- What is Different about Synectics
Terry K. Gilliam, Chairman of Synecticsworld
Many years ago, our founder George Prince handed me his original manuscript of “What is Different about Synectics” to read. It is a fascinating account of the research behind Synectics and our body of knowledge. Three ideas in it grabbed me and never let go:
1. being creative is natural;
2. being creative requires the right climate; and
3. being creative is something we get better at with practice.
The implications of these ideas for organizations are deep and sweeping. That creativity is in everyone’s nature means that all organizations are full of people who can learn to apply their innate power to innovatively solve even their most complex challenges. That creativity flourishes in a climate that takes away fear means that by his acts every leader gets a chance to unleash this innate power. That we get better at creativity with practice means that leaders can transform their organizations by institutionalizing creativity and innovation. “What is Different about Synectics” shows us how to do these things. Terry K. Gilliam
What is Different about Synectics
George M. Prince, Founder of Synectics
By George M. Prince
Synectics is different from other procedures because it was developed and tested in the course of working on several thousand problems. We were a group of inventors and we wanted to know what made us successful when we were and what caused us to fail when we did. We tape-recorded all of our inventing sessions. If we were productive we could retrace our actions and find out why. We began to teach other people what we were learning and this provided us with a stream of managers with real problems. As we studied the actions of the first few hundred meetings, we formulated hypotheses about the creative process and what made it go. As we tested and reformulated using the next thousands of meetings over the next fifteen years we slowly evolved the Synectics body of knowledge. This consists of a series of strategies to help people get new ideas; a flow chart that is designed to lead people to do what they are inclined to do anyway; a detailed understanding of the dynamics of a meeting and a set of skills to keep those dynamics working toward success. To read the full article download the working document George handed Terry by clicking here
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