Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a four-part series of leadership-focused columns.
Who doesn’t love a good rabbit hole, down which you can chase about anything? It may start innocently, with searching for the date your favorite show is going to launch its next season, but turns into a 45-minute detour where you followed Alice into Wonderland and ended up on TikTok watching funny dog videos.
Intellectual curiosity is not just about being curious. It is more about the focus of your curiosity. Lifelong learners come in many forms, ranging from a pursuit of higher learning and gaining new certifications to simply keeping up on industry trends and learning from others at every opportunity.
Leaders who exhibit intellectual curiosity value continuous improvement and model this belief for their team members. Imagine a group of bankers constantly reflecting on how processes, products or client service can be improved. They are willing to set aside any emotional ties to the current processes or products and ask themselves, “How much better could we be if we improved this process?” For example, what could the client journey look like if we asked ourselves a few questions such as:
- How do we want our clients to feel when they leave the bank?
- Can we improve the account opening process, so the focus is less on the process and more on the personal experience?
- What should our follow-up look like to encourage clients to use our digital banking tools and are we tracking key performance indicators to measure success?
When leaders exhibit and encourage others to embrace intellectual curiosity, failures become opportunities to learn from our mistakes and improve. These do not have to be massive failures. We can learn from any situation, reflect on what went well and what did not, and leverage these lessons to improve the plan for next time.
Intellectual curiosity comes from a place of understanding — not blame. I learned after each bank acquisition/core conversion project that it was highly beneficial to reflect on these successes and failures. As leaders, we can tend to focus only on the negatives but celebrating successes is essential, specifically because that success may be related to learning from a previous failure. Once my conversion team and I celebrated successes, we would make a list of what did not go according to plan. As the leader of the project, I was responsible for these failures. I kept a running list in my head, but I wanted to hear from the team as they had their own stories and perceptions about the project. Once the list was complete, the focus was not to place blame because the deed was done. The question I posed was:
“Could we have avoided this from happening? If so, what do we need to change next time to ensure this does not happen again?”
This type of conversation should be documented to ensure the lessons learned are readily available when the next acquisition or conversion is announced as it could be three months or two years between projects.
Another way great leaders employ intellectual curiosity is by asking new employees to share ideas, specifically within the first few months of their start date while their prior experience is still fresh in their minds. Do they have any suggestions on ways to improve processes? Have they experienced any surprises or disappointments in their new role? It may be a bit daunting to a new hire if they are not used to this type of environment, so you may want to ask them to journal their ideas. Emphasize the importance of feedback to you and the company for continuous improvement. Providing them with the “why” up front will help them feel safer in providing constructive feedback. Demonstrating early on that you value feedback will set the stage for healthy relationships and encourage your team to adopt this mindset.
How do you want those whom you have had the great fortune to lead to remember you?
Christy Baker is a facilitator and coach focusing on organizational health and strategies for Omaha-based Revela. She provides group training and individual coaching and is a former COO for an Iowa-based community banking group. She can be reached at [email protected]. Visit RevelaGroup.com/podcast to learn more.
