Six Steps Toward Making a Team Innovative

This article suggests ways that managers can encourage creativity and innovation among project teams and project team members. The actions are based on research by Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile. She suggests that team leaders: 1) show confidence in the team; 2) ensure that communication among team members is open and free-flowing; 3) delegate enough management and/or task responsibility to team members; 4) provide appropriate resources; 5) make sure each team member has challenging tasks; and 6) apply the right amount of pressure and tension. These steps can be used for new product development efforts, as well as process improvement initiatives, reengineering teams, and other creative projects.