3 Ways Coach-Like Curiosity Helps Individual Contributors

Organizations are getting flatter. 

According to Gartner’s recent predictions, “Through 2026, 20% of organizations will use AI to flatten their organizational structure, eliminating more than half of the current middle management positions.”

On the one hand, it’s promising: more autonomy and opportunities to engage deeply and directly with the work. On the other hand, fewer layers means fewer people to translate ambiguity, bridge silos, or offer feedback and coaching. 

That puts new pressure on individual contributors: the daily doers, culture-makers, and quiet leaders of your organization. They may not have formal authority, but they’re often the glue that holds teams together and the engine that moves work forward. In many cases, they’re where change begins.

In this moment of shifting org charts and uncertainty, individual contributors might be the key not just to responding to change but to leading through it. Because when you support them to move beyond technical expertise—improving their abilities to collaborate, lead, and self-manage—you’re strengthening the entire organization. You’re investing in the resilience and adaptability of all your people.

And it starts with a skill that fits right into the flow of work: Coach-Like Curiosity.

1. Improves Collaboration

There’s a common misconception that individual contributors mostly work alone. In reality, they’re one of the few team members who touch the whole organization, regularly jumping in and collaborating across departments. Doing this well requires trust and understanding.

While that can’t be built overnight, Coach-Like Curiosity helps people slow down just enough to ask better questions, surface expectations, and catch confusion before it derails the works. When practiced over time, this creates a pattern of strong collaboration.

In Practice: A project manager is launching a new intranet across the organization. It’s a big effort, with contributions from nearly every department.

At the beginning of the project, he asks each main stakeholder in the room, "What does success look like here for you?"

It’s a way to open up the conversation beyond the project charter. He soon uncovers a mismatch between what the CEO's office wants and what the IT can realistically deliver. 

By getting clear on outcomes now, the path there will be a lot smoother.  

2. Supports influence without authority

Your people don’t need a title to lead. And, increasingly, they won’t have one.

Curiosity helps individual contributors understand what matters to others, so they can build trust, navigate competing needs, and influence across teams and roles.  It shifts the dynamic from persuasion to shared purpose.

In Practice: A data analyst is asked to weigh in on a cross-functional project on customer experience. Marketing is focused on brand consistency, while operations is worried about service delays.

Instead of jumping in with recommendations, she starts by asking each group, “How are you seeing this?” 

Just hearing the answers shifts the tone because people feel seen. When the analyst later shares her data-backed proposal, she connects it directly to what each team cares about and closes with “How does this land for you?”

The result is that people feel heard, the proposal resonates, and the team moves forward with shared clarity.

3. Self-management

Individual contributors don’t always have someone handing them directions. Even when they do, it may arrive late, unclear, or incomplete.

That’s where Coach-Like Curiosity becomes a powerful tool for self-management. It gives people the ability to pause, get clear on what’s really going on, and take thoughtful action—even in the absence of perfect information. Over time, it doesn’t just reduce reactivity; it helps individual contributors become better direct reports and stronger collaborators, the kind of colleagues others want to work with.

In Practice: A frontline team member hits a blocker: a task was handed over with no context, and their manager is in meetings all day. Frustration starts to bubble. 

They pause. Breathe in for four counts, hold for four, then exhale for four.

Then they ask: “What’s the real challenge here for me?”  Followed by: “And what else?”

They realize the real challenge isn’t the task itself, it’s that they don't understand how it connects to the bigger picture.

So they check the project channel and find an earlier message from the manager that explains the broader goal. That gives them just enough clarity to move forward and follow up later with their manager, with a calm, focused question.

Whether we’re talking about a project manager, data analyst, or frontline team, individual contributors hold teams together, often modeling how to collaborate, communicate, and problem-solve.

As organizations flatten and evolve, their role becomes even more important. With the right tools, they can step up to fill the gaps caused by thinning middle management and endless change. 

When we support them with Coach-Like Curiosity, we create clarity, confidence, and connection across the organization. That’s leadership—with or without the title. That’s what empowers people to do their best work.

Ready to Equip Your Individual Contributors?

Coach-Like Curiosity is a practical skill your people can use right away—in conversations, collaboration, and decision-making. When individuals grow, teams grow. And when teams grow, organizations transform.

Explore how The Coaching Habit can help your people stay curious a little longer and lead from wherever they are. If you want to discuss what this might look like at your organization, book a time to chat with our team.