Coaching for Curiosity discusses how curiosity is the central tool in coaching for superperformance. It argues that coaching should not focus on solving problems, but rather on personal transformation through curiosity. When people are curious, their brilliance emerges and they gain clarity, which leads to better performance over time, or superperformance. The document advocates coaching that elicits curiosity in others in order to unleash their intrinsic motivation and potential.

1. Coaching for Curiosity
T H E M A G I C O F N O T K N O W I N G
Greystone Guides
Professional Business Coaching

2. © Copyright 2007, Greystone Guides All Rights Reserved. This document is provided for informational purposes only
and the information herein is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors herein to Greystone Guides.
Greystone Guides does not provide any warranties covering and specifically disclaims any liability in connection with this
document. All other company and product names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be
trademarks of their respective owner companies.

3. Page 3 Coaching for Curiosity
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."
(letter to Curt Seeling, March 1952) Albert Einstein
“We carry within us the wonders we seek without us.”
Sir Thomas Brown
COACHING FOR PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
Quality theorist W. Edwards Deming often remarked that "personal transformation" was at the
heart of learning to operate in a new way, in the way required for the optimization of people and
companies. The question left to leaders, organizational effectiveness people, and functional
managers is, "How do we create these personal transformations and the collective commitment
necessary to activate this new awareness?" Each leader must invent a unique approach, since no
existing model will fit the precise requirements of every organization. The ability to do so rests
squarely in the leaders’ ability to coach people in a way that causes these personal
transformations, or on a human level, what quality people describe as 2nd order changes, changes
that transform the entire system.
Curiosity is the central tool in Coaching for Superperformance. Without it, coaching is just doing
what we have always done to persuade, coerce or control people—just using a sexier
name. Doing this does not address the high-level issue or the root condition that has caused the
problem. Coaching for Superperformance is not coaching to fix problems. Coaching for
Superperformance is coaching for something else. Coaching for Superperformance liberates the
brilliance, desire, intrinsic motivation and intelligence of the individual. It is the secret weapon
that can release the Superhero in everyone.
“Everyone is the Picasso of something.”
Martin Sage
The Coaching Myth
The myth about coaching is that it is supposed to solve problems. Coaching does not solve
problems. It does not motivate, instruct, or create accountability. The fatal flaw in most coaching
processes or systems is that there is a missing, essential component, the part that shifts the
interaction from a problem-solving process to a transformational experience. Coaching for
Superperformance is not about the problem. Coaching for Superperformance is fundamentally
about creating clarity. Clarity within the individual, clarity across the culture. Coaching for
Superperformance operates out of the overarching belief that people are fundamentally brilliant,
and the simplest, most graceful and respectful access to that brilliance is curiosity. When people
recognize their inherent brilliance, where their light comes on, then they will get clarity.
In his bestselling book Good to Great, Jim Collins talks famously about getting people in the
right seat on the bus. While it is true getting people in the right seats can create better
companies, we say that people sitting in the right seat is good, but the only way to create a truly
Superperforming organization is for people to sit in the seat they want to sit in -- the seat that
allows them to use their desire to leverage their unique talents and contribute in a meaningful
way. Furthermore, if the seat they want to sit in does not exist on that bus, well it's absolutely

4. Page 4 Coaching for Curiosity
necessary that they get off that bus and find the one with the seat they do want to sit in.
Again, finding the right seat is 1st order change; finding the desired seat is 2nd order change.
What is Curiosity?
Most dictionaries define curiosity as a disposition to inquire or investigate, gratify the mind with
new information or objects of interest. In present theory and research, curiosity is defined as a
positive-emotional-motivational system associated with the recognition, pursuit and self-
regulation of novel and challenging opportunities. In coaching for Superperformance, curiosity
is much easier to define. In the role of the coach, curiosity is navigating the unknown, not having
to have the right answer and operating in a way that elicits the curiosity of the coached. Notice
that none of these definitions includes coming to any conclusions or having the right answers.
Familiarity is the opposite of curiosity. Operating out of familiarity is the biggest single mistake
leaders and coaches make when dealing with individuals. Familiarity means I already know
where you are coming from and I already know where you are going. Familiarity leaves no room
for novelty. Perhaps this is why familiarity breeds contempt. If you have contempt in any
personal or professional relationships we can say without a doubt that in those relationships
curiosity is lacking.
The problem with familiarity is that it limits innovation and the emergence of people by saddling
them with the past. In other words, familiarity predicts future performance based on past
performance, which almost always guarantees that future performance will mimic past
performance. This is appropriate for the performance of processes and systems (predictability),
but not so for people. Curiosity allows for the possibility of different performance, not based on
the past but based on the future, based on innovation and potential.
Coaching for ‘performance management’ and problems obligates the coachee to continue similar
performance and actually minimizes transformation through successive approximations toward
conceptual goals. Coaching for potential and desire allows for divergent thinking and unlimited
performance, resulting in discontinuous leaps in performance and speed of results. This is one
reason why affirmative inquiry has so much cachet; it is based on wins, not losses.
Most companies insist that they want their employees to innovate. But ask the average person at
work if they are paid to innovate or to be right. Nine out of ten will say “Oh, I am paid to be
right.” How do they get this message? In the everyday workplace they are punished for the
mistakes it takes to innovate and rewarded for getting it right the first time.
It is impossible to innovate and be right every time. Just ask Edison.
So, in our organizations we inadvertently squash people’s curiosity and brilliance and thus their
innovation by creating an environment of fear of making mistakes. The person who never made a
mistake never tried anything new. In the absence of curiosity people are subjected to this double
bind in almost every organization across the country.
Superperforming organizations do not bind their people in this way. They allow for mistakes and
have a culture that allows the system to learn from them. They create an environment of trust,
not fear.

5. Page 5 Coaching for Curiosity
“The only sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to learn faster than your
competitors.”
Arie de Geus
How Does Curiosity Work?
If you are saying to yourself at this moment, "I know I am curious and innovative," that in itself
suggests a fundamental lack of curiosity. To the extent you think you understand that statement
you are not curious. True curiosity is not knowing, even when you think you do. Not knowing is
the only way to unleash the brilliance in others and allow the space for true personal
transformation to emerge, that process that Deming and others recognized as essential for the
optimization of organizations and people.
“People don’t need to be managed, they need to be unleashed.”
Richard Florida
Leading research on curiosity indicates that curiosity is a core emotion in animals and humans.
Much of the research in this area was influenced by the ideas of William James, father of
American Psychology, who regarded fear (anxiety), anger (rage), and curiosity as genuinely
instinctive. Influenced by Darwin, James observed that attention is a limited resource and that
individuals tend to focus on stimuli fostering excitement or personal meaning. In evolutionary
terms, attraction to novel stimuli is adaptive because it increases knowledge. Individuals with
strong curiosity have a specific advantage in life because attention is more fluid, and novel ideas,
objects, and relationships can be found, enjoyed, explored, and integrated into a continually
expanding self. In principle, these aspects of curiosity aid survival – for example, finding plants
with medicinal properties, increasing social resources, discovering new habitats.
Curiosity prompts proactive, intentional behaviors in response to stimuli and activity with the
following properties: novelty, complexity, uncertainty and conflict.
.
How Does This Influence the Emergence of Superperformance?
Coaching for Superperformance is founded in curiosity. In this new world, if you are not curious
or able to illicit curiosity in others, then you won’t have a viable coaching product or process and
cannot unleash the Superhero, the intrinsic motivation that exists (and is usually trapped)
in others. Once curiosity is engaged and clarity has been achieved, then the door to
Superperformance will spring wide open.
Curiosity causes Clarity.
Clarity creates Velocity.
Velocity = Better Performance.
Better Performance Sustained Over Time = Superperformance.

6. Page 6 Coaching for Curiosity

7. Page 7 Coaching for Curiosity
REFERENCES
1. Christopher Peterson and Martin E.P. Seligman, Character Strengths and Virtues A
Handbook and Classification, American Psychological Association, Oxford University
Press, 2004
2. Todd B. Kashdan, Paul Rose, and Frank D. Fincham, Curiosity and Exploration:
Facilitating Positive Subjective Experiences and Personal Growth Opportunities, Journal
of Personality Assessment, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 2004
3. Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . And Others Don’t,
Harper Collins, 2001
4. W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2002.

8. Coaching for Curiosity
ABOUT MATTISON GREY
Mattison Grey, M.Ed IAC-CC is the founder and President of Greystone Guides. She holds
a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Houston, and has been certified as a
master coach by the International Association of Coaches (lAC). Mattison is a seasoned
business consultant and executive and leadership coach, sales trainer, relationship skills
expert, and platform speaker. She has been catalyzing teams, individuals, and organizations
since 1997.
She has trained and coached police officers and cadets, entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, high
level executives and functional managers in a variety of organizations and settings. Her
current and past clients include executives from well known Fortune 500 companies, top
tier management consulting firms, major universities, prominent hea1thcare institutions, as
well as nonprofit and government agencies. Among others, she has coached groups and
project teams at Shell Oil Company, Igloo Corporation, The City of Houston, Amoco,
YMCA, GMAC, Aramark., The University of Houston, Rice University, and Pella
Windows and Doors. Mattison is a member of the International Association of Coaching
and a professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA).
In 2005 she began a collaboration with the University of Houston designed to develop and
deliver a peer coaching curriculum for broad deployment in organizations. That project
evolved into The University of Houston's Executive Coaching Institute, where Mattison
serves as the program coordinator and lead instructor. The program curriculum includes
coaching tools for formal and informal leaders, high performance, and goal achievement.
Mattison is serves as a Senior Advisor, Coaching Products, and Partner in Corpus Optima.
In this capacity she is responsible for the design and implementation of Corpus Optima's
products and services related to Coaching for Superperfomance.
She maintains a successful one-on-one and group coaching practice, leads live seminars in
a variety of related areas, and speaks frequently and passionately about coaching and the
emergence of people. She has written numerous professional articles and white papers and
is at work on a new book. Map to the Zone, examines Coaching as the core force behind
the next generation of distributed leaders, where the most successful people will be
those who can bring out the best in others. Mattison believes Coaching provides a powerful
framework to transform special knowledge and skills into focused relationships which
uncover, awaken, and catalyze the intrinsic motivation in all people at work.