Critical success factors for developmental team projects

Purpose - This paper aims to explore a leadership development intervention activity to solve an organisational problem and seeks to identify critical success factors for the design and delivery of such activities. Design/methodology/approach - This is a case study employing a mixed-method approach within an action research methodology. The participants were a student group of 19, plus the teaching team and client-training adviser. The project used questionnaires for identifying and ranking critical success factors and focus groups to explore transferability and other issues. These were supplemented by e-mail and telephone communications. Findings - The critical success factors involved people, task, process, and location and facilities dimensions. Most were deemed transferable, but with certain warnings about key factors. Research limitations/implications - This is a small-scale study and issues of transferability of findings are acknowledged. Contextual details are presented to reduce the effect of the limitation. Practical implications - The findings are of high practical value for leadership development and for organisations seeking new ways of addressing organisational challenges using internal staff. Originality/value - The paper has value in its practical and theoretical contribution. The identification of critical success factors for such intervention activities is new and the opportunity for application adds further value to the work.