People often ask me, 'What motivates you to undertake these huge research projects?' The answer is curiosity.
Jim Collins, From Good to Great
Sometimes lack of curiosity exhausts an organization - even an exceptional one - by asking the same old questions. An example became apparent to a colleague of mine, Jeff Kober, while he was providing professional development programs for the Walt Disney World Company. Since Disneyland opened in 1955, the parks have always dealt with long lines of people. Over time Disney made itself the master of the queue. Disney constantly asked the question, "How can we handle long lines?" Answers came in the form of efficient ride vehicles, to frequent switchbacks, from announced wait times to outdoor air conditioning, from theming the line to entertaining guests as they waited. Every possible idea was explored to make the least satisfactory part of a day at the park more tolerable.
Still, for all those dozens of years, no one ever asked, "Why don't we get rid of the line?" Once they did, the parks came out with FastPass.
To Jeff, curiosity is that faculty that prompts us to nudge the given, push the boundaries of our assumptions, and create new understanding. He sees curiosity as imperative to organizational health. In fact, he boldly states -
Curiosity is an organizational duty.
Jeff Kober
A Rigor For Being Curious
I claim no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
Albert Einstein
I imagine Einstein being both curious about the questions to ask - and fascinated with the answers. Yet, none of us is an Einstein. What does it take for us to be skillfully curious? Jeff advises, "Just start with inquiry! And as you do, you will find that there is both a discipline and a rigor in being curious."
In my work, I'm seen my fair share of checklists, job aids, procedures, reference manuals, tips, rules of thumb, and decision trees. I have seen every effort to make certain that people do their job the right way every time. But I've seldom seen tools designed to help people ask questions.
The shelf-life of questions is longer than the shelf-life of answers.
Kris Tucker, Executive Director, WA State Council for the Arts
Jeff Kober created a framework inside a recent client engagement that brings a rigor to asking good questions up front - about data, about process … about work trends. Its basic CLUES footprint is reprinted below; a module underlies each of the component parts . The basic ingredients-
C-Clarify-Directing the inquiry
L-Link- Building bridges (or connecting ideas and/or data)
U-Uncover-Probing for greater detail or broader understanding
E-Envision-Inferring quantitatively or qualitatively stepping in the shoes of others
S-Synthesize-Putting all the puzzle pieces together to achieve new understanding
Fostering Curiosity
| C.L.U.E.S. |
Approach |
Concepts |
| Clarify |
Intuitive:
Chartering a Course |
Sponsor
Mission
Scale
Route
Obstacles
|
Logical:
Data Planning
|
Statistical Research: Descriptive vs. Inferential
Population: Deciding to Sample; How to Sample
Variables: Quantitative and/or Qualitative
Time: Longitudinal or Cross Sectional
Relationships: Correlation or Causation
Understanding Sources of Data
|
| Link |
Intuitive |
Juxtaposing
Blending
Pyramiding
Funneling
Encircling
Dividing
|
| Logical |
| Associations |
Zero Correlations
Pearson Correlation
|
| Differences |
T-Test
Chi Square
Outlier Analysis
ANOVA
|
|
| Uncover |
Intuitive: Uncovering Through New Lens |
Microscope - Going deeper
Telescope - Going broader/ higher |
| Logical: Uncovering Through Statistics |
| What's the Distribution?
|
| What's the Central Tendency? |
Mode
Median
Mean
Standard Deviation
|
|
| Envision |
Intuitive |
Hand
Mind
Heart |
| Logical |
| Past Trends |
Histograms |
| Future Trends |
Path Analysis
Regression Analysis
|
|
| Synthesis |
Intuitive |
Eureka!
Taking Time Out
Share and Share Alike
Count the Costs
Capture It |
| Logical |
Validity
Reliability
Usability |
I asked Jeff to describe what Eureka! meant inside the synthesis phase. Jeff said that on one occasion Archimedes was trying to understand the displacement of water. Getting into his bathtub, and watching the water flow, he finally understood the concept of volume on displacement. In his excitement, he ran naked out onto the street crying "Eureka". Eureka is Greek for "I got it!" Eureka is when both heart and mind confirm that the conclusions reached are the right ones.
Eureka is also what happens when you look up an old adage you thought you knew. I discovered that I've known only the half of it. The entire passage reads:
Curiosity killed the cat. Satisfaction brought him back.
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