Encouraging curiosity at work turns tough questions into opportunities to build trust, share knowledge, and strengthen engagement.
"This year’s interns are bold.” It was only two weeks into our summer internship program, and I’d heard some form of this sentiment from multiple people. This time it was from one of our project managers, who had been cornered by a few of our interns and grilled about his compensation.
Although he was surprised to have been asked so bluntly, he wasn’t offended. If anything, he seemed impressed. “When I was an intern, I never would have thought to ask that!”
It’s true – so often, we consider asking tough questions to be an unspoken corporate taboo. In my experience, HR professionals (such as myself) are especially likely to clutch our pearls over an employee asking a bold question. It’s far easier to give a vague answer and move on, rather than misstep or say the wrong thing that could land us, or the company, in hot water.
Yet so often, I hear leaders express frustration that employees don’t seem to grasp the full picture. We expect people to inherently understand corporate etiquette, while ignoring that each organization’s culture and norms are different. Which then begs the question: how can we encourage productive curiosity in the workplace?
Understand the why.
It’s completely normal for your initial reaction to a probing question to be one of defensiveness. We’ve been socially conditioned to interpret being questioned as a challenge to authority. Instead of shutting down, try meeting their curiosity with your own.
The project manager I mentioned earlier is an example of how to do this well. When asked a pointed question about his salary, rather than assuming the worst – that the interns were being nosey and prying, or trying to gain leverage – he first asked why they were asking him. It turned out the intern’s school wasn’t sharing salary data, and they had no frame of reference for what to expect when starting their career as an entry-level engineer. That question wasn’t about entitlement; it was about education.
Give people the opportunity to share the reason behind their question, and be willing to challenge your assumptions.
Redirect insincerity.
When you take the time to understand why someone is asking a question, you can often get to the root of their curiosity quickly. Personally, I would always rather someone ask me a direct question than make assumptions based on limited or incomplete information. If the question is being asked in good faith, the worst I’m going to tell someone is, “I can’t answer that.” In many cases, even if I can’t share everything, I can at least offer a partial answer or some helpful context.
However, if it becomes clear that someone is asking a question to stir up drama or escalate an issue, it’s important to shut it down promptly – and to explain why their approach isn’t productive. In my experience, people typically realize they’ve crossed a line and back off.
Still, it’s essential to explain why you’re not able to share certain information. Doing so helps the person understand the boundaries in place and promotes growth in their awareness of professional norms.
Reward genuine curiosity.
Genuine curiosity is a hallmark sign that your employees are listening and engaged. This presents an opportunity to share information beyond what they might have thought to ask, if it aligns with their interest and underlying motivation.
Think critically about what truly needs to remain confidential and avoid defaulting to information gatekeeping just because it’s easier than navigating a conversation. Many organizations miss critical chances to build trust and rapport with employees simply by being overly cautious.
When our interns shared that they felt a lack of clarity around industry compensation and career expectations, it would have been easy to just answer the initial question about salary and leave it at that. We decided to take it a step further. Our intern program coordinator partnered with the project manager the interns had approached for information to explain that career trajectories vary depending on several factors. They followed up with a short presentation illustrating the typical growth path of a design engineer, including how and when someone might reach a $100K salary based on a variety of factors such as performance, promotions, gaining licensure, etc. This sparked a great discussion among the interns and gave them a deeper understanding of performance-based raises and total compensation.
Conclusion.
I’ve come to realize these interns embody the same things that drew so many of us to this industry in the first place – an insatiable desire to learn the intricacies about the world we inhabit, how things work, and how to elevate our collective experience. It’s easy to get bogged down in our calendars, emails, and meetings throughout the work week, but we could all benefit from making the time to be more curious. You never know what you might discover.
Shelby Harvey is vice president of talent development and HR at BHC. Contact her at shelby.harvey@ibhc.com.