The CIPD defined the behaviours HR practitioners need to exhibit in their HR profession map.

Curious is defined as an active interest in the internal/external environment, continuous professional development and improvement of self and others at both the organisational and individual levels. Curiosity is opened minded with a bias to learn and self enquire. I want to focus on ability to self enquire.

Interestingly the CIPD in it's Spring review of the function reported that in a survey of 146 senior practitioners that it was this behaviour we performed least well when compared to the other behaviours. (we are best at collaborating). I think I recall hearing a presentation at last years CIPD annual conference on research undertaken by the consultancy Bridge that showed that our peers in other disciplines such as finance and marketing said as profession we lacked curiosity. As part of my research for this blog (yes I did some research!) I sourced the help of the research team of the CIPD who directed to a blog on this subject, only for me to discover no one had commented! A blog on is HR curious, and no one comments! It must tell you something.

So let me share with you my personal observations. I speak/ attend a lot at corporate and CIPD events on all matters pertinent to HR. I always ask how many attendees have visited a customer/client in the last 12 months. I never get more than more than 5% of the audience. If I ask questions about turnover, and margin, again the vast majority of the audience don't know. Is it a case we don't take the time to find out. Is there a perception that such customer and financial information isn't relevant to our jobs and therefore we don't need to know.

Or is it something much more fundamental . Again some possible and controversial observations. Do we lack self confidence? Is this a factor that the majority of the profession are women? Whilst recognising the danger of sweeping generalisations females are notoriously reluctant to self promote. Incidentally the boys in my audiences also don't appear to be any more forthcoming so I presume they also don't know the answers to my questions. Is it a case we don't ask the question because we are frightened to show our ignorance?

Is it a function that the vast majority of HR professionals started their career in administrative support functions? CIPD research the spring edition of Insight revealed from a population of 2266 HR professionals 39% came from support, 34% from customer service and only 18% sales and 8% marketing. Still I am not convinced either explanation satisfactorily explains the lack of curiosity.

Is it a factor that we are prone to collaborate? Do we avoid competition or conflict? Is it just case of we just don't get out enough? We stay within our silo, reluctant to self market. Is there some deep routed limiting belief around "empty vessels make the most sound? ". It's just not the done thing. Interestingly I have lost count of the number of times I have heard derogatory comments about the propensity of David Fairhurst, HRs most influential for the 4th year running, to self promote.

Is it the fault of the CIPD? The curriculum doesn't encourage questions around the wider issues of running a business outside the orbit of HR. Would we all be better served if we got an MBA?

So what's the answer. I honestly don't know. If pushed I think it's a factor of all things I have listed to a greater or lesser extent. What I do know that we will continue to struggle as a profession, be taken seriously by the rest of the business unless we understand the business. To understand the business you have to ask questions. You need to be curious.

Answers on a postcard. I will measure our curious propensity by the number of comments this blog generates. Go on surprise me!