I believe that curiosity is one of the most critical traits for trainers and leaders. In fact, Curiosity of one of my three personal Core Values and Stay Curious is one of the three Core Values for Winning Mind Training. The two quotes below are from one of Austin Kleon’s newsletters.
“Curiosity is not a luxury or a bonus or an add-on to life — it’s vital tool that makes our life and work richer.”
Rob Walker
“Like creativity, curiosity might be better thought of as a verb, not a noun — not something that some people possess and some people don’t, but something everyone can do and get better at.”
Austin Kleon
Curiosity inspires you to be continually seeking new information, new ideas, new insights, new connections, better ways of teaching concepts and communicating ideas. Curiosity inspires you to ask more questions, better questions and deeper questions. Curiosity inspires you to actually listen to the answers of those questions and ask even more questions.
Curiosity inspires you to seek feedback from the participants in your training to determine what they need and where you might be missing the mark for them in your instruction. Curiosity challenges you to learn from everyone and every experience.
Curiosity encourages you to ask for feedback on why your plan sucks, what you might have missed or why it will fail. Curiosity fosters a culture where people feel comfortable to ask questions, offer feedback and suggestions and actually tell you why your plan sucks.
Curiosity cannot be considered a luxury for trainers. Trainers who do not practice curiosity will fail to advance their own skills, knowledge and understanding and fail to advance and improve their training. As a result they fail the people they have the privilege and honor to train.
Get curious. Stay curious. Encourage curiosity in others. You, your training, your people, your agency and our profession will be better off because of it.
Note: The Excellence in Training Academy was created for trainers committed to staying curious and continually learning and growing. Check it out.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Providing practical training to law enforcement professionals in the areas of instructor development, Performance Enhancement Imagery, leadership and mindset.
The Excellence in Training Academy – A membership site for law enforcement trainers seeking to invest in their ongoing professional development. Join Now.
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