In the age of the Great Resignation, curiosity is increasingly recognized as a valuable skill by business leaders. Curiosity is increasingly sought by employers to address some of the biggest challenges facing organizations today – from improving employee retention and job satisfaction to creating more innovative, collaborative and productive workplaces. This is according to the SAS new research from analytics leader SAS which surveyed nearly 2,000 managers globally and analyzed data from LinkedIn over the last year.
The report defines curiosity as the impulse to seek new information and experiences and explore novel possibilities, highlighting the importance of this trait no matter an employee’s role or level within their organization.The research found that nearly three quarters(72%) of managers believe curiosity is a very valuable trait in employees, with more than half strongly agreeing that curiosity drives real business impact (59%)and that employees who have more curiosity are higher performers (51%).
The report highlights how curiosity has gained traction amid growing demand for this skill.According to LinkedIn data,year-over-year there has been a 158% increase in engagement with posts, shares and articles mentioning curiosity, 90% growth in job postings that mention curiosity, and 87% growth in the mention of skills related to curiosity.
In today’s environment of the Great Resignation, managers are finding it especially challenging to keep employee morale and motivation high, with 60% of managers citing this as a difficulty. Over half of managers face challenges retaining good employees (52%), getting employees to push beyond just basic job duties (51%) and driving cross-collaboration with other teams and departments (50%). However, many of the benefits associated with curiosity directly address these key business challenges. The managers surveyed agreed that the very valuable benefits of curiosity include greater efficiency and productivity (62%), more creative thinking and solutions(62%),stronger collaboration and teamwork (58%), and greater employee engagement and job satisfaction (58%).
“Our research paints a powerful picture that curiosity is no longer just nice to have. Rather,this skill has become a business imperative that helps companies address critical challenges and foster innovation,” said Jay Up church, CIO at SAS.
Most managers agree that curiosity is particularly valuable when innovating new solutions (62%), tackling complex problems (55%), and analyzing data (52%), making it an important trait for fueling data insights and integration.Focusing on managers who are considered more curious, these individuals note their employer is significantly more advanced in digital transformation (56% of those who rate high in curiosity vs. 29% who rate low). They also frequently use more data sources in their roles, particularly those that help them better understand their customers (58%), performance (60%), and fellow employees (63%).
For their business to succeed in the next three years, managers say their organization needs employees with technical expertise in areas of artificial intelligence (63%) and data analysis (60%) as well as personal attributes like creative thinking (59%) and problem-solving (59%). However, managers also say they struggle to find new hires with this combination of necessary technical skills (65%) and personal attributes (60%) – like curiosity – that their departments need to succeed.
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