TOOL: Stay Curious Guidelines

I created this quick printable for your journal this week as part of a workshop I did with a juggernaut of a leader, who is one of the many women who guided me throughout my career with their kindness, patience, and curiosity. Our workshop title: Curiosity Didn't Kill the Cat: The Art of Asking the Right Question.

Asking the right question is hard, especially in leadership. But, before we can even ask the question, we have to be ready to understand why we are asking it. When a difficult moment arises, are we asking questions just to get data to serve our own purpose? Are we asking questions as part of an interrogation? Are we trying to make them say what we need them to say so we can make the decision we were already going to make before we even asked them the question?

Checking your motives and digging into your own curiosity about a situation with someone is crucial to effective leadership. But you know, shit gets in the way of those good intentions. We suggest creating a set of guidelines to keep your triggers and personal frustrations out of the conversation.

My guidelines are:

1. You don’t have to be right this time. You can just be kind.

2. This is not urgent and not an emergency.

3. Don’t be a “know it all”.

Stay curious.

Write 3 ways you’ll keep yourself open to learning from and deepening connection with others.