Washington Office of Minority and Women’s Businesses Enterprises
CASE STUDY
“CuriosityBased didn’t just deliver an experience—they ignited a movement within our agency to lead with curiosity and respect.”
Client Background
The Washington Office of Minority and Women’s Businesses Enterprises (OMWBE) supports equity and inclusion across Washington State by empowering entrepreneurs and advocating for diverse business ownership. Their staff, ranging from new hires to long-time employees, wanted to deepen trust, strengthen communication, and reconnect to their shared purpose.
Challenge
The Washington Office of Minority and Women’s Businesses Enterprises (OMWBE) wanted to bring its growing team together for a one-day staff retreat that would feel authentic, grounding and energizing.
As the agency grew, seasoned staff needed tools to explore how different things can be true at the same time, get curious about different perspectives, and develop paths to accomplishing goals that make room for others without feeling there was a right or wrong way to approach the task.
For newer staff, the goal was to help them onboard quickly into a culture of genuine curiosity and mutual respect.
They didn’t want a generic team-building day. They wanted a shared experience that would spark lasting impact.
Goals:
- Foster stronger cross-team relationships
- Build a shared understanding of what respect looks like in daily work
- Equip staff with tools to sustain curiosity-driven collaboration
The CuriosityBased Approach
From the very beginning, CuriosityBased worked hand-in-hand with OMWBE to co-create something deeply personal to the organization.
Over five weekly meetings, the CuriosityBased facilitators met with the agency’s Culture Club to learn about challenges, needs, and aspirations in order to develop and refine the retreat content. Together, we crafted a day-long experience that was energizing, reflective, and relevant. We designed exercises to surface and debate differing perspectives and priorities on key topics while also reinforcing areas of alignment.
Each activity, from group reflections to small-group dialogues, was intentionally designed to:
- Challenge assumptions in a supportive way
- Invite vulnerability and empathy
- Inspire curiosity as a daily leadership and team member practice
What we delivered:
- Customized experiential activities grounded in the 7 Forms of Respect® framework
- Interactive group discussions that challenged assumptions and built empathy
- Reflection tools to help individuals apply curiosity in real-time interactions
- A short report with compilation of real-time poll results and recommendations on how to move forward
To extend the learning beyond the day itself, staff were also invited to explore the CuriosityBased online course, 7 Forms of Respect®, allowing team members who weren’t able to attend the retreat or joined the agency later to participate.
The Impact
The retreat became a turning point for the agency. What began as a single day of connection grew into a shared commitment to lead with curiosity and mutual respect.
Participants reported feeling:
- More connected across departments and roles
- Better equipped to handle differences and engage in open, candid conversations
- Inspired to keep curiosity alive in everyday interactions and collaboration
- For new team members the experience offered a fast track into OMWBE’s culture
- For veteran staff, it was a powerful reminder to make time to intentionally practice the elements of curiosity–self-reflection, build relationships, communicate clearly
The retreat inspired the team to continue the conversations beyond the session and ignited a movement within the agency to lead with curiosity and respect.
Client Testimonial
“CuriosityBased didn’t just deliver an experience, they ignited a movement within our agency to lead with curiosity and respect. Dr. Julie Pham is a masterful orator and storyteller whose decades of cross-cultural research and community leadership infuse every lesson with depth and accessibility. She has a rare talent for making complex concepts feel instantly applicable, and she brings vulnerability and wit in equal measure. Watching her in action, you can see why organizations turn to CuriosityBased to break down silos and spark innovation.”
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