The importance of professional curiosity

By Samantha Jury-Dada, Managing Consultant

Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking: “Today, I am going to be uncurious at work.”  Yet most of us who have worked in social care can recall a case that made us wonder why those involved failed to look beyond what was being presented at the time and dig deeper.

I’ve spent ten years working in public service transformation and my career has been marked by a common thread: responding to people whose lives could have been dramatically altered earlier by professional curiosity.

I will never forget working as a strategic domestic abuse manager in a local authority, making the case for investment in evidence-based specialist health provision. Facts and statistics made less impact to an A&E board than the case of a woman who had presented with significant internal trauma. Accompanied by her partner, she explained this was the result of falling off a horse. Months later, living in a refuge as a high-risk victim of domestic abuse, she asked her support worker: “Why did nobody at the hospital take me to one side? If anyone had asked, I would have told them the truth.”

When faced with this real life example, the senior doctors in the hospital were horrified, but acknowledged that they too could have missed the opportunity to discover this abuse given the demands of the job and the environment of A&E. It’s a shocking example but unfortunately common. The recent resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, following the Makin review findings that he demonstrated a ‘distinct lack of curiosity’ over child abuse allegations within the church, highlights the importance of tenacity and professional curiosity at every level of an organisation, from frontline professionals through to senior leaders. 

We can learn a lot from these examples when we look at the challenges facing children’s services. Professional curiosity is not only important for safeguarding outcomes but vital at the other end of the spectrum too, in order to ensure commissioned services are actually being delivered according to the contract terms. The power of a strong commissioning and brokerage function combined with a tenacious social worker can be the difference between children receiving just the minimum standard of care or outstanding support catered to the needs of that individual. Beyond the humanity at stake there is also efficiency - given that local authorities are paying for high-end ‘complex’ and ‘high need’ placements, they should ensure that they are getting what they pay for.

A requirement to apply professional curiosity is often confused with ‘trusting your instincts’. But sometimes, there are not enough warning signs from the information being presented to be concerned. True professional curiosity is asking questions when it seems that there are no questions to be answered. It’s having pride in what you do. And it is about holding your practice to a high standard. The mantra I work to is always: ‘Have I asked enough questions to give myself assurance?’ 

To enable this approach, local authorities need to ensure they have the basics right - a single practice model across children’s services, balanced case loads, well supported newly qualified social workers and value placed on learning and development delivered through a mixture of peer training, leadership from the principle social worker and where required, external provision.

But even with these enabling conditions, ultimately, professional curiosity is dependent on individuals. 

Responding to the consequences of a failure to investigate may have been a painful constant in my career but it has been exceptionally rewarding to work with children’s services. If you are interested in developing a curious workforce, a culture and a service that can improve outcomes for children and families, please get in touch.