
If there are enticing headlines, it’s even better. ‘100% sales growth in 1 year.’
‘Achieve success in 30 days.’ ’10 tips for leadership success.’ ‘The habits every leader must know.’
For most of us, the faster we form the opinion, the better. After all we’ve got ‘better things to do’, and our brains like certainty.
We will even speed up the process of opinion forming, by filling in the story gaps ourselves.
In the rush to form an opinion, curiosity often gets pushed to one side, and we’re not even aware of it.
Take a typical business success story for example. Behind the headlines, if we choose to look, there are lots of questions to answer before we can form an opinion.
‘Who else worked at the business, and what skills did they have? How long did the change really take? Are they still producing the same results today? How many mistakes did they make along the way? How is their market similar to ours? Who wrote the article, and why should I believe them? Did they really lead in the way they said, or would their team have a different opinion?’
We don’t have to over analyse, or doubt everything we hear or read, but a bit of curiosity can really help us unlock real insights that are far more beneficial than sound bites or assumptions alone.
You don’t have to look much further than social media for the real impact of this. Ever seen that photo and story about someone personally, or their business story?
Ever felt faintly envious of their success, or their apparent lifestyle? Ever felt that what they have achieved is beyond you somehow?
Beyond the picture and article, what do you really know about the story? What elements of the story have you embellished yourself, without even thinking about it?
This short article wasn’t meant to be about social media, or business headlines, it’s about the power of curiosity to gain insights into both yourself, others, and ultimately how you can apply them in your business.
If you’re interested in becoming more curious, where can you start?
How about writing 10 facts about yourself or your business?
- I’m a slow runner
- Our key clients are….
- We deliver excellent customer service
- Our sales team are not motivated
Once you’ve done your list, look at every point in turn. How do you know this statement to be true? What evidence have you got? Can you write your answers down?
Once you’ve done you list, can you answer the next question: How might this not be true?
Is it confidence, lack of training, poor leadership, poor systems or something else that’s leading to poor results, which you see as motivation? Maybe you’re better fixing the system first, and motivation will take care of itself.
The simple act of being curious and challenging your own beliefs, about yourself, others or your business can reveal challenging insights.
Moving beyond this. What do you read, listen to or watch? What stimulates your thinking, or helps you see something from a different point of view?
In a world of huge choice, it’s human nature to seek out information that supports our current viewpoint, rather than challenge it.
This might be the books we choose to read, the people we follow on social, or the news we engage with. Our brains are comfortable with this scenario, so why challenge the status quo?
Over time, this information becomes a story. We forget when it started, what the facts were, and whether any of it is still relevant today.
Is it any wonder why we can sometimes get stuck in a rut, or companies flourish and then decline?
Thinking about your 10 facts, what information sources can you find that challenge this point of view? Can you listen to a different podcast on leadership, that has opposing viewpoint? Is there another company you can visit, who has a different take on appraisals and bonuses? What is working for them, why, and is any of it applicable to you?
Curiosity isn’t just the preserve of the C suite. In fact you’re more likely to see it elsewhere in the organisation. It’s a fantastic resource to tap into, if we’re curious enough to ask. In fact, not engaging with your colleagues and listening to their ideas etc is a big reason why people choose to leave. Another is not acting upon their insights.
Curiosity is a simple word, almost twee in some quarters, when it comes to ‘normal’ business language, but it’s one of the biggest barriers when it comes to implementing change, developing a new strategy, exploring a new market, or changing a process/system.
All too often, one of our biggest challenges is working with business leaders to identify the stories within their business, and then unpicking the core elements of fact behind them.
Rewriting these stories can have a huge impact on these companies.
Listening to Paul Cogan recently from Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate , it’s obvious that they’re a company who has a story about their business, but are open to see how that might change. Tea and coffee drinking habits are (and will continue to) change. Sources of product supply will change due to climate. Employee expectations will change.
After all, becoming the UK’s favourite tea brand isn’t THE story, it’s a chapter. There’s more to follow, if we’re curious and open enough to write the next chapter.
The comments below are just some of the phrases we’ve encountered over the last 20 plus years of consultancy with companies in the UK and Europe. Without exception, we’ve managed to change the story behind each one of these comments, opening new doors and opportunities.
Story: “Our sales are excellent. We don’t need to look at new markets.”
Result: Sales grew even further when we looked at other markets!
Story: “That doesn’t work. We’ve tried it.”
Result: It didn’t work before due to poor implementation. It worked fine when we approached it differently.
Statement: “Exporting is too much hassle.”
Result: Loads of help was available for us to export. Margins were bigger, and it was less stress than we expected. It’s transformed the business.
Story: “We don’t need a CRM.”
Result: We didn’t know what CRM could really do for us. It’s now invaluable and central to growth.
Story: “Marketing doesn’t work.”
Result: We weren’t sure what marketing really was. Our brief was poor, so past results weren’t great. Not we have a full marketing plan and team to support it.
Story: “Strategy doesn’t work.”
Result: I can see how we can manage strategy in a way that’s fun, works for us, and lives on our desk… not a shelf. We can now plan our strategy sessions ourselves.
We used to just run through a SWOT with the information in our heads, without bringing anything to the table. Now we’re working hard to filter amazing choices.
Story: “Eco will never take off.”
Result: Our CSR/ESG strategy is now our biggest customer door opener/differentiator.
Story: “We’re much better than the competition.”
Result: Our benchmarking and customer survey has revealed we’re actually middle of the pack, but we don’t have to change much to get ahead.
Story: “There’s no need to look at what other companies do. We want to learn ourselves.”
Result: We don’t have to copy what others do, as we do some great things. But, being curious and getting out there is a fast track way to improve our business.
Story: “We know our suppliers really well. If they had something else to sell, they would have told us.”
Result: Our suppliers didn’t tell us about their new products. They assumed we knew.
We’ve now introduced several new products into our range, in markets we want to target.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with many super talented companies over the years. It’s just that life, the day job and human nature get in the way sometimes of our own success.
In the process of helping them to develop a stronger, more cohesive strategy, our job is to be curious…. and ask the challenging questions, which we forget to do over time.