The Innovator's Handbook: The Skills of Innovative Management: Problem Solving, Communication and Teamwork

By Vincent Nolan

Book Overview

This is the omnibus edition of the three books in the author's Innovative Management Skills series. It explains management from the point of view of teams working together, communicating, solving... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014012327X
• ISBN13: 9780140123272
• Release Date: November 1989
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Offers an excellent exposition of the Synectic process!

This book has been written by the former Chairman of the Synectics group in UK. It offers an excellent exposition of the powerful Synectics group problem solving process. The Synectics process was created by William J J Gordon and George Prince, who respectively wrote the two great creativity classics: Synectics: The Development of Creative Capacity (in the early 60's), and The Practice of Creativity (in the early 70's); I call the current book a British/European version of the Synectics process. In terms of clarity of thought and elaboration of concepts, the current book is a much better book to read. It is also packed with case examples and application possibilities. The hall mark of the Synectics process lies in analogy building and/or metaphorical knowing. It focuses on new ways of looking at the problem, enjoying the process of exploration, isolating fixed ideas, considering half-baked possibilies, recognising the fragility of ideas by listening positively to them, entertaining the apparently unthinkable, articulating the apparently unthinkable, deferring conclusion until many variables have been floated, and keeping track of all options. The dynamics of these exploratory excursions in a group setting allow the conscious, pre-conscious as well as subconscious minds of group members to come into combinatory play (or interaction) throughout the entire problem solving process. In other words, the beginning sessions often take on an unstructured path. At the onset, the search for solutions is not a primary goal. It's the search for new ways to view the problem. All viewpoints of group members are listend to and considered. Only at the tail end of the entire process, the solution finding becomes crystal clear, which then takes on a structured path to final resolution. These are the stuff that make the Synectics process so powerful.