Listening to the 2008 (Is innovation withering on the vine?) talk from Judy Estrin she made a very interesting point my none managing brain never thought of.
when you ask a question judgmentally you will get a different answer
than when you ask it openly. Example: "When will XYZ be finished?" vs
"what are you working on and what obstacles are you facing?".
The former sounds more critical and judging which leaves you feeling a
bit tainted, where as the latter is more like someone wanting to see you
succeed.
I've had excellent managers ask me both of these questions. Can you guess which one I got along with better? :)
Another point in Judy's ETL talk is that curiosity is linked to innovation. If you stifle curiosity you're stifling innovation.