Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Scarcity seems to have replaced necessity as the mother of invention in today’s organizations.

Far too many managers believe that depriving projects of resources will inspire innovation. While that’s true sometimes, you’re better off using constraints rather than starvation. The human brain reacts to stimuli, so while a blank sheet can terrify, one or two constraints can stimulate.

Experiment with introducing a clearly defined problem and an urgent need. But, don’t create false urgency by refusing to fund a project. The team you are asking to innovate shouldn’t have to waste its creative energy scrambling to find resources.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Necessity, not Scarcity, is the Mother of Invention” by Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.