A few years ago, I worked at a Fortune 500 company that established a new campaign called What am I curious about?
The tone was set by the senior executives and their goal was to get their employees to be curious about new approaches to work, new developments in technology and innovative business approaches to help the company's bottom line.
At the time it got me thinking, what was I curious about when I worked there?
I’m curious why I received a survey after every internal IT call I made?
I'm curious how seriously the survey results are evaluated?
I'm curious why the company wanted employees to take 5 and read about the latest company news when you had so much work to do, the last thing you wanted to do is take time out of your busy schedule and read something not necessarily aligned to your work. A longer work day may also add more time to your already long commute so less time may be spent with your family.
I'm curious why some company offices weren't more collaborative, instead, it often felt like management pitted many employees aganist one another.
I'm curious why corporate employees in most companies are only allowed to carry 5 vacation days over into the next year. I understand some employees saving tens of days and then carrying over 40 at a time, but why not allow 10 or 15 days, especially if an employee wants to travel for 4 - 6 weeks every so often?
I’m curious why the company didn't do a more depth job to learn people's skills and gifts and try to find positions that will utilize those assets. Making it a win-win for both the employee and employer.
I'm curious why so many older employees are still working in corporate America? Some, for the income and for others, health and life coverage.
I'm curious why certain employees, who used inferior telecommunications equipment continued to use said equipment even though they've been told repeatedly but several colleagues that they were hard to hear over the phone?
I'm curious why personality mattered in terms if you wanted to pitch an idea to your boss. If you're not well liked or a golden employee, it could be more challenging to get your boss to serious consider it.
I'm curious if my director ever realized he was not good at motivating employees. He may be proficient in his subject matter so the Peter Principle may apply here but that doesn't always translate to motivating or improving his employees performance. If this was the case, did his boss ever receive and act on this feedback?
I'm curious why managers and bosses regularly didn't reward individuals who were punctual, reliable and were valuable employees.
I'm curious why any idea I proposed which was accepted by my superiors ultimately meant that I had to work the idea even if my strengths were idea creation and streamlining different processes? Shouldn't certain ideas be carried through the process by those who are seasoned veterans who have a large company contact list to help expedite the process?
I'm curious why certain cube mates continued to have their mobile device alerts on audible so everyone nearby their cube could hear their alerts every 15 minutes.
I'm curious why my director would sometimes ask me to send my work as if he was checking on me as I sometimes worked remotely. The majority of the time my work disappeared (as if it went into a black hole) once it was sent to my manager but if wasn't exactly what he wanted, he wasn't shy about drilling me with his critical feedback. In other words, if my work wasn't aligned to his expectations, then it was my fault that I didn't understand his requirements regardless of how it was communicated.