Table 1 REI leadership principles and respective competencies

1. Considering people’s needs

● Considering the people’s needs (Cardona 2000)

● Reaching out to the others’ needs (Cardona 2000)

● Contributing to the people’s personal development (asking: ‘do those served grow as persons, do they become healthier, wiser, more autonomous, more likely to serve others?’) (Cardona 2000)

● Being concerned with people themselves [empathy and connection with personal life] (Crews 2015; Cardona 2000)

2. Developing the community

● Training and engaging the research community to make common values and beliefs apparent (Treviño et al. 2003; Crews 2015)

● Making sure everyone knows the practices of the institution and actively participating in them (Treviño et al. 2003; Crews 2015)

● Being aware that only people who care about each other are able to disagree and give honest feedback (Cardona 2000)

3. Developing personal competencies

● Having the competence to negotiate, create and communicate vision, making human interaction a habit (Avolio and Gardner 2005)

● Showing integrity and capacity to think of others’ needs before one’s owns, serving the community, serving first (Cardona 2000)

● If you as a leader reach your limit, you need to be able to forward the issue to a suitable person/institution (Treviño et al. 2003; Crews 2015; Avolio and Gardner 2005)

4. Focusing on open culture

● Making yourself available (open door/ move among your people/ participate in discussions as a partner) (Treviño et al. 2003; Crews 2015)

● Making sure people have the confidence and courage to turn to you (Avolio and Gardner 2005; Cardona 2000)