The Innovation Journey and the Skipper of the Raft: About the Role of Narratives in Innovation Project Leadership

摘要

Innovation project leaders have the challenging role of guiding their team by managing four intertwined processes: developing content, meeting project constraints, stimulating creativity, and guiding group dynamics. This article investigates the role narratives play in leading an innovation project and how an innovation project leader uses stories in practice. We found a variety of stories that relate to all four processes. We argue that the roles of stories can be divided into three different aspects: the story, the storytelling, and the storymaking. Together, these aspects of stories can support managing the four intertwined processes to deliver innovation.