10 ways weak managers stifle innovation

I found this interesting article on Forbes. The 1o ways weak managers stifle innovation can be summed up as follows:

1. Pushing employees to achieve daily, weekly and monthly goals
2. Constraining employees who have big ideas
3. Rewarding uniformity and metrics
4. Pitting employees against one another
5. Shuting down independent thought
6. Rewarding the achievement of numeric goals
7. Keeping employees out of high-level vision and strategy conversations
8. Being too afraid of their higher-ups
9. Punishing employees who take risks
10. Thinking a good day is when nothing breaks or goes wrong

I’m usually indifferent to lists that summarize the ills of organizations, although I am guilty of doing this myself. But this particular list resonates closely with my experiences in Higher Education.

It is difficult to accept that managers supposedly who are mandated with increasing HE innovation would use such tactics, consciously or otherwise. But they do.