How to kill initiative:

I know a guy who killed all the initiative in his company. He had not created an atmosphere that allowed people to tell the truth about what was really going on. His initial angry responses to issues being brought up made everyone cringe. Killed their initiative; killed their independent thought. This became a vicious cycle where they could no longer creatively solve problems, and he felt he had to do everything himself which added to his busyness and his stress and all those associated emotions.

This reminds me of when I was a girl and furious about whatever the problem of my day was - my father asked me to tell him about it. After hearing my story, I still remember how, instead of supporting me in my anger, he surprised me with his smiling response, "You've got to learn to control your emotions. Pretty hard to think straight when you're mad, isn't it?"

Here's the thing: Don't train your team to keep important information away from you. Be known for maintaining grace under fire.