Step 6 - Creation and synthesis

Step 6 - Creation and synthesis - Beef CRC - Beef Genetic Technologies

Why do creation and synthesis? Achieving improvement requires new thinking. Innovation depends on the generation of new, ideas, questions and opportunities. So this sixth step has been purposefully built into the CI&I process to stimulate us to: do creative thinking – think things we’ve never thought before, so that possibly we can do things we’ve never done before; do synthesis thinking – that means stop analysing things in more and more detail – instead, pull back and look for larger patterns and insights so that we might start to see ways to do those things that we thought just couldn’t be done. Without effective Creation and Synthesis we lose the momentum generated from achieving rewarding results, and don’t create new ideas for improvement which would launch us into a new cycle of CI&I; we can get caught just thinking ‘inside the box’, that is doing the same type of thinking we usually do, which limits us to the first five types of change – doing things right, doing the right things, improving doing the right things, doing away with things, and doing things other people are doing. All these are useful, but even greater rewards could come from creative and innovative thinking. The tools below can help you generate new ideas, questions and opportunities.

Inverse thinking

Inverse Thinking involves thinking about the opposite to what you actually want and need to achieve. This tool:

Uses the energy created by yin and yang Can be very challenging but can also be liberating Can enable people to break out of the paradigms that surround an issue Can enable creative and lateral thinking Can provide some amazing insights into the ‘real’ situation Can help people to break free of negativity about the current situation, and start working proactively and positively to improve the situation.

Click here to download the Inverse thinking tool.

Six thinking hats

There are several tools that can be used by both individuals and groups to support Creation and Synthesis. One of these tools is Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. The purpose of the Six Thinking Hats is to unscramble thinking so a thinker can use one thinking mode at a time – instead of trying to do everything at once. The more the hats are used, the more they will become part of the thinking culture. Instead of wasting time in argument or drifting discussion, a brisk and disciplined approach will occur if you adopt these different modes of thinking hats (de Bono, 1985). The great value of the hats is that they provide thinking roles. A thinker can take on the role of thinking with a particular thinking hat on. Without the formality of the hats, some thinkers would remain permanently stuck in one mode (usually the black hat mode).

Click here to download the Six thinking hats tool.

Success Stories

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