Corporations are increasingly focused on using innovation leadership to develop their competitive edge. As a result, they are finding ways to harness the creativity of their employees in many different areas of their organizations including entrepreneurial and research and development programs. These programs require innovation leaders at multiple levels to serve in roles such as change champions, innovation team leaders, middle management sponsors, and executive leaders. Innovation leaders are critical for success at all levels of the organization and during all phases of the innovation process. This chapter will discuss general characteristics of an innovation leader during different steps of the CREATE model. Innovation leadership competencies and leadership styles will be discussed relative to the innovation environment and the characteristics of followers.

Description

Various leadership styles have been shown to be effective in specific organizational cultures and an organization’s effectiveness has been shown to be partially dependent on its innovation leaders. For example, transformational leadership has been shown to be more effective for scientific R&D teams (Paulsen, 2013), because team members gain a sense of identity that leads to the adoption of more cooperative strategies (Paulsen, 2009). Individualists are more productive when working with transactional leaders, whereas collectivists are more productive working with a transformational leader (Jung, 1999). Therefore, innovation leaders must be able to adapt their leadership styles to match the culture and the type of employee. The previous chapter discussed the importance of different levels of innovations at the market level, organizational level, group level, and individual level. An analysis of effective innovation leadership within each of these levels can help to provide a framework through which the competencies of an innovation leader can be observed.

One purpose of a market level innovation is to impact the health and growth of the company. Market level innovations can also drive the emergence of a company. By focusing on market level innovations, innovation leaders can support strategic planning initiatives that help to maintain periods of growth and avoid decline. When an organization emerges, it focuses on establishing a vision for revolutionary change and generating new ideas that challenge the system. This period is full of uncertainty and chaos as the market innovation is being born. As the organization grows, there is increased focus on developing the capability to turn the market innovation into a successful product or service. Establishing an effective structure and building a culture of innovation is important during this period of the company’s growth. Once the organization has established a viable market position, it can invest in business development and capitalize on growth opportunities. During this period, Vicere (1992) cautions that a focus on centralized decision-making and increased control systems can have both positive and negative effects on the organization. However, the key to an organization’s survival is its ability to develop the flexibility to allow innovation leaders to operate at the emergence level to continually renew the organization.

Considering the organizational level, an innovation leader can focus on creating an organization that can consistently handle uncertainty. By consistently creating opportunities for more innovation, an organization opens itself up to more uncertainty as it diverts its resources to developing market level innovations. To facilitate this, innovation leaders can develop an organization that can adapt to maintain growth. Organic organizations may be better equipped to handle this type of uncertainty (Covin, 1990; Trott, 1998).

Innovation is all about people and innovation leaders need to recognize the importance of leading groups and developing individuals. They should foster employee creativity so that individuals can feel free to develop innovations. In many cases, innovations are the result of people solving problems. An effective innovation leader understands that people differ in their approach to solving problems. Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation theory (2011) provides insight into individuals’ preferred approaches to solving problems and illustrates how innovation leaders can use this information to impact the performance of teams and manage interpersonal relations based on these differences.

Kirton (2011) asserts that all humans are creative and solve problems, but our cognitive styles (our cognitive preferences for managing structure) differ from person to person. Kirton (2011) defines a continuum of cognitive style that extends from high Adaption (strong preference for more structure) on one end to high Innovation (strong preference for less structure) on the other end, with a full range of variations in between. People who are more adaptive tend to produce a sufficiency of ideas based more closely on, but stretching, existing agreed definitions of the problem and likely solutions. They prefer to analyze and develop these solutions in detail and proceed within the established theories, policies, and practices in their organizations. Much of their effort to change is focused on improving. In Kirton’s (2011) model, people who are more innovative are more likely to reconstruct the problem in the pursuit of change. They are more comfortable separating the current problem from its enveloping accepted thought, paradigms, and customary viewpoints. They are more likely to emerge with a less expected and potentially radical solution, and they are less concerned with improving than with doing things differently. Neither general approach and thus no position along the cognitive style spectrum is ideal, with each having its own advantages and disadvantages, all of which is critical for an innovation leader to understand. This framework demonstrates the importance of knowing the people you are leading well enough to determine effective leadership strategies and styles to ensure success in problem-solving activities and leading innovation. Innovations create progressive change, making innovation leadership a practice and an approach to change management. In each of the levels discussed in this section, it is change that encourages the innovation leader to make decisions, evaluate organizational effectiveness, and adapt leadership styles to successfully lead innovation within the organization.

Research foundations

Innovation leaders play a critical role in facilitating the development of innovations in an organization. They are able to provide an environment that is conducive for creativity to spark innovations and to also support and guide innovation in groups (West, 2003). Their influence is critical in helping to bring an innovation to the implementation stage of the innovation process (Mumford, 2004). Mumford (2004) suggests that the ability of a leader to facilitate creativity and innovation is dependent on the characteristics of the leader, including their technical and professional expertise, as well as creative thinking skills. Mumford (2004) concluded that future research was needed to examine leadership in creative ventures, as previous models developed for routine settings could not simply be applied to creative/innovative ventures (Elkins, 2003; Govindarajan, 2005; Hamel, 2011; Teece, 2009).

In order to discuss the competencies of innovation leaders, we must first define some key terms. Characteristics are the underlying attributes of an individual that drive their behaviors. Behaviors are an individual’s observable actions that are manifested as a result of the individual’s characteristics (Spencer, 1993). A competency is an area of knowledge or skill that is critical when performing a job function; it includes both knowledge and expertise. Individual competencies are built from underlying characteristics that enable a person to demonstrate the competencies associated within a particular job (Boyatzis, 1982; Spencer, 1993). A competency model includes the set of competencies needed for effective performance (Bartram, 2005) in a particular role or position. The following paragraphs describe the competency model of innovation leaders organized into ten categories (see Figure 2.1) as identified by Gliddon (2006).

Learning: Individual learning, organizational learning, and knowledge management have all been linked to innovation. Individual learning increases an organization’s knowledge base and can increase an innovation leader’s effectiveness. An innovation leader is also critical in supporting an organizational culture that facilitates individual and organizational learning and effective knowledge management. Gliddon (2006) identified the following expert, core, and supplementary competencies related to Learning:

Leading Groups and Teams: Once an innovation is identified, the ability to lead groups and teams is critical during innovation development, implementation, and adoption. Gliddon (2006) identified the following innovation leader competencies related to Leading Groups and Teams:

Energy Level and Motivation: In order for the innovation leader to promote an innovation effectively and to lead groups and teams during innovation development, implementation, and adoption, they must understand their own motivations and understand how to motivate others, while maintaining the necessary energy level required to be successful. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Energy Level and Motivation:

Management and Delegation: The innovation leader must be able to manage resources effectively, including people, budgets, and time. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies associated with Management and Delegation:

Communication, Interpersonal Skills, and Emotional Intelligence: To be effective, the innovation leader must have key interpersonal skills, well developed emotional intelligence, and be able to communicate their vision, seek support for the innovation, and direct followers through verbal, non-verbal, and written communication methods. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Communication, Interpersonal Skills, and Emotional Intelligence:

Commitment and Sense of Ownership: For successful innovation, leaders must be personally committed to projects that require innovation (Cacioppe, 2000) and have a sense of ownership. Leaders need to develop a culture of trust and formulate challenging goals that are clearly linked to a work unit, the organization as a whole, as well as their customer, and they must ensure that individuals in their organization have meaningful work objectives and goals that are clearly connected to the goals of the organization and needs of the customer. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Commitment and Sense of Ownership:

Creativity and Imagination: Innovation leaders must have an understanding of what creative employees value and be able to provide an environment that encourages new idea generation. The need for change often accompanies innovation, and the innovation leader must be a champion for change. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Creativity and Imagination:

Role Identity, Power, and Politics: The change that is often necessary to champion, develop, and implement innovation (whether the innovation is related to organizational processes or products and services) can initiate power struggles, as well as issues related to role identity, and can often lead to political challenges. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Role Identity, Power, and Politics:

Mission and Vision: The successful innovation leader is able to develop, support, and articulate the organization’s mission and vision, while aligning innovation efforts with the mission and vision. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Mission and Vision:

Understanding the External Environment: Bingham (2003) suggests that innovation leaders must have an understanding of the external environment in order to develop a successful business strategy. The external environment includes an organization’s competitors and market, as well as relevant governmental policies and regulations. Gliddon (2006) identified the following competencies related to Understanding the External Environment:

When using the competency model, the innovation leader may need to adjust his or her leadership style depending on the context in which they are operating. To be competitive, organizations have moved toward more interdisciplinary team structures to be able to respond with agility and manage change rapidly (Rosen, 2011). Leaders of innovation teams must be able to overcome unique challenges of creative interdisciplinary teams to promote collaboration (Hunter, 2011) using appropriate leadership styles (Hemlin, 2013). Innovation leaders in middle management are often critical to ensuring that an innovation is not a victim of the corporate immune system. These leaders help champion the innovation by ensuring the innovation fits within the core business, justifying the innovation to reduce resistance, reducing risk by spreading risk, pacing risk, and reducing uncertainty, and helping to resolve potential conflicts by anticipating and answering potential objections and barriers within the existing business (Vincent, 2005). Corporate leadership must value, identify, support, and reward innovation sponsors within middle management to ensure the success of their innovation programs. Upper management leadership significantly influences both product/market innovations and organizational innovations, and this influence can be socio-culturally specific (Soken, 2014). To be effective, upper management must work to remove barriers to innovation and to establish and share norms and values that are consistent with the vision, mission, and strategy of the organization and that foster and support innovation (Elenkov, 2005).

Application and implementation strategies

This section will align the competency model of innovation leaders presented in the previous section with the stages of the CREATE model. One category in particular, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, and Emotional Intelligence, includes competencies that are essential across all phases of the CREATE Model. To some extent, all categories in the competency model may include competencies that are pertinent within each step of the CREATE Model. Gliddon’s Competency Assessment of Innovation Leaders can be administered to employees and is an excellent way to develop innovation leaders. The following section highlights the competency model categories that are most pertinent to each phase of the CREATE model.

Capture Data: The innovation leader captures data from internal and external sources to understand the market and to provide information for new innovations. The competencies related to individual and organizational learning and knowledge management are important during the capture data stage of the CREATE model to ensure that the right innovations are being pursued in terms of the organization’s expertise, mission, and vision, as well as the external environment, such as market conditions. Individual learning competencies relate to the ability of the innovation leader to identify appropriate innovations, drawing on their own curiosity, technical expertise and business acumen, and to their ability to effectively collect and evaluate the necessary information needed to make strategic business decisions. Successful innovation leaders keep up to date on market trends and they develop an information network, relying on the cultivation of external professional relationships that aid in the collection of data. In order to do this, the innovation leader must ensure that the organizational environment helps to facilitate organizational learning and knowledge management by supporting learning and development of their employees, experimentation, risk-taking, and a tolerance of failure. There are also many communication competencies that are critical to the innovation leader’s ability to collect data from multiple sources, both internal and external to the company. The leader must also be able to cultivate a culture of trust and sense of loyalty to ensure that they are receiving honest input. This is often achieved through the implementation of ethical standards. As there is a direct link between competencies in the Learning category and the Mission and Vision and Understanding of the External Environment categories, during this step, the innovation leader must also have critical competencies in these two categories as well.

Review Best Practices: Benchmarking competitors or partners helps the innovation leader determine solutions that will best impact innovation development. These decisions require the motivation to want to improve, a commitment to improving, and an ability to think in unconventional ways to utilize benchmarking information for unique applications to lead innovation. This stage provides opportunities to unleash creative thinking based on the wealth of information coming in. During the Review Best Practices stage, the innovation leader must conduct an in-depth needs analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in their industry and organization. They must ensure that the organization has a well-defined mission and vision and be able to support and communicate the mission and vision effectively. The innovation leader’s understanding of the external environment helps to ensure that the appropriate innovations are developed based on the strategic plans of the organization. They must have a solid understanding of their organization that comes from regular communication with various departments, including finance, accounting, and marketing, as well as investors. The innovation leader must keep up to date on market trends and have knowledge regarding how their competitors do business. The innovation leader must employ analytical thinking to identify critical issues, understand complex problems, generate varied solutions to the problems, and reflect on past performance to help guide future challenges.

Evaluate the Choices: This step requires the innovation leader to determine the choices at hand based on the data. Market level innovations may require a choice to embark on a value-added innovation for a current product or a disruptive innovation. Organizational level innovations may require adapting new processes, re-organizing, or implementing strategies to improve the organization. Whatever the team has discovered in previous steps, the innovation leader must identify and present the choices in a professional but influential manner, recognizing that these choices could represent significant change within the organization. Communication is key in this phase, as an innovation leader must provide appropriate communication based on the collected data and the benchmarking analysis.

Critical competencies needed in the Evaluate Choices stage can be found across many of the categories discussed above. The innovation leader must be able to anticipate the applicability of an innovation to the organization and have the business acumen to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the innovation. To make informed choices, the innovation leader must be able to analyze and interpret the data collected in the previous stage and use their analytical problem solving skills to make informed choices. The innovation leader should participate in the development and implementation of the organization’s long-term strategy. They should encourage and utilize systems thinking, capitalizing on their own value analysis and strategic planning skills. When making choices, the innovation leader must be able to identify the strengths of their team members, as well as the organization, in order to capitalize on those strengths and evaluate weaknesses that may need to be addressed. When evaluating choices, the innovation leader must be able to see beyond what is expected, with their sight set on the extraordinary, by understanding the difference between what is and what can be.

Apply the Innovation: This phase requires an innovation leader to form the best course of action in developing the innovation. It is here that the innovation leader faces uncertainty as the innovation is being developed and tested. In this step, it is important for organizations to be able to adapt to the needs of the innovation. An innovation leader needs to re-emphasize the commitment to the innovation and apply management principles as the innovation moves into a full-scale project. It is at this stage that the innovation leader can capitalize on their own technical and professional expertise to help influence the strategic direction of the innovation. They must be able to identify problems early, recognize that potential solutions may come from any level, and actively seek input from staff. Innovation leaders may learn that innovations are not easily making their way through highly controlled processes. When necessary, the innovation leader must be a champion for change. They should foster an environment that encourages team members to experiment with new ideas and enthusiastically support opportunities for process improvement. The innovation leader should possess humility and recognize that solutions may not be easily recognized or obtained; they cannot be afraid to seek advice from subordinates. As the innovation is applied, the innovation leader will often be tasked with resolving disputes and establishing agreement on actions to pursue and will need to depend on their negotiation skills to be successful.

The innovation leader may find that the individuals they are leading require different leadership strategies to make an impact in creative and problem-solving environments. In this stage, the innovation leader will rely on several competencies related to leading groups and teams. They must establish rapport with their team, communicating a shared vision, recognizing the value added by the team, and celebrating their successes. The innovation leader must be able to capitalize on the strengths of their team members, manage their expectations, and empower individuals to make decisions and the team to generate solutions. During this stage, the innovation leader must be able to establish a sense of urgency and be ambitious, passion driven, and have perseverance and tenacity. To be successful, the innovation leader should possess project management competencies, including planning, time management, and the ability to delegate, and effectively utilize available resources, encourage accountability, and balance team and individual priorities while motivating others. Communication competencies are key in successfully applying the innovation.

Train the Team: This stage moves from significant uncertainty to more structured processes, providing a level of certainty. The innovation, having passed pilot testing, moves into production, and marketing strategies are implemented. An innovation leader continues to rely on strong management and delegation techniques to manage the project, but also focuses on established team dynamics to ensure optimal environments for solving problems as the innovation moves out into the market. As the innovation moves from development to production, new problems may arise and new team members will be assigned. Many of the same competencies that were important during the Apply the Innovation stage are also important during the Train the Team stage. The innovation leader must once again anticipate and identify problems before they arise. They need to encourage the production team to provide input and utilize their problem-solving abilities to evaluate solutions. During this stage, the innovation leader may capitalize on their creativity by developing new approaches or systems that may be needed during production that either do not exist or are outside of their current experiences. They may also facilitate the creative processes of their peers and subordinates to do the same. The innovation leader must also champion any needed change, relying on their own flexibility, particularly concerning any needed process improvements. In this regard, they must rely on their own salesmanship to bring others on board in accepting the innovation and any needed changes in organizational processes by establishing credibility for the vision of the innovation.

The innovation leader must have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the production team and address any needed training. They must establish a rapport with the team, manage the expectations of the team, and lead by example by matching their expectations for the team with their expectations of themselves. The innovation leader must empower individuals and team members to be able to make decisions in their areas of responsibility, while ensuring that everyone is contributing and engaged. They must clearly communicate a commitment to the team, as well as to the team’s role in the organization. The innovation leader must maintain the sense of urgency and keep the team motivated. As was seen in the Apply the Innovation stage, all of the competencies in the management and delegation and communication categories are critical in the Train the Team stage of the CREATE model.

Establish the Trend: The innovation launches during this stage. A high level of energy and motivation should be sustained as the innovation enters the marketplace or is implemented within the organization. The innovation leader must continue to maintain a high level of energy and motivation, and be driven by passion, perseverance, and tenacity. They need to be success driven with a competitive nature to bring the innovation to fruition. The innovation leader must set challenging goals and constantly seek improvement. This is the stage where the innovation leader must maintain a commitment and sense of ownership toward the innovation. They need to assume personal responsibility for the innovation regardless of the outcome, displaying a long-term commitment and dedication to the organization. They must continue to monitor the external environment, including their competitors and the market, and continuously seek input from their customers. The innovation leader must maintain communications across departments and investors and be able to communicate the relationship between the team, department, and corporate goals and mission to maintain buy-in, commitment, and support for the innovation.

During the Establish the Trend stage, it is important for the innovation leader to utilize early adopters, opinion leaders, and change agents to help diffuse the innovation. It is in this stage that the innovation leader relies heavily on their ability to understand people, customers, their organization, and political environment to strategically plan an approach to influence the current moment. They must be politically savvy, be diplomatic (do not take ‘no’ for an answer), and show courage and conviction (be willing to put their job at risk if based on sound principles). Gaining support from early adopters, opinion leaders, and change agents is facilitated by the role identity of the innovation leader, including their professionalism and integrity. As with every other stage of the CREATE model, communication competencies are critical. The innovation leader must be able to effectively communicate their ideas and generate interest and support from others. They need to understand the psyche of others, including non-verbal cues, be active listeners, and ask questions. The innovation leader must be able to draw on their insights about other people’s perspectives to formulate a communication strategy that will get others to support their ideas. They must be thoughtful in determining the most appropriate communication methods and timing, taking into consideration the impact at both the individual and organizational levels.

Discussion

There are a variety and number of competencies needed for an innovation leader to be successful and successful innovation leaders learn the importance of all these competencies as they develop (Menold, 2015). Take, for example, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, who focuses on Amazon being a company driven by experimentation (Gregersen, 2015). Bezos is an example of an innovation leader focused on being an individual learner, as well as creating a culture where organizational learning is a priority. Likewise, the CEO of UpWorks, Stephane Kasriel, identified as an introverted engineer, focuses on engaging employees through his personal development in emotional intelligence and by empowering technical people to influence the strategy of the company (Kasriel, 2016). Finally, Elon Musk, CEO of TESLA and SpaceX, is well known for his understanding of markets, continuous learning, and optimistic attitude (Mimaroglu, 2016). As an innovation leader, Musk tends to focus on learning, understanding external environments, and energy/motivation that drives optimism and perseverance. These real-world examples help to provide a picture of an innovation leader in action.

Summary

This chapter presented details of Gliddon’s (2006) competency model of innovation leaders and aligned its categories with the stages of the CREATE model by identifying the competencies that are most pertinent in each step. Of all the categories in the competency model, the Communication, Interpersonal Skills, and Emotional Intelligence category appeared most frequently, highlighting its importance. The ability to communicate that knowledge, skill, and expertise, and to motivate others to act is paramount. Innovation leaders must have or obtain the insight to know which of the many competencies are needed in different situations. Insight is gained through observation and experience, making innovation leadership an ‘active’ pursuit. In other words, an innovation leader cannot simply sit and think about leadership; he or she must get out and ‘do’ leadership in order to gain the insights needed to move individuals, teams, and organizations forward. In combination, Gliddon’s (2006) competency model for innovation leaders and the CREATE model of the innovation process provide a multi-level road map for innovation leaders to follow as they travel this path.

References

Bartram, D, 2005, International Labour Migration: Foreign Workers and Public Policy. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

Bingham, P, 2003, ‘Pursuing Innovation in a Big Organization’, Research Technology Management, vol. 46, no. 4, 52–55.

Boyatzis, RE, 1982, The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Cacioppe, R, 2000, ‘Creating Spirit at Work: Re-visioning Organization Development and Leadership – Part 1’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 48–55.

Covin, JG and Covin, T, 1990, ‘Competitive Aggressiveness, Environmental Context, and Small Firm Performance’, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 35–50.

Elenkov, DS and Manev, IM, 2005, ‘Top Management Leadership and Influence on Innovation: The Role of Sociocultural Context’, Journal of Management, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 381–402.

Elkins, T and Keller, RT, 2003, ‘Leadership in Research and Development Organizations: A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 4, p. 587.

Gliddon, DG, 2006, ‘Forecasting a Competency Model for Innovation Leaders using a Modified Delphi Technique’. PhD. The Pennsylvania State University.

Govindarajan, V and Trimble, C, 2005, 10 Rules for Strategic Innovators; from Idea to Execution, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Gregersen, H, 2015, ‘The One Skill that Made Amazon’s CEO Wildly Successful’, Available at: http://fortune.com/2015/09/17/amazon-founder-ceo-jeff-bezos-skills/ [Accessed 25 Aug. 2017].

Hamel, G and Labarre, P, 2011, ‘Improving our Capacity to Manage’, The Wall Street Journal Digital Networks US Edition. Available at https://blogswsjcom/management/2011/04/06/improving-our-capacity-to-manage/ [Accessed 25 Aug. 2017].

Hemlin, S, Allwood, CM, Martin, BR, and Mumford, MD, 2013, Creativity and Leadership in Science, Technology, and Innovation. New York: Routledge.

Hunter, ST, Thoroughgood, CN, Myer, AT and Ligon, GS, 2011, ‘Paradoxes of Leading Innovative Endeavors: Summary, Solutions, and Future Directions’, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 54–66.

Jung, DI and Avolio, BJ, 1999, ‘Effects of Leadership Style and Followers’ Cultural Orientation on Performance in Group and Individual Task Conditions’, The Academy of Management Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 208–218.

Kasriel, S, 2016, ‘Upwork’s CEO on How an Introverted Engineer Learned to Lead’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 94, no. 5, pp. 35–38.

Kirton, MJ, 2011, Adaption-Innovation in the Context of Diversity and Change. London: Routledge.

Menold, JM, Jablokow, KW, Purzer, S, Ferguson, DM and Ohland, MW, 2015, ‘Using an Instrument Blueprint to Support the Rigorous Development of New Surveys and Assessments in Engineering Education’, ASEE 2015 Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle.

Mimaroglu, A, 2016, ‘Five Habits that Made Elon Musk an Innovator’, Entrepreneur. Available at https://wwwentrepreneurcom/article/274417 [Accessed 25 Aug. 2017].

Mumford, MD and Licuanan, B, 2004, ‘Leading for Innovation: Conclusions, Issues, and Directions’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 15, pp. 163–171.

Paulsen, N, Maldonado, D, Callan, VJ and Ayoko, O, 2009, ‘Charismatic Leadership, Change and Innovation in an R&D Organization’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 511–523.

Paulsen, N, Callan, VJ, Ayoko, O and Saunders, D, 2013, ‘Transformational Leadership and Innovation in an R&D Organization Experiencing Major Change’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 595–610.

Rosen, MA, Bedwell, WL, Wildman, JL, Fritzsche, BA, Salas, E and Burke, CS, 2011, ‘Managing Adaptive Performance in Teams: Guiding Principles and Behavioral Markers for Measurement’, Human Resource Management Review, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 107–122.

Soken, NH and Kim, BB, 2014, ‘What Kills Innovation? Your Role as a Leader in Supporting an Innovative Culture’, Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 7–15.

Spencer, LM, and Spencer, SM, 1993, Competence at Work: Models for Superior Performance. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Teece, D, 2009, Managing Intellectual Capital: Organizational, Strategic and Policy Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press.

Trott, P, 1998, Innovation Management and New Product Development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Pitman Publishing.

Vicere, AA, 1992, ‘The Strategic Leadership Imperative for Executive Development’, Human Resource Planning, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 15–31.

Vincent, L, 2005, ‘Innovation Midwives: Sustaining Innovation Streams in Established Companies’, Research-Technology Management, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 41–49.

West, MA, Borrill, CS, Dawson, JF, Brodbeck, F, Shapiro, D and Haward, B, 2003, ‘Leadership Clarity and Team Innovation in Health Care’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 14, pp. 393–410.