(published in The Facilitator, September 1997 issue)

INTRODUCTION TO SYNECTICS® METHODOLOGY

Upon leaving Synectics®, Inc. in 1996 after 20 years of corporate consulting to form my own company, I wondered if the methodology and techniques that had made Synectics so successful over nearly 40 years would be as useful in my work with non-profits, government agencies, and universities. The answer, after almost a year of experience, is unequivocally yes. The ability to think creatively, devise innovative and actionable ideas in addressing opportunities and problems, and develop beginning ideas into practical solutions is a universal need of organizations... and individuals.

For the purpose of this article, I will share a very brief history of Synectics® and describe one or two techniques to encourage creative thinking in a facilitated-group situation.

HISTORY

In the 1950's, in their experience as the Invention Design Group at Arthur D. Little, George Prince, Bill Gordon, and several others discovered that at times they were highly creative and productive as a team in addressing the tasks clients brought them. Yet, at other times, their work resulted in routine thinking and far-from-innovative solutions. They wondered if breakthrough thinking had to be so unpredictable. To explore this, they began audiotaping their meetings and then listening to them later to identify what behaviors and approaches enhanced creative thinking and innovative results and what behaviors and approaches inhibited these things. This exploration of the creative process was so revealing and exciting that they left ADL in 1960 to form Synectics® and devote full attention to researching creativity in business.

THE VALUE OF DIVERSITY

The name Synectics was coined by combining Greek root words and translates into, roughly, "the bringing together of diverse elements." This choice resulted from the recognition that the essence of many innovative ideas is the combining of two or more hitherto unconnected or even contradictory elements. In addition, over the years of working with thousands of groups, the value of a diverse group of people as idea generators has become apparent. In fact, as a key point in planning, I address who will attend the session and what their background or functional responsibility is and even urge the inclusion of people "naive" about the issue or opportunity being addressed. It has been my experience that ensuring diverse participation ahead of time contributes to improving the quality of thinking and ultimately to the successful outcome of the meeting.

The presence of diverse participants has a positive impact on creative group problem solving for several reasons. First, people with differing backgrounds (professionally as well as personally) will bring a vast amount of expertise in all sorts of fields to the task and this will expand the scope and enrich the thinking of the full group. Second, specialists in any one field (engineering, marketing, sales, office work, fundraising) share many basic assumptions they have been taught or learned in training or by experience. Yet, the most innovative ideas often are those that challenge or shift basic assumptions. Third, the presence of people with a different outlook and, often, "impossible" ideas can stimulate the thinking and connection-making ability of specialists so that fresh ground is covered and they gain insights into the task. Then, the specialists can harness their experience to find ways to make innovative ideas practical.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR ROLE

Beyond a diverse group of participants and a task that would benefit from creative idea generation, there are three things necessary for effective creative problem solving:

• a climate that invites speculative thinking and protects ideas and individuals from criticism or punishment for offering heretical or absurd ideas

• a methodology that stimulates ideas and moves a group from task statement through idea generation to idea development to next steps for implementation of a possible solution

• creative thinking from participants

The Synectics process addresses each of these elements. Ways to maintain a climate that fosters risk taking and inventive thinking, a proprietary nine-step problem-solving process that nurtures beginning ideas and drives them to possible solution, and techniques to stimulate "out of the box" thinking are critical aspects of the Synectics experience. For the sake of brevity (and much of what was radical in Synectics' early days is now standard operating practice in everyone's ideation sessions), I will cover the facilitator role, which was a startlingly new concept initially, and then share a few techniques useful for triggering creative thinking by participants in a group session.

In the 1950's, the founders of Synectics pioneered the role of impartial process leader, even then called the facilitator, which has been embellished upon and expanded in many exciting ways by so many diverse groups since. After leaving the corporate consulting world, I encountered several capable and successful individuals who facilitate by giving opinions and sharing their suggestions on the subject matter with the group. This approach has been useful to their clients and to them. My bias, and that of Synectics®, is that in an idea-generating or problem-solving situation, the facilitator is more effective when remaining out of the subject matter and focusing solely on the process of the meeting. Thus, the consultant serving in this capacity has been hired to unleash the creativity of the team, not to provide answers or solutions from his or her own experience or insight. This prevents a facilitator from, in effect, holding a group hostage while "selling" his or her own idea or from manipulating the process toward a preferred outcome. The facilitator manages the PROCESS of the meeting, not its CONTENT. Thus, trust is built between facilitator and participants as it becomes evident that the solution will, in fact, come from the group and that no pre-existing idea will be foisted on them.

IDEA TRIGGERS

Early in the research into creative thinking, it was discovered that metaphors and analogies are incredibly powerful engines for breakthrough thinking. As Ortega Y. Gassett said, "The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by men." For many people who have experienced a Synectics session or training program, the use of metaphorical thinking is one of the most impactful learnings.

The Excursion technique was invented by Synectics in the early 1960's. It is applied when a group needs a creative boost. One of the most effective excursions is the Example Excursion, in which the group lists examples from a different "world" than the one under discussion yet that have a similar dynamic or nature. Let me give you a sample of this technique.

Suppose a facilitator has been hired to help a team or board invent a new way to raise funds for their organization. After collecting a first round of ideas or wishes (many of which often are modifications of what has already been done or tried), she might proceed in the following way, using "hunting" as roughly analogous to finding funds.

Facilitator: I'd like you all to turn over a new piece of paper on your notepad. For the time being, forget what we're working on... just put it out of your mind. And I will bring you back to it later. What I would like from you now is a list of examples of "hunting" from the world of nature. Take a minute or two to think about this. And don't worry here about being perfectly accurate -- if what comes to your mind is related in any way, then it's exactly what I'm looking for. There are no right or wrong answers.

(She gives time for participants to think up examples.)

Facilitator: Okay, just call out your example and I'll write these up. (She writes up the following, with appropriate and legitimate praise for the contributors.)

Beating the grass to flush out birds

Stalking (like a lioness)

Camouflage (like those fish who look like rocks on the bottom of the sea)

Nectar (flowers seeking bees as pollinators)

Duck calls

Gravity wells (from astronomy)

Facilitator: Now, take a moment and look at these examples. How do they work? What's the principle underneath one or several or all of these? (She will write these up on another page.)

Attracting similarities (from duck call)

Removing from protective cover (beating the grass)

(and more probably)

Facilitator: Now, remember our fundraising task? Using these examples and these principles, take a few minutes and come up with some ideas to find new funds. And if they are a bit absurd or silly, that's fine. After all, Einstein said, "If at first an idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." We'll build in the feasibility later. Okay, everyone got some ideas?

(She then writes them up, probing for where they originated and encouraging everyone. Particular attention needs to be paid to those who offer particularly wild ideas. Some examples of ideas follow along with where they originated.)

Wish funders would call us. (from nectar)

Get the annual reports of every non-profit around and look for new names (from stalking)

Create a plan where we ask for 1/3 (not full) matching money. (attracting similarities)

How to get great publicity somehow that will make them call us. (duck calls)

Wish we could use our current contributors to find new ones (attracting similarities)

How to be the kind of organization that funders want to be connected with. (from nectar)

You will note that some of these are vague directions while others are very specific. Both are fair game in the idea generation situation -- at least early in the process. In fact, each of these beginning ideas can be exploded and more specific options generated from them.

Many of these ideas would not have come out without the power of the analogies the group generated and the connections they made back to the task at hand. The process of thinking in another "world" -- that of nature in this case -- has the side-effect of being fun, energizing, and bonding for a group. These are qualities that make a powerful contribution to eventual success as well.

Another kind of excursion is the Imaging Excursion. Personally, I had great difficulty with this as a trainee because most images, if any, that came to my mind were beyond my awareness. George Prince helped me break through this barrier and slow down the images so that I could use them in generating ideas.

In the Imaging Excursion, the group is asked to create mental images of an object or place unconnected to the task. They capture the images on their notepads, either as words or drawings. If people have difficulty getting images (and for many people in organizational groups, this is hard to do or to admit to in front of peers), they can be urged to "pretend" to get images or to "play a movie" mentally. Interestingly, "pretend" images work just as well as actual ones! Then the facilitator asks them to use that image to look for new connections back to the subject of the meeting. Thus, the imagery serves as an idea springboard to the task.

This article sketches only the roughest of outlines of the Synectics approach to ideation and creative group problem solving. I hope it gives you a flavor for the work and offers ways to increase the creative thinking of a group in which you might participate.

 

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