How can we think differently to inspire creativity, innovation, and limit risk? In the face of problems, do you stay creative to generate ideas? As leaders who care about the work you do and the teams you serve, I want to explore two different types of thinking that lead to better conversations, outcomes, and ideas. Understanding DIVERGENTand CONVERGENT Thinking will help you and your teams generate and quickly identify the best ideas.
The chief marketing officer of your company has asked you and your team to tackle a problem that is affecting your customers. You have been given a problem statement, data to support the problem, and the right tools to get the job done. You and your team are willing and feel empowered to tackle the problem, so it is time to start working.The first step is to use Divergent Thinking.
Divergent thinking is about developing creative ideas and focusing solely on idea generation: more views, the better.This is the time to encourage people to come up with unusual ideas, and when they do, respond with positivity and push them to expand on their ideas. I love to put on a timer, hand out sticky notes, and challenge the teams to write down as many ideas as they can.
Now that you have a large number of ideas, it is time to narrow those down to the best ideas with Convergent Thinking. This is the opposite of Divergent Thinking. It is time to pause the creativity and shift towards reflection and identifying the ultimate plan that will solve the problem. Retrospectives, using Divergent Thinking, produce a plethora of concerns and ideas from individuals on the team. The goal of Retrospectives are:
To check the mood and health of the team
To discuss what has gone well and what can be improved.
Choose a couple of improvement experiments and identify how they will be measured.
Using Convergent Thinking, I like to review all the ideas and group like ideas together. We then will use dot voting in which everyone votes on his or her favorite, and then we create a plan of action to see improvement.
If you or your teams struggle coming up with new and successful ideas, consider Divergent and Convergent thinking. I find it personally impossible to invent and analyze ideas at the same time; it is like putting your foot on the brake and gas concurrently. Keep it simple and try these steps:
Start with a divergent innovation or creativity session focused on solving a problem or coming up with the next great idea.
Timebox the session and aim for quantity over quality.
Over the next few days, prioritize a few ideas that you can study and refine. Then you can narrow them down to a single idea through convergent thinking that you want to take action on.
Are you ready to learn how to generate creative ideas but still get stuff done? We would love to help.
Brian Miller
Brian is a delivery partner with Redwoods Leadership Group. He is an Agile coach, a certified Scrum Master and a technologist with experience in high-tech, finance and healthcare.