Leading with Curiosity: The Catalyst for Innovation in Schools

Table of Contents

Leading with Curiosity as a Framework for Innovation

3 Guidelines for a Curious-Driven Culture 

One Last Thought

References

“That’s just the way we’ve always done it” is the dreaded response that a leader can hear when questioning a process or protocol that an organization follows.

What comes after this statement is the true testament to whether or not the leader will lean in and challenge or sit back and accept. You can choose to shrug it off and continue or stop and question further. 

For me, it’s always the latter - curiosity. Why have we always done it that way? Is it still serving our students? Our teachers? Ourselves?

Can we do something different that could lead to better outcomes? 

In the rush of daily decision-making, educators and school leaders can fall victim to prioritizing compliance, tradition, and efficiency over exploration. But what if the greatest shifts in our classrooms and school cultures don’t begin with grand visions or strategic plans but with a single, intentional question: “What if we tried it differently?”

Curiosity is not just for our students. It’s a leadership disposition. A mindset. A cultural game-changer. And when cultivated intentionally, it becomes the seed of school innovation.

Leading with Curiosity as a Framework for Innovation

When we look at the research, curiosity is a scientifically supported leadership tool that promotes openness, learning, and creative problem-solving. Theorists and researchers have long argued that curiosity fosters deeper engagement and cognitive flexibility, both of which are crucial for adaptive leadership in complex school environments (Kashdan & Silvia, 2009).

A 2018 report by Francesca Gino, a professor at Harvard Business School, found that leaders who regularly model curiosity contribute to workplaces that are more innovative and collaborative. Her research demonstrated that curiosity encourages more constructive disagreement, which ultimately leads to better decision-making and more creative outcomes (Gino, 2018). 

Imagine what that looks like in schools - teams that don’t avoid conflict, but lean into it with purpose because they’re united by shared questions rather than competing assumptions. A school that comfortably and respectfully questions. A school where curiosity is normalized. 

The psychological safety required for curiosity to flourish is also well-documented. Edmondson (1999) emphasizes that teams are more likely to innovate when members feel safe to take risks and ask questions without fear of judgment. In schools, this means fostering environments where teachers feel confident saying, “I’m not sure,” “I need to look into that more,” or “Let’s experiment,” without worrying that vulnerability signals incompetence.

Moreover, curiosity aligns closely with what organizational theorists call a “growth mindset culture.” Carol Dweck’s foundational work shows that environments that encourage exploration, rather than performance alone, help individuals and organizations evolve more effectively (2006). If we expect students to grow from failure, try new strategies, and lean into curiosity and exploration, shouldn’t our leadership models do the same?

3 Guidelines for a Curious-Driven Culture 

Curiosity is more than just a personality trait or something we just do to buck back at the system. I will unabashedly admit that, in my formative years, I did a lot of questioning, but this was partly due to my punk-rocker, blue-haired, anti-conformist roots. I didn’t want to be like everyone else and wanted a different path in my affluent, suburban school.

Now that I am older and wiser, I’ve tempered my external non-conformity and my approach so that when I propose a change or ask questions, it is not just to against the status quo. My purpose is truly driven by the right reasons - to get better and serve those around me to the best of my ability.

1. Cultural grounding

It is all about the culture. Before getting all crazy with your questioning, try to make sure you’ve laid the groundwork. The culture must be primed for this sort of thinking. You must go slow to go fast with this, as you don’t want to scare those reticent, doe-like individuals who jump, skip, and hop out of the way when uncertainty pops its head up.

You can begin with your vision and/or your community agreements. Work into these integral cultural elements the sentiment you hope your staff embraces so that it may reverberate throughout the building. 

It also means creating systems that invite experimentation. Could teachers try a new formative assessment technique for just two weeks and come back to share what they noticed? Could we “pilot” a new morning routine in one grade level before expanding schoolwide?

Small acts of curiosity signal that innovation is not a top-down mandate - it’s a collaborative journey. Modeling this type of mindset will also be critical, which leads me to the next guideline. 

2. Questions, questions, questions

Curiosity starts with the questions we ask in meetings, in coaching sessions, in those five-minute hallway check-ins. Instead of “What went wrong?” we might ask, “What surprised you?” or “What are we not seeing yet?” We shift from being evaluators to being explorers - partners in wondering.

Suspend judgment and lean into curiosity. Modeling this approach is an incredible practice as we want our teachers to do the same with our students. 

3. Be patient

Of course this will take time. Rome was not built in a day and neither will your curiosity-driven culture. Improvement and innovation are not band-aid solutions but long-term commitments. 

When you are going through this process, you may also find yourself building trust, resilience, and optimism - three essential pieces to an effective, exceptional culture.

When staff know they are seen as thinkers, not just implementers, they step into their professional identities more boldly. They speak up. They invent. They lead.

One Last Thought

Leading with curiosity isn’t fluffy or the initiative du jour. It’s not optional. It’s the soil in which innovation grows. When we trade certainty for inquiry, we open doors to possibilities that may have otherwise remained hidden behind habits, traditions, and assumptions.

So the next time you're faced with a roadblock—be it a behavior system that no longer fits, or a team dynamic that feels stuck - try leading with the most powerful tool we have: a question.

References

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.

Gino, F. (2018). The business case for curiosity. Harvard Business Review. [https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-business-case-for-curiosity](https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-business-case-for-curiosity)

Kashdan, T. B., & Silvia, P. J. (2009). Curiosity and interest: The benefits of thriving on novelty and challenge. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 367–374). Oxford University Press.