Fostering Creativity in Global Virtual Teams: Conversations with Team Leaders

Abstract

This chapter presents insights from conversations with global team leaders on how to foster creativity in global virtual project teams in the field of product development. It shows how the leaders pay attention to team formation and managing the group dynamics in order to create a climate in which creativity will flourish. They then harness creativity by balancing the roles of motivating their team members in order to encourage fresh thinking and “putting on the brakes” where necessary in order to create something both new and viable. In particular, risk-averse team members are encouraged to be matter-of-fact about risk, making risk evaluation an intrinsic part of idea generation.