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INNOVATION, ENTERPRISE, AND INITIATIVE 365

and to limit their contribution to only what they are told to do. And then these
managers have the audacity to ask what they can do to stimulate and motivate
initiative? Balderdash!

Where the problem exists, the root of the problem, I believe, lies with these
managers themselves. We can point to two types of behavior that permeate the
(nonstimulating) manager personality.

First is the necessity to “be the boss.” “I’ll tell you just what to do and what not
to do. And you will do as I say because I am the boss and I can hurt you if you
challenge me.” It’s the power thing.

The other debilitating behavioral trait is sort of the opposite. It is fear. In times
past, many managers rose through the ranks because of their apparent ability to
direct others to perform the work (coupled sometimes with cronyism and office
politics). But they may not have had the greatest technical strength in the areas in
which they manage. Some of these managers, those that are not psychologically
healthy, live in constant fear of their underlings, who may show them up. They
lack confidence in themselves and are afraid that their people might exhibit
greater knowledge than theirs. It often becomes a control issue. The manager
limits the reach of the subordinate in order to keep things from getting out of a
range that can be controlled.

So, because of these two behavioral traits, we often find managers who pre-
vent initiative rather than stimulate it. Under such an environment, there is also
the tendency to be risk averse. Hence, innovation is likely to be suspect rather
than encouraged.

I can provide an illustration of just such a risk averse situation. A company
wanted to supplement their primary project management software capability with
a low-end package. They narrowed the choice down to two products. One was
clearly the better technological solution. However, the second one was from a
source that furnished the current tool set. It was decided that the latter would be
selected, because no one would question that choice (it was a risk-free decision).

If we are to have psychologically healthy managers, we must look for behavior
that is different from what I just described.

We need to replace the parent-child relationship with a peer-to-peer relation-
ship. The manager may be boss because of the bureaucratic structure of the orga-
nization, and because there has to be someone to be responsible to the next level
of management. But that doesn’t mean that the subordinate must be treated as an
underling. That doesn’t mean that the subordinate should not be respected
equally to anyone else.

The model that I prefer is nicely defined by Edgar Schein, as the Psycho-
logical Contract.