Why bosses favor ‘yes-men’ over innovators
Research shows that supervisors often see bold thinkers as threats, even when it’s against their best interests.
Speaking up with bold ideas should earn the respect of supervisors and managers. However, in many teams, bold ideas create enemies, according to new research from Texas A&M University.
“Yes-men” go by many names: the “brown-noser,” the “bootlicker” or the “suck-up.” These types of team members will agree with anything a supervisor says to keep the peace and maintain the status quo. The bootlicker’s foil is the innovator, someone who challenges the status quo and presents bold ideas to adapt to changing work environments. While it may seem like common sense for leaders to empower the innovators, Stephen Courtright, professor of management at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School, said managers tend to do the opposite.
“Even though managers should encourage employees to speak up with new ideas, what they do — more often than not — is shut down these ideas. They end up micromanaging these innovators or isolating them.” he said. “The point of our study was to figure out why managers go against their own self-interests and stifle innovative thinkers within their group.”
Alongside co-authors Troy Smith from University of Oklahoma, Tobias Dennerlein from Purdue University and Bradley Kirkman from North Carolina State University,
Courtright and his team surveyed employees and supervisors in China to ensure there was no cultural bias in his research. They also set up a laboratory study in the United States where supervisors were given fictional scenarios and questioned on their reactions.
“We asked the employees questions like, ‘How welcoming is my voice here in this group?’ and, ‘Does my supervisor respond well to my voice?’ Then, we asked the supervisors, ‘When they speak up, do you find this employee to be threatening or more aligned with your goals?’” he said. “Our research was done with different cultures in mind, yet the results stayed the exact same.”
Courtright and his team found that managers often see new employees who offer up innovative ideas as threats because they see them as challenging their authority. The result, they found, can be compared to a fight or flight response.
“The supervisor may engage in fight mode when they view that employee as a threat by isolating them, shutting them down or undermining them. Or, they may engage in flight mode by disengaging or removing them from the conversation. Either way, it disempowers those individuals,” he said. “On the other hand, supervisors tend to see yes-men as more aligned with their goals or more loyal, so they may trust them more with certain initiatives.”
Markets are constantly changing, but teams dominated by bootlickers often stagnate. Courtright said the natural consequence of shutting down innovation is a team that can’t survive a changing work environment.
“At some point, you could very well lose your jobs because you’re no longer adapting. That’s where empowering the boat rockers has its advantages. It helps prepare teams for the challenges and changes ahead,” he said. “If you’re content with the status quo, you’ll always stay where you’re at and, frankly, that won’t cut it in the future.”
If innovative employees want to make their voices heard in the workplace, Courtright said they should consider actions that make them appear less threatening to managers.
“It’s hard to change human nature, but there are ways for employees to act within the constraints of human nature as they present themselves. We found in our study that employees can take certain actions to reduce the amount of threat that supervisors feel,” he said. “This includes helping a manager with his or her tasks. Just by offering to take on some workload, a supervisor is much less likely to view the employee as threatening, and this helps your ideas land better.”
Courtright said managers should also stay aware of when ego is getting in the way of progress in a team setting. In doing so, they can make space for bold ideas that could encourage team flexibility and growth.
“Managers can reframe their state of mind when employees are offering ideas. Maybe this employee really does have the group’s interests as their first priority. So if you can align those interests, then you’re more likely to listen to them and they become less of a threat,” he said.
