The Innovative Team

New tools for tapping the creativity of teams and achievingbreakthrough resultsThe Innovative Team is an engaging business fable thatreveals the impact our underlying work style preferences have onour teams and their results. The authors present a breakthroughthinking process for developing successful teams. They introduce auniquely effective set of tools built on FourSight, a measure ofproblem-solving preferences field-tested by top consultants, whichcan help anyone from professionals to novices solve problems andachieve performance breakthroughs. FourSight enables teams tounderstand their patterns of thinking and manage themselves moredeliberately toward accomplishing a goal.* Written as a business fable that recounts the story of a team'sjourney from dysfunctional to high functioning* Outlines a new and effective set of tools for enhanced teamperformance* Details the four stages of a dynamic breakthrough thinkingprocessThe Innovative Team offers a great resource formanagement and leadership development professionals, team leaders,and anyone interested in kick-starting innovation in theirworkplaces and lives.

Acknowledgments ix

About the Authors xi

Foreword xv

Introduction 1

Part 1 The Story

Chapter 1 We Have a Problem 13

Chapter 2 JustWhat Kind of Duck AreWe Dealing with Here? 27

Chapter 3 The Sum of the Parts 33

Chapter 4 The Need and theWay Out 41

Chapter 5 Thinking About Thinking 59

Chapter 6 Mapping a Minefield 67

Chapter 7 The Power of a Good Question 77

Chapter 8 FromWild toWorkable 89

Chapter 9 Combining the Unlikely 99

Chapter 10 Be CarefulWhat YouWish For 109

Chapter 11 Preserving the Novelty 121

Chapter 12 Priming the Pump 127

Chapter 13 The Pieces Come Together 139

Chapter 14 Whats the POINt? 153

Chapter 15 Assisting Acceptance 163

Chapter 16 Sealing the Deal 181

Epilogue Where Are They Now? 187

Part 2 Exploring the Four Creative Thinking Styles

Chapter 17 Applying the Framework 193

Chapter 18 Clarifying the Situation 195

Chapter 19 Generating Ideas 205

Chapter 20 Developing Solutions 215

Chapter 21 Implementing Plans 225

Chapter 22 The Combination of Preferences Within People 231

Chapter 23 Creating Conditions for Success 237