CONVERGENT VS DIVERGENT THINKING
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Inductive and Deductive Thinking You can’t get away from your current models of thinking until you’re conscious of their existence, and start to doubt and investigate them. And then we need to create new ones, and then break free of them… and so on. Most people are not aware of their thinking, so there is nothing to challenge. And most people think in terms of what is, rather than what can be. There is lots of use for thinking about what it and improving it. However, given this is how most people think, it is the least rare resource, and thus in big supply. The rarest thinking is thinking up what does not exist, and bringing it to life. This is low supply and large demand.
Deductive thinking With deductive thinking, your mind uses a logical process to solve a problem to which there is just one possible solution (or a limited set of correct solutions). Deduction is when you take the models in your mind and use them to act. You have an idea and you apply it to confront and perhaps even change the world. Deduction uses existing boxes.
Inductive thinking With inductive thinking, your mind can go in many different directions. It’s free to make new associations, invent, imagine and take risks. The end result may be logical, but if can be a much more unexpected logic. Induction is where you observe something and use that information to create new models or update existing ones. Induction creates new boxes.
Both types of thinking are critical for practical creativity.
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CONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS… An example of a car is…?
A car is an example of…?
Which of the two sentences seem easier? If you’re like most people, it was easier to come up with examples of cars – Toyota, Porsche, Audi… The second sentence was probably a little more of a challenge. You may have answered, ‘Engine’. Which is great. However, this answer fell into the comfort zone and does not take advantage the creative freedom available to us. In attempting to complete the first sentence, we must look for examples of a car: there is no freedom to take risks. It’s more an automatic way of thinking; we’re stuck in the ‘car’ box. However, with the second sentence, we do not have these limits. We may have said that a car is an example of something with wheels, or a symbol of progress, or an example of first world convenience, or pollution-creator… The two sentences forces us to think in different ways. The first sentence requires us to think deductively. The second sentence requires us to think inductively. The idea is to build the ability to traverse both sets of answers easily and with comfort. When we were being audited, the question on most our team’s mind was, ‘How do we pass the audit?’ My question was, ‘What if we didn’t have a national framework to answer to?’ In the first question, the status quo was being accepted, and the problems inherent within it were being solved. This is deductive thinking. And it was needed. In the second question, we’re rejecting the status quo and suggesting a new truth – a new reality – which frees us to explore so many options. By applying both types of thinking, we created the best of both worlds, which enabled us to go international. This would never had happened if all we focused on was passing an audit.
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To think in new boxes… LET’S GET THINKING DIFFERENTLY… 1. DOUBT EVERYTHING Challenge how you see the world, and what you think you know to be true. When you continually probe whether everything you think or believe is actually true, you become more creative, less ego-driven, more humble, more curious. The familiar is seductive. Outsiders think of ideas the Insiders didn’t think of because they are married to none of the ideas. We have a natural bias towards ideas that confirm, rather than oppose, the ideas we already believe about our world. We are a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need to actively doubt what we think will happen tomorrow. There will always be more uncertainty than we anticipate. 2. PROBE THE POSSIBLE Relook at your world with vigour and self-awareness. Explore who you could be. Explore who your clients could be. Explore what you could offer, how it’s offered, what it provides. Question the global patterns of desire and where the world is heading. Creative thinkers who do not seek knowledge are prone to coming up with the ‘pie in the sky’ ideas that are difficult to implement and do not offer real value. Because the person has not applied critical thinking, they may be offended their idea isn’t met with enthusiasm. Study your clients and potential clients, your competitors, and the marketplace. See the trends and what’s going on. See what’s missing. See what is accepted as common practice. 3. DIVERGE Have many ideas, not just one. Be married to none of them. Consider all of them. Create new models, concepts, ideas and ways of thinking. Generate as many ideas as possible. It’s not about selecting the ‘good’ ideas and leaving any ‘bad’ ideas out. Everything is in. Imagine your company has disappeared. Imagine there is no demand for what you do. Imagine your company in two or three parts. Adopt new perspectives. Take the viewpoint of a client who now prefers a competitor. Look at all the reasons that could happen. Write headlines for newspapers.
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Imagine what you do is in so much demand you can’t keep up. How did that come about? 4. CONVERGENCE After the freedom of looking and considering it all, now we become more analytical and transform the long list of ideas into the more select group of the best. The previous brainstorming requires the suspension of all judgement. Now we need to analyse our ideas. Take the ideas now available and convert them into reality. Don’t shut off all creativity as you converge. Many times in this part of the process we have refined, improved and changed an idea into something even better. There are some people who are better at divergence and some who are better at convergence. Play to strengths. Ensure that the critic is silent in the divergence phase and speaks up in the convergence phase. Many people love the divergence and don’t do well here; simply because it’s easier to dream and do nothing. Be mindful that both skills are needed for success. All dreaming leads to poverty. All critical-thinking leads to isolation. Both skills, at the appropriate time, get results and great people to come together. When doing this part of the process, start with what is ‘Core’ to the business. Then move to what will ‘Improve’ core. Then finally, the ‘Innovations’ that we’ve never done before.
Consider the following questions: Is this new idea consistent with the organisation’s overall purpose?
Does this new idea leverage our strengths?
In terms of marketing, sales, and distribution infrastructure, how prepared are we to make this a success?
Is geography an issue?
What impact would this have on our brand? Does it complement our brand?
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How will this impact our community? Our team? Our suppliers?
What would happen if this failed?
5. RELENTLESSLY RE-EVALUATE Nothing remains a great idea forever. Keep questioning what you came up with again and again and never settle for what it in the pursuit of new potential breakthrough ideas.
WITH THANKS TO:
Edward do Bono Alan Ivy Luc De Brabandere I recommend reading: Six Thinking Hats, Edward do Bono Thinking in New Boxes, Luc De Brabandere and Alan Ivy Focus, Daniel Goleman
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SHARON PEARSON Disruptive Leadership Module 3 Convergent Vs Divergent Thinking Edition 1 | Version1 | December 16 Published by The Coaching Institute Copyright 2016 Š The Coaching Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. In some instances, people or companies portrayed in this book are illustrative examples based on the author’s experiences, but they are not intended to represent a particular person or organisation.
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