Implicit in the project form is the notion that the team structure facilitates the production of a task outcome under non-routine conditions. TheWe 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.

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Claims have been recently made for a seven‐factor model that ndifferentiated performance levels in project teams. We have tested the model with results from a self‐report inventory. Forty‐four opportunities for data collection were taken and a total of 1103 useable inventories collected from participants across European, Asian and African locations. Teams reported on were predominantly work‐related. All seven factors correlate as predicted with leadership and team‐performance criteria. We report results supporting the original proposition that team effectiveness, including its creativity, can be interpreted as arising through leadership interventions of a transformational kind, which impact on a set of theoretically‐derived team factors.

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Articles published in Creativity and Innovation Management volumes 1-9 (1991-2000) have been examined for their contributions to understanding of leadership as a process contributing to creativity and innovation. The study reveals nine overlapping themes, within each of which leadership plays a part in the production of creative insights or innovative productivity. However, for many authors, leadership remains an implicit factor within their models of change. We suggest that leadership, creativity and innovation are knowledge systems which can be more closely integrated for improved theory and practice within communities of practice.