An inventory of leader behaviours for nurturing team flow in research and development project teams

R&D project teams create a competitive advantage for organisations by advancing technological knowledge and delivering innovative services and solutions. These projects comprise experts in diverse fields, who must be transformed into cohesive teams working towards realising project objectives. Team flow, an emerging topic in team science, can significantly improve team effectiveness and performance with positive outcomes. The onus is on the R&D team leader to nurture a state of team flow by instilling the right team processes and fostering team emergent states. 5R-framework (resonant, reflection, response, resultant and reinforcing), a new model to foster team flow in R&D project teams, is the basis for the present study. Based on 5R-framework, in-depth interviews with R&D team leaders and an exhaustive literature search were conducted to create an inventory of 12 leader behaviours. The proposed leader behaviours can likely influence the 5R team processes and nurture team flow in R&D project teams.