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In challenging times you need 'Divergent Thinkers'.... "We think too small. Like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view".
Mao Tse-tung There are those that say that you need different teams for different markets. Clearly, while there may be some merit in this, it is simply not practical or cost effective to keep changing your team to suit changing market conditions. However, what you can do is make absolutely sure that you have the right 'team dynamics' in place. Just as Dr Meredith Belbin would advocate having Shapers, Plants, Resource Investigators and Completer Finishers in your team others would recommend having both Convergent and Divergent thinkers. Both are very different and the latter, in particular during tougher times, can be worth their weight in gold. We will come back to that later - including the gold analogy! Ever heard the expression "If it aint broke don't fix it"? To be fair it's not an unreasonable comment. Many companies do very well by this mantra. Others however are always looking for newer, fresher ideas and products. Let's face it, we have had package airlines queuing up to fly us around the globe for over fifty years. People have listened to music one way or another for centuries and there have been vacuum cleaners that do a decent job for a generation. So, how did we end up with Easyjet, iPods and the Dyson bagless vacuum cleaner for example? Divergent thinking that's what! These entrepreneurial founders or companies all thought in a divergent manner. They took an idea (that was already there) and stretched it out beyond the reach of their competitors. In short, divergent thinking is about taking convergent thinking to the next level. It's moving almost from the safe territory of convergent thinking to the scarier and often untested world of divergent thinking. Let's provide a simple example of the two: A team sit in their meeting room trying to think of a fresh way of marketing a product or service. The manager actively encourages all involved to think up as many new and creative ideas as possible. The natural order would be that ten ideas (for example) are mentioned. That in itself is great; there is however one small problem! In the vast majority of cases most people are happy (even if it's only in their subconscious) to settle on one or two agreeable ideas and try and make them work. It is also often the case that managers like to limit the number of ideas to one or two and then drill down on them. This saves time and also allows them to retain control more easily without things getting out of hand! This is what is called convergent thinking. Simply put, a number of people converge on a single idea and try to implement it. People have a tendency to want to find a solution as quickly as possible from one that is presented and drive it forward. This is perfectly natural and in some cases works admirably well. The team has worked well together and something can be shown for their collective efforts. However, the problem is that people are inclined to think that this is the solution and, as a result, they then cease to think of any other way forward. There are times however when all that is required to make a real difference is divergent thinking. The phrase was originally thought up by Joy Guilford and it refers to the ability to generate many ideas from just one single source. Nothing new there we hear you say. But there is. Divergent thinking is far more difficult, involves potentially looking foolish in front of your colleagues and requires courage of conviction. The reason? Divergent thinking is all about the weird and wonderful! It is about taking an idea and stretching it out further than you could believe possible. In other words, plenty of ideas that may appear stupid, unworkable and down right bonkers! Divergent thinking does not come naturally to most people as we mostly like to remain in our comfort zones and say only what is practical and feasible (if only for fear of losing our personal credibility). The real value of such thinking is that out of every twenty ideas, one will stand out as incredibly innovative. Entrepreneurs are often very divergent; they literally fizz with ideas, many of which seem alarmingly ridiculous! However, just one will be quite brilliant. Advertising agencies will have more than their fair share of divergent thinkers. Not only do they actively look for them but the environment lends itself to this level of creativity too. Many of the 'ideas' may well be very old. Indeed, many will have been out in the market for years. It's just that a huge gain can be had from a small and often simple change to the way that the idea is presented. Take well-known brands such as Apple, eBay and Dyson. These companies have all used divergent thinking to establish themselves as highly valuable brands. So, the common theme here is that all of these companies required a new and innovative way of doing something that others have done before. Apple launched the iPod, eBay came up with a form of 'reverse retailing' and James Dyson brought a new way of cleaning your carpet to the market. The key to it all is very simple; not necessarily thinking of new ideas but, in many cases, thinking of ideas that are materially different. Like all great ideas and strategies however the idea can sometimes be the easy bit - the execution is often very difficult. What do you do with all of these ideas? How do you harness and harvest these ideas so that they actually lead to a physical outcome? This takes us to the next level of thinking - critical thinking. This is about sifting through these ideas and cherry picking the one really good one (for whatever reason). We use this expression loosely as all of them could of course be great ideas. It's rather like sifting for gold 100 years ago. Put a whole load of dirt in a pan, add a little water and keep swilling the mixture around until you are left (with a bit of luck) with a very tiny nugget of gold! In many respects critical thinking is exactly what this is all about. Drilling down on all of the ideas and going with just one of them that (again for whatever reason) seems like a good one. This does however require original and divergent thought to precede it, patience and an organisation that is open-minded, entrepreneurial and courageous. None of these great initial ideas will have come to final fruition easily. They will have been crafted and finely honed over many months and years before they were distilled down to their final format. It's almost a form of intellectual R&D.
Admittedly the Easyjets and Googles of this world are all fairly extreme examples of divergent thinking, but in every business there is room for more of it. It should be actively encouraged and nurtured. Every company should know who their divergent thinkers are. Many do not, purely because they don't have any or they do not encourage it! Those at the top-table should be aware of what the 'thinking style' of their Board room is and act accordingly. It's not rocket science but it does take a little effort to appraise your team and make sure that you have an effective team of convergent and divergent thinkers. If your team is made up of only convergent thinkers you will have nothing new to sell, and if they are only divergent thinkers you will be driven mad with new ideas that go nowhere! So, in more challenging economic times such as these, be sure to have a complement of the more difficult to locate divergent thinkers. You never know, they may just come up with an idea that transforms the way that you do business! If you have any viewpoints on the contents of this article then please do not hesitate to contact us at info@summit-group.org or call us on +44 (0)20 7763 7114; we would be delighted to hear from you. We have our own highly qualified Director of Coaching and Development who will be more than happy to discuss your thoughts and requirements on divergent thinkers and how to attract them.
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