Initiative: Don’t Kill It--Everyone Loses

Q. I’m really discouraged. My boss has always expected me to take charge and act more independently. But yesterday, I wasn’t able to make an appointment for him and he said, “So you had a job to do and you failed.” I was shocked, and am reluctant to take more initiative for fear of getting criticized again. What’s going on?—Donna W.

A. Your boss has done you a favor, because now you see what he’s really like: someone with character flaws he’s probably been hiding—insecurity, control, and a mean streak. (If he didn’t have these characteristics, and his outburst reflected some great pressure he was under, he would have immediately apologized, sat down with you, and confirmed what a good job you were doing, and how much he valued you.) Things were fine until you make a mistake—then you got zapped.

Now that you know that one of his talents is to kill initiative quickly, be on guard. Watch for other comments like:

“That’s pretty good, coming from you—I mean your being so new to the office.”

“I read your little report. Not bad. I’ll show you how we can fix it.”

“Did you do the best you could? Are you sure?”

People like your boss have a huge list of initiative-killers to choose from. Keep

this list by your desk, and every time you hear something that sounds like one of these statements, you can just check it off—knowing that this person is a bully—someone who’d like to stifle your attempts to empower yourself:

• We tried it before; it didn’t work.

• That's not your job.

• That's not how we do it here.

• It's impossible.

• That's a stupid idea.

• Is this your idea of a good report?

• I don't think that's important.

• We don't have time right now.

• That sounds crazy to me.

• You always…you never…

• I can’t believe you made that mistake.

• Why aren’t you listening to me?

• You haven’t followed directions.

• I expected more from you than this.

• When you’re here longer, you’ll know better.

More Invisible Fences

A good example of how initiative-killing works is with the invisible fence system installed to keep pets in a yard. The system usually works something like this: An electric line is buried a few inches in the soil to mark the boundaries of the yard, and electrified. Little flags are placed about six feet apart above the line. A special collar is placed on the pet and the owner walks the pet around the property—up to the boundary. When the pet gets close to the wire, it feels a small click or tiny shock. If the pet goes any closer, the shock gets a little stronger (second warning). Still closer: the zap is really strong (third warning). It takes only a few zaps, and associating them with the little flags, to make the pet stay away from the flags. Then the owner can start removing the flags a few at a time, and the pet will avoids landmarks that were near the flags—trees, a shed, a birdbath. The pet has been trained to enjoy the property, but not cross over the boundaries.

Good managers politely but clearly set boundaries for employees, such as budgets, policies, and procedures. This lets their people act like partners: they can act freely, but within boundaries. But some managers don’t set boundaries until the employee does something he or she doesn’t like; then they zap the employee. This is like turning the pet loose in the electrified yard without any guidance—without any flags to warn them away from the shocks. When the pet moves too close to a boundary, it gets zapped. It changes direction and gets zapped again. Without the flagged boundaries, the pet learns that any movement away from the center of the yard is likely to result in getting zapped. So the pet stays in the center of the yard, and doesn’t move very much. Why should it? Every time it ventures too far, it gets zapped. The safest thing to do is not move.

Employees who get zapped without warning are likely to react the same way: do the minimum—and exactly what’s asked—and no more. And why not? They know that if they take any initiative, they’re likely to get zapped. Then their managers say, “How come these people aren’t motivated? Why don’t they show more initiative? Maybe we should send them to a program on empowerment.”

Of course, when the employees return from the training program, they still act the same way, because they still get zapped. The manager’s reaction? “Must be a bad training program.”