In the prequel to Star Trek called simply Enterprise we learn that the Vulcans for all their superior intellect and rationality possessed no curiosity. They were very task oriented and focused. The humans wanted to explore space. The Vulcans said,”what for? “To see what’s out there” the Human starship commander replied. To which the Vulcans responded,” Nothing of interest”.
The relevance of this to organisations and their leadership is that they often express ,” surprise” when something major goes wrong or an audit reveals that the true picture is much more worrying than the leadership realised. “No one told us “, they say. The truth is they didn’t ask the right questions, they lacked curiosity.
I have come across this lack of curiosity many times. In managers responsible for running Homes for vulnerable people. Resulting in a culture of neglect and abuse. When the performance figures were always on or exceeding targets. Due to the figures being manipulated. When plausible explanations were provided for a lack of progress.
When in reality there was little likelihood of progress because issues remained unaddressed/unresolved. When the true situation was exposed the response from leadership/senior management was always, “ No one told us”. “We were too trusting of those in charge “, “ The technical stuff was so complicated only the experts understood it so we accepted their advice”.
The reality is that those ultimately accountable did not ask the right questions, probing questions that would expose the BS. They did not ask why so many falls, why such a high turn over of staff, why such high levels of absenteeism, why so few staff were qualified or had received training, why so many reports of violence against staff ? What was the impact of increased dependancy of those cared for ?
They did not query the fact that performance figures never dropped below the target and the majority were always just a little better than the previous year. They were happy to accept reassurances that whilst the situation had yet to change measure were in place to ensure it would. Even when mile stones were repeatedly missed and time scales frequently adjusted. They were too embarrassed to admit they did not understand the technical explanations. If they had only been more curious.
