synectics creative problem solving process relies heavily on

Synectics and Creativity Equal Problem-Solving

The Scamper Method

Are you looking to bring new and innovative ideas to your team or organization? If so, then exploring the Synectics Technique may be the answer. Synectics is a form of group brainstorming that is based on the principles of creativity and problem-solving. It has been used for decades by leaders in business, science, and education to foster creative thinking and collaboration. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore what Synectics Technique is, how it works, and how you can use it to generate creative solutions in your own workplace. The primary goal of Synectics technique is to find solutions to complex problems by combining different perspectives and disciplines.

Key Concepts

Identifying constraints:, generating ideas:, evaluating solutions:, the benefits of synectics technique.

It provides a creative approach to problem-solving, encourages collaboration among team members, and cultivates a shared understanding of the problem at hand. In addition, it can help teams develop new solutions to existing problems by combining ideas from different perspectives and disciplines. One of the primary benefits of the Synectics technique is the increased creativity it brings to team problem-solving. By encouraging team members to think outside the box and explore solutions from different angles, it helps to generate more creative ideas than traditional brainstorming methods. The Synectics technique also helps to improve problem-solving skills by encouraging team members to work together to explore a problem. This collaborative approach can help teams identify the underlying causes of a problem and develop better solutions.

Concept Mapping

This helps to identify potential solutions and can be used in combination with other tools for even more creative solutions. Synectics technique is an effective problem-solving approach that encourages teams to combine ideas from different perspectives and disciplines to create innovative solutions. By utilizing the benefits, key concepts, and tools associated with this technique, groups can develop creative solutions to complex problems. With the right support, teams can successfully use this technique to enhance their problem-solving capabilities and generate unique ideas.

• collaboration

• Negotiation and Compromise

Learn the key strategies for successful negotiation and compromise, and how to use them to effectively solve problems. Suitable for all skill levels.

• Five Whys Technique: A Comprehensive Analysis

This article provides an in-depth overview of the Five Whys technique for problem solving and root cause analysis.

• Reducing Air Pollution Levels

Find out how to reduce air pollution levels and improve air quality in your area. Learn about the causes of air pollution and what you can do to help.

• Finding Sustainable Energy Sources

This article explores the challenges of finding sustainable energy sources, as well as problem solving examples for environmental problems.

• Fault Tree Analysis: A Comprehensive Overview
• Exploring Online Whiteboarding Tools for Brainstorming
• Crossword Puzzles and Sudoku: A Problem-Solving Exploration
• Idea Generation Techniques: A Comprehensive Overview

Exploring Trial and Error Problem Solving Strategies

• Round-robin Brainstorming: A Creative Problem Solving Tool
• Brainwriting: A Group Brainstorming Technique
• Mind Mapping - Creative Problem Solving and Creative Thinking Techniques
• Simple Decisions - An Overview
• Visualization Activities and Drawing Exercises
• Applying Existing Solutions for Problem Solving Strategies
• Using Analogies to Solve Problems
• Critical Path Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide
• Maximizing Efficiency and Productivity
• Brainstorming: A Comprehensive Look at Creative Problem Solving
• Choosing the Right Career: Problem-Solving Examples
• How to Explain Ideas Clearly
• Value Innovation Techniques
• Improving Customer Service Quality
• Mind Mapping and Listing Ideas
• Exploring the SCAMPER Technique for Creative Problem Solving
• Round-robin brainstorming: Exploring a Group Brainstorming Technique
• Paired Comparison Analysis: A Comprehensive Overview
• Design Thinking Techniques: A Comprehensive Overview
• Logic Puzzles and Brain Teasers: A Comprehensive Overview

Making Complex Decisions: A Comprehensive Overview

• Group Decision Making Activities
• Exploring Lateral Thinking: A Comprehensive Guide to Problem Solving Strategies
• Listening Skills: A Comprehensive Overview
• Preserving Natural Resources
• Questioning Assumptions: A Critical Thinking Skill
• Word Association and Random Word Generation
• Exploring the Serendipity Technique of Creative Problem Solving
• Cost-benefit Analysis: A Guide to Making Informed Decisions
• Gantt Charting: A Primer for Problem Solving & Planning Techniques
• Jigsaw Puzzles and Mazes: Problem Solving Activities for Fun and Learning
• Imagination Activities and Brainstorming Sessions
• Identifying Patterns: A Practical Guide
• Data Collection and Analysis - Problem Solving Skills and Research Skills
• Managing Your Finances Effectively
• Identifying Root Causes
• Structured Decisions: An Overview of the Decision Making Process
• Virtual Brainstorming Sessions: A Comprehensive Overview
• Analyzing Consequences: A Problem Solving Strategy
• Debate Activities and Role-Play Scenarios
• Collaborative Problem Solving Games: Exploring Creative Solutions for Teams
• Exploring Brainwalking: A Creative Problem-Solving Technique
• Interpreting Information: A Problem-Solving and Research Skills Primer
• Recognizing Bias: A Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Skills Guide
• Cause and Effect Diagrams: A Problem-Solving Technique
• Thinking Outside the Box: An Overview of Individual Brainstorming Techniques
• Collaborative Mind Mapping Software
• Creative Writing Exercises and Storyboards
• Analyzing Arguments Logically
• Solving Relationship Issues
• SWOT Analysis: A Comprehensive Overview
• Brainwriting: A Creative Problem-Solving Technique

New Articles

Which cookies do you want to accept?

• Business Essentials
• Leadership & Management
• Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB)
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation
• Digital Transformation
• Finance & Accounting
• Business in Society
• For Organizations
• Support Portal
• Media Coverage
• Founding Donors
• Leadership Team

• Harvard Business School →
• HBS Online →
• Business Insights →

Business Insights

Harvard Business School Online's Business Insights Blog provides the career insights you need to achieve your goals and gain confidence in your business skills.

• Career Development
• Communication
• Decision-Making
• Earning Your MBA
• Negotiation
• News & Events
• Productivity
• Staff Spotlight
• Student Profiles
• Work-Life Balance
• AI Essentials for Business
• Alternative Investments
• Business Analytics
• Business Strategy
• Business and Climate Change
• Design Thinking and Innovation
• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Disruptive Strategy
• Economics for Managers
• Entrepreneurship Essentials
• Financial Accounting
• Global Business
• Launching Tech Ventures
• Leadership Principles
• Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
• Leading with Finance
• Management Essentials
• Negotiation Mastery
• Organizational Leadership
• Power and Influence for Positive Impact
• Strategy Execution
• Sustainable Business Strategy
• Sustainable Investing
• Winning with Digital Platforms

What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?

• 01 Feb 2022

One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown. Business leaders can overcome this barrier by mobilizing creative team members and providing space to innovate.

There are several tools you can use to encourage creativity in the workplace. Creative problem-solving is one of them, which facilitates the development of innovative solutions to difficult problems.

Here’s an overview of creative problem-solving and why it’s important in business.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Creative Problem-Solving?

Research is necessary when solving a problem. But there are situations where a problem’s specific cause is difficult to pinpoint. This can occur when there’s not enough time to narrow down the problem’s source or there are differing opinions about its root cause.

In such cases, you can use creative problem-solving , which allows you to explore potential solutions regardless of whether a problem has been defined.

Creative problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes and encourages exploring open-ended solutions. It also focuses on developing new perspectives and fostering creativity in the workplace . Its benefits include:

• Finding creative solutions to complex problems : User research can insufficiently illustrate a situation’s complexity. While other innovation processes rely on this information, creative problem-solving can yield solutions without it.
• Adapting to change : Business is constantly changing, and business leaders need to adapt. Creative problem-solving helps overcome unforeseen challenges and find solutions to unconventional problems.
• Fueling innovation and growth : In addition to solutions, creative problem-solving can spark innovative ideas that drive company growth. These ideas can lead to new product lines, services, or a modified operations structure that improves efficiency.

Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles :

1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist. It balances these two practices and turns ideas into concrete solutions.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

By framing problems as questions, you shift from focusing on obstacles to solutions. This provides the freedom to brainstorm potential ideas.

3. Defer Judgment of Ideas

When brainstorming, it can be natural to reject or accept ideas right away. Yet, immediate judgments interfere with the idea generation process. Even ideas that seem implausible can turn into outstanding innovations upon further exploration and development.

4. Focus on "Yes, And" Instead of "No, But"

Using negative words like "no" discourages creative thinking. Instead, use positive language to build and maintain an environment that fosters the development of creative and innovative ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking

Whereas creative problem-solving facilitates developing innovative ideas through a less structured workflow, design thinking takes a far more organized approach.

Design thinking is a human-centered, solutions-based process that fosters the ideation and development of solutions. In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase framework to explain design thinking.

The four stages are:

• Clarify: The clarification stage allows you to empathize with the user and identify problems. Observations and insights are informed by thorough research. Findings are then reframed as problem statements or questions.
• Ideate: Ideation is the process of coming up with innovative ideas. The divergence of ideas involved with creative problem-solving is a major focus.
• Develop: In the development stage, ideas evolve into experiments and tests. Ideas converge and are explored through prototyping and open critique.
• Implement: Implementation involves continuing to test and experiment to refine the solution and encourage its adoption.

Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving Tools

While there are many useful tools in the creative problem-solving process, here are three you should know:

Creating a Problem Story

One way to innovate is by creating a story about a problem to understand how it affects users and what solutions best fit their needs. Here are the steps you need to take to use this tool properly.

1. Identify a UDP

Create a problem story to identify the undesired phenomena (UDP). For example, consider a company that produces printers that overheat. In this case, the UDP is "our printers overheat."

2. Move Forward in Time

To move forward in time, ask: “Why is this a problem?” For example, minor damage could be one result of the machines overheating. In more extreme cases, printers may catch fire. Don't be afraid to create multiple problem stories if you think of more than one UDP.

3. Move Backward in Time

To move backward in time, ask: “What caused this UDP?” If you can't identify the root problem, think about what typically causes the UDP to occur. For the overheating printers, overuse could be a cause.

Following the three-step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story:

• The printer is overused.
• The printer overheats.
• The printer breaks down.

You can extend the problem story in either direction if you think of additional cause-and-effect relationships.

4. Break the Chains

By this point, you’ll have multiple UDP storylines. Take two that are similar and focus on breaking the chains connecting them. This can be accomplished through inversion or neutralization.

• Inversion: Inversion changes the relationship between two UDPs so the cause is the same but the effect is the opposite. For example, if the UDP is "the more X happens, the more likely Y is to happen," inversion changes the equation to "the more X happens, the less likely Y is to happen." Using the printer example, inversion would consider: "What if the more a printer is used, the less likely it’s going to overheat?" Innovation requires an open mind. Just because a solution initially seems unlikely doesn't mean it can't be pursued further or spark additional ideas.
• Neutralization: Neutralization completely eliminates the cause-and-effect relationship between X and Y. This changes the above equation to "the more or less X happens has no effect on Y." In the case of the printers, neutralization would rephrase the relationship to "the more or less a printer is used has no effect on whether it overheats."

Even if creating a problem story doesn't provide a solution, it can offer useful context to users’ problems and additional ideas to be explored. Given that divergence is one of the fundamental practices of creative problem-solving, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into each tool you use.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tool that can be highly effective when guided by the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. It involves openly discussing and debating ideas and topics in a group setting. This facilitates idea generation and exploration as different team members consider the same concept from multiple perspectives.

Hosting brainstorming sessions can result in problems, such as groupthink or social loafing. To combat this, leverage a three-step brainstorming method involving divergence and convergence :

• Have each group member come up with as many ideas as possible and write them down to ensure the brainstorming session is productive.
• Continue the divergence of ideas by collectively sharing and exploring each idea as a group. The goal is to create a setting where new ideas are inspired by open discussion.
• Begin the convergence of ideas by narrowing them down to a few explorable options. There’s no "right number of ideas." Don't be afraid to consider exploring all of them, as long as you have the resources to do so.

Alternate Worlds

The alternate worlds tool is an empathetic approach to creative problem-solving. It encourages you to consider how someone in another world would approach your situation.

For example, if you’re concerned that the printers you produce overheat and catch fire, consider how a different industry would approach the problem. How would an automotive expert solve it? How would a firefighter?

Be creative as you consider and research alternate worlds. The purpose is not to nail down a solution right away but to continue the ideation process through diverging and exploring ideas.

Continue Developing Your Skills

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, learning the ropes of design thinking can be an effective way to build your skills and foster creativity and innovation in any setting.

If you're ready to develop your design thinking and creative problem-solving skills, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

About the Author

Synectics: Creative Connection-Making

by Dr. Manoj Chandra Handa | Feb 8, 2015 | Creativity , Gifted Students | 1 comment

  One must still have creative chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844-1900)

Synectics has been described by its creator, William J. J. Gordon, as “the joining together of different and apparently irrelevant elements” (Gordon, 1961, p.5). The term Synectics, from the Greek “syn” and “ektos”, refers to the fusion of diverse ideas (Nolan, 2003, p. 25). The process of Synectics is a “ metaphor/analogy-based technique for bringing different elements together in a search for new ideas or solutions” (Starko, 2010, p. 151). This creative connection-making process has been used by businesses and research organisations, and has been the inspiration behind the ideas for Pringles potato chips, magnesium-impregnated bandages, disposable nappies, the space-saver Kleenex box, and a host of other innovations. Working with gifted learners, I found this strategy to be very effective because the students relished the potent power of bringing contraries together to conjure new meanings.

The basic processes of Synectics are “making the strange familiar” and “making the familiar strange” (Prince, 1968, p. 4). Although inventors most often engage in “making the familiar strange”, students benefit more from “making the strange familiar” (Gordon, 1973, p. 11). These two processes are facilitated through the creation of various types of analogies. Here are the steps for using Synectics to foster creative mindsets:

Step 1: Students explore the given situation, task, or problem. They create direct analogies, select one, and explore it in greater depth.

Direct analogies are the simplest types of comparison in which similarities between two ideas are examined. In a direct analogy, individuals look for parallels between one idea, object or situation, and another. Students first learning to make direct analogies start with simple comparisons between similar objects and progress to more abstract processes. The power of the technique comes as students begin to generate their own analogies and see similarities between remote objects (e.g., how a feather is like grass), or encompass abstract ideas (e.g., how happiness is like fire; how erosion is like a thief). 

Step 2: Students change the direct analogy to personal analogy.

In personal analogies, students are asked to empathise with the subject matter. There are four levels of involvement for a personal analogy (adapted from Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009):

• First-person description of facts. At this level, the person describes what is known about the object or animal, but shows no empathetic involvement. In describing the porcupine, the student might say, “I feel prickly” or “I feel my tail bump on the ground.”
• First-person identification with emotion. At the second level, the person recites common emotions but does not present new insights. In describing the tortoise, the student might say, “I feel happy walking slowly through the woods” or “I feel protected by my iron shield.”
• Empathetic identification with a living thing. At this level, the student would show more insight into the life, feelings and dilemmas of a porcupine. For example, “It’s confusing. Sometimes I like my quills; sometimes I don’t. I feel safe with quills around me, but no one can come near. Even other porcupines don’t come close because we might hurt each other. I wish I could take them off.” 
• Empathetic identification with a nonliving object. At the highest level of personal analogy, students are able to make the same type of empathetic connection with nonliving things. They might express the feeling of exhilaration of a plane reaching the speed of takeoff (“I love the speed with which I take off from the airport”), or the sadness of skis being put away for the summer (“Oh! the drudgery and loneliness of lying idle in summer, with no one lifting me up and going for a ride.”).

Personal analogies can provide the bases for class discussions , writing projects , or creative learning activities :

• Primary students might be asked to be a letter going through the postal service, and write in their journals about their adventures.
• Junior students studying simple machines could be asked to discuss what it might be like to be a lever or a pulley . How would they feel as they were used?
• Senior students might be asked to create a work of art or a written description of life from the perspective of an electron or a sound wave (Starko, 2010, p.153).

Personal analogies can form the basis of  problem solving activities:

• If you were a football , what would you do about the fights on the playground?
• If you were the stop sign in front of the school, how would you get more people to come to a complete stop?
• If you were a seat belt , how would you get people to wear you?
• If you were the pencil of a cartoonist, how would you feel during the aftermath of the recent turmoil and tragedy in Paris?

Step 3: Students use the descriptions from steps 1 and 2 to create “compressed conflicts”.

Compressed conflicts deepen students’ conceptual understanding by examining natural paradoxes (Gordon, 1973). Compressed conflicts or symbolic analogies bring together words that express diametrically opposed ideas, and do not ordinarily go together. They force the user to consider two opposite ideas at the same time.

Compressed conflicts involve descriptions that appear to be contradictory but are actually creatively insightful. Sometimes these juxtapositions may be literal antonyms such as happy sadness or cold heat . Other times they may express more complex or oblique but still conflicting relationships such as shameful hero , independent follower, intimate strangers, or sorrowful ecstasy .

Compressed conflicts frequently have broad, abstract applications and can be applied to many varied situations. The level of abstraction they require makes compressed conflicts most appropriate for students in later grades. For example: How is clock like a stopped stream? What in nature is like sad happiness? How is blood clot like a lifesaving killer?

  Step 4: Students select one “compressed conflict”, and develop another direct analogy from it.

Once students have developed the “compressed conflicts”, ask them to share their creative constructs with one another. They could then develop one or more analogies by selecting one of the “compressed conflicts”. For example, one of my younger students developed the following analogies after selecting a “compressed conflict”, vulnerable force:

• A vulnerable force is like a bully overwhelmed with problems in life.
• A vulnerable force is like a person on drugs, who turns violent but deep inside is dying.
• A vulnerable force is like a mother bird guarding her nest from a hawk.

Step 5: Students use the last analogy, or the whole Synectics process, to examine the original task or problem.

After the students have undertaken the above four steps, they could then use the last analogy, or the whole process, to reflect upon the original task or problem; and develop their own product, project, experiment, or activity. In my experience, the scaffolded process of Synectics can potentially work wonders with gifted learners, indeed, all learners. Perhaps, its appeal to children lies in its strong resemblance to play!

Concluding thought

The process of Synectics works effectively across curriculum areas and real-world problems for both primary and secondary students. The Synectics framework, in my view, vividly reflects the constructivist approaches to learning. Instead of teachers providing knowledge and students merely storing it, the process of Synectics helps learners construct their own versions of reality by forming personal connections between new and existing knowledge. In engaging with this playful learning process, the students can have lots of fun. If you have not done so already, you might consider using Synectics with your students. I would appreciate your reflections about the efficacy of the Synectics process in your classrooms.

References Gordon, W. J. J. (1961). Synectics: The development of creative capacity. New York: Harper & Row Publishers. Gordon, W. J. J. (1973). The metaphorical way of learning and knowing. Cambridge, MA: Porpoise Books. Joyce, B. R., Weil, M., & Calhoun, E. (2009). Models of teaching. Boston: Ally and Bacon . Nolan, V. (2003). Whatever happened to Synectics? Creativity and Innovation Management, 12 (1), 25. Prince, G. (1968). The operational mechanism of synectics. Journal of Creative Behavior, 2, 1–13. Starko, A. J. (2010). Creativity in the classroom: Schools of curious delight. London: Routledge. Cover illustration by Kate Knapp (www.twigseeds.com).

This is insightful, I’m currently working on synectics as a teaching technique. Can it be used for tertiary education students and can it be used to teach all areas of study especially practical related courses

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

• Twitter Follow
• YouTube Follow

Subscribe to Mailing List

Enter your email address to subscribe to the blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Recent Posts

• Formative Assessment
• Building High Performance Teams
• Inspiring and Building Trust

Blog post categories

• Gifted Students
• Higher-order Thinking
• Questioning
• Student Learning
• Student Voice
• Teacher Effectiveness

Blog post tags

Recent comments.

• Push it to the limit cool Wolf! You are the best and you can do everything! It'll all work out very very very soon! https://www.samsung.com smkmkplobydlmcrjmzgvx 9859464 on A More Beautiful Question: Elevating Thinking Among Gifted Learners
• Josephrooca on Student Voice – ‘What Makes a Truly Great Teacher?’
• RalphwHink on Student Voice – ‘What Makes a Truly Great Teacher?’
• JustinCip on Student Voice – ‘What Makes a Truly Great Teacher?’
• RobertSlone on Student Voice – ‘What Makes a Truly Great Teacher?’

Twitter Feed

This method was implemented among others by Wiliam J.J. Gordon. With the help of analogies, a step-by-step disassociation of a problem takes place. This new distance from the problem and the known solutions leads to new perspectives and new solutions. The fundamental principle is: Make the strange things familiar and defamiliarize the familiar. This is the basis for the development of new and surprising solutions and ideas.

The synectics method is divided into 10 phases:

• Clear definition of the problem
• Spontaneous solutions are captured
• Reformulation of the problem
• Direct analogy I – e.g. analogies from the nature
• Personal analogy – in order to achieve the personal identification of the participants with the problem
• Symbolic analogy are developed
• Direct analogy II – e.g. analogies from technology
• Analogy analysis
• “Force a fit” –  analogies are associated with the original problem
• Development of concrete solutions for the defined problem

New approach and consideration of a problem is possible.

Pros and cons

Advantages:

• Accurate definition of the problem
• Therefore: problem is fully understood before the final solution is provided
• Encourages the ability to live with complexity and apparent contradiction
• Mobilizes both sides of the brain, the right brain (the dreamer), and the left brain (the reasoner)
• Provides a free-thinking state of consciousness, strengthens new thoughts, ideas and inventions

Disadvantages:

• The process might be time-taking
• The user has to be very focused during the whole process
• For good results participants have to be able and in the mood to fantasize
• It works better for an individual problem than a multilayered problem (it can be also used for the latter, but requires a higher effort from the participants)
• Much efforts required from the leader of the group to keep the discussion in flow, formulate the initial problem and the desired outcome

Complementary methods

Synectics as a method contains some brainstorming processes.

• How We Do It
• Innovative Training
• Healthcare Practice
• Our Clients
• Our Case Studies
• Testimonials
• Where it Began
• Pioneers in Innovative Thinking
• Blogs, Videos, and Whitepapers
• Books by Us

You are here: Home » Our Story

Recent Posts

• Business Relationship Management & Synectics
• Lifelong Impact of Synectics
• Creativity – Is it Nature or Nurture?
• Jim Comey’s Sweet Lesson in Leadership

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Elevating the Impact of Strategic Business Partners

Back in the 1950s, our founders Bill Gordon, George Prince and their team studied thousands of hours of tape recorded innovation sessions to find the answer to

  “what is really going o n between the people in the group to help them  create and implement successfully?”

Bill Gordon, Synectics, Inc.

They called the answer the Synectics Creative-P roblem-Solving Methodology , which has expanded into the Synecticsworld’s expertise on how people work creatively and collaboratively to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most difficult challenges.

The unique Synecticsworld innovation process to the art of problem solving has taken us to many different destinations. We have worked on assignments in both the public and private sectors, in product and service innovation, business process improvement, cost reduction and the reinvention of business models and strategies.

It is our on-going goal to guide and inspire our clients to engage the Synectics innovation process to create innovative ideas, innovative solutions, and activate new, powerful, and innovative solutions.

Today, neuroscience gives us an incredible window into the inner workings of the human brain.  It has also substantiated the outcomes Synecticsworld’s founders reached with their simple tape recorder.  More importantly, our founders built a model of what to do with these insights – the Synectics Creative Problem Solving model the process to innovative work.

Synectics on 20/20 with Barbara Walters

Today, you will find many new techniques that have been incorporated into our expertise, but we are sure the underlying concepts of climate, process, and action would be immediately recognizable to our founders as their groundbreaking work into the art of problem solving and the development of innovative solutions.  Thank you George Prince and Bill Gordon and the Synectics teams.

We wanted to share this piece by Bob Johnston. #Synectics history with George Prince and Tim Gallwey. Plus #TomBrady ! strategyinnovationgroup.com/b… About 3 years ago from Synecticsworld's Twitter via Twitter Web App There are challenges related to people working from home. These challenges existed before Covid but have become more profound with greater numbers of people WFH. This recent article from the NYT suggests other concerns that are starting to take shape. lnkd.in/etX9xim About 4 years ago from Synecticsworld's Twitter via Twitter Web App I wanted to share this recent insight from my partner, Connie Williams. The title is Jim Comey's Sweet Lesson in Leadership. Connie finds some interesting connections related to Comey's management style. lnkd.in/ejJeyRR About 4 years ago from Synecticsworld's Twitter via Twitter Web App Joe Gammal recently participated in the Virtual Island Summit. Over 10,000 people participated representing more than 500 islands. The need for collective action to solve difficult issues was a central point of the Summit. See more in this article: mvtimes.com/2020/09/16/oce… About 4 years ago from Synecticsworld's Twitter via Twitter Web App We were sorry to hear of the passing of Sir Ken Robinson. He was a true visionary and his concerns about students and creativity resonated with all of us at Synecticsworld. If you are not familiar with his work, we recommend you start with this Ted Talk. ted.com/talks/sir_ken_… About 4 years ago from Synecticsworld's Twitter via Twitter Web App Warning : file_get_contents(http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=from:Synecticsworld&rpp=1): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 410 Gone in /home/customer/www/synecticsworld.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/zoho2/footer.php on line 39 --->

Contact Synecticsworld

Quick links.

All Rights Reserved © Synecticsworld Inc.

Synectics vs. Brainstorming — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Synectics and Brainstorming

Table of contents, key differences, comparison chart, participant role, ideal outcome, compare with definitions, brainstorming, common curiosities, what is the role of a facilitator in synectics, what is synectics, how does synectics differ from brainstorming, how does brainstorming encourage idea generation, when should synectics be used, is synectics suitable for individual problem-solving, can brainstorming be used for all types of problems, are there specific rules for brainstorming sessions, what makes brainstorming effective, does synectics require specialized training, how do participants in a synectics session generate ideas, how important is the facilitator's role in both methods, how can brainstorming sessions be made more effective, what are the limitations of brainstorming, can brainstorming and synectics be used together, share your discovery.

Author Spotlight

Popular Comparisons

Trending Comparisons

New Comparisons

Trending Terms