Creative Leadership Processes in Project Team Development: An Alternative to Tuckman's Stage Model

We propose that theories of project team development and of creativity can be integrated into a new conceptual framework. The framework proposes two structural barriers that bear on team performance, and modifies the well‐established team development model of Tuckman. Creative leadership is suggested as an important means of breaching the barriers. Its differentiating feature seems to be its effectiveness in establishing protocols that sustain the creative efforts of team members. We have designated the protocols ‘benign structures’. Empirical evidence is provided from a range of studies of project teams in industrial settings.