Think of the last problem you solved. Needn’t be anything major. Simple problems like ‘which ice cream to eat’ or ‘which route to take to the city’ would do. How did you finally solve it?
You most likely used one of two methods. Most people use convergent or divergent thinking to solve problems. Let’s see how.
What’s the Difference Between Convergent and Divergent Thinking
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat is Convergent and Divergent Thinking?
Convergent and divergent thinking are thought processes or approaches used to solve a problem or generate ideas.
- Convergent thinking involves finding a single, correct solution to a problem by focusing on logic and analytical reasoning
- Divergent thinking is a creative process that explores multiple possible solutions to a problem through free-flowing, non-linear thinking, evolving the answer as you go along
Let’s understand them both.
Summarize this article for me pleaseUnderstanding Convergent Thinking
What is convergent thinking?
Convergent thinking is a process-oriented, logical, and analytical approach to solving problems. It focuses on narrowing down the multiple possibilities to arrive at a single, optimal solution.
When to use convergent thinking?
Convergent thinking is particularly practical when the problem is well-defined and there is a clear goal or answer. It is best when you have a few options to choose from.
For example, while you’re deciding what to order for dinner, you might collect the preferences of everyone at the table, identify the most popular choice, and negotiate with the outliers to build consensus.
In businesses, this could be about solving the problem of unavailability of a critical resource. You can use convergent thinking to evaluate mitigation strategies, such as redistributing tasks among existing team members, adjusting the timeline, or hiring a temporary replacement before choosing the right one.
What are the pros of convergent thinking?
Convergent thinking, when applied well, can be extremely beneficial across the following parameters.
- Efficiency: Convergent thinking leads to quick decision-making by focusing on finding the most practical and logical solution to a problem
- Clarity: It provides clear and correct answers, reducing ambiguity and ensuring precise outcomes with high accuracy
- Simplicity: This approach simplifies the decision-making process by narrowing down options to the most viable ones, making complex problems more manageable
- Goal orientation: It helps maintain focus on predefined objectives, facilitating a direct path to achieving specific goals without unnecessary detours
What are the cons of convergent thinking?
While simple and efficient, the convergent thinking approach isn’t always right. Here are some reasons why you should be careful while using convergent thinking.
- Limitation: Convergent thinking can limit creative ideas and the potential for innovative solutions
- Overlooking alternatives: It might overlook unconventional or out-of-the-box solutions that could be more effective or beneficial
- Stringent: In uncertain environments, the rigidity of convergent thinking may hinder adaptability to emergent information/challenges
- Risk of groupthink: In groups, convergent thinking can lead to groupthink, where the desire for consensus overrides the alternatives
- Simplification: Convergent thinking may force teams to simplify complex problems that require a nuanced understanding of multiple perspectives
To overcome these cons, there is an alternative in the form of divergent thinking.
Summarize this article for me pleaseUnderstanding Divergent Thinking
What is divergent thinking?
Divergent thinking is a creative and exploratory approach to solving problems by generating new ideas and possibilities. Divergent thinking fosters innovation blending different perspectives, without immediate constraints on feasibility. This leads to breakthroughs that conventional, linear thinking might not achieve.
When to use divergent thinking?
Divergent thinking is best when the problem is neither obvious nor simple, requiring innovation to be solved. For instance, while you’re redecorating your house, divergent thinking helps create a unique home experience.
In business, divergent thinking can solve business problems in differentiated ways. How do we develop this feature? How can we complete this project faster? How do we stand out from the competition? Divergent thinking can answer all this and more.
What are the pros of divergent thinking?
When you’re applying divergent thinking, the world is your oyster. It has several benefits.
- Creativity: An open-ended approach encourages creative problem-solving with ideas that are innovative, unique, and differentiated
- Flexibility: It expands cognitive flexibility, inspiring individuals to think in multiple directions and consider a wide range of perspectives and solutions
- Comprehensiveness: It encourages a profound exploration of ideas, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the problem and context itself
- Adaptability: It encourages teams to simulate various scenarios and outcomes, increasing the chances of finding effective solutions
- Collaboration: It fosters group decision-making without immediate judgment or analysis, allowing participants to explore various solutions to a given problem
What are the cons of divergent thinking?
While divergent thinking offers great potential, it can be ineffective when not applied right.
- Overwhelming: Generating too many ideas can be overwhelming, leading to decision paralysis
- Lack of focus: While exploring numerous possibilities, there’s a risk of individuals straying too far from the initial problem or goal
- Time-consuming: Generating a number of ideas can be time-consuming, making it unsuitable for quick decision-making
- Resource intensive: Divergent thinking requires significant mental and physical resources, which may not always be practical
- Difficulty in transition: Transitioning from divergent to convergent thinking to finalize a solution can be challenging, as it requires a different set of cognitive skills to narrow down choices effectively
Now that we’ve understood convergent and divergent thinking in detail, the differences must be crystal clear. So, let’s recap.
Summarize this article for me pleaseConvergent vs Divergent Thinking: The Key Differences
| Convergent | Divergent | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of thinking | Linear and logical | Non-linear and expansive |
| Thought-process | Narrowing down from a few options to find the best solution | Focusing on generating multiple, varied solutions |
| Best for | Problems with a clear answer/goal | Undefined issues where you need innovative solutions |
| Skills needed | Logical reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical skills | Creativity and thinking outside the box |
| Time-sensitivity | Quick and repeatable | Takes time to generate, consider and process all ideas |
| Outcome | A single solution or answer that best fits the problem | A range of ideas, which need further consideration with convergent thinking |
| Risk | Low risk as it relies on established methods/options | High risk due to the uncertainty of untested ideas |
If you’re familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, here are a few examples of personality types and their thinking style.
ISTJ personalities are methodical and prefer tradition and order. This makes them more convergent thinkers, who can follow set structures. This is also true of ESTJ individuals who are organized, decisive and place a high value on efficiency.
INTP personalities use their innovative and imaginative side to explore wacky solutions to their problems. Side note: If you’re of this personality type, here are some INTP books you might like.
ISFP personalities with an aesthetic sense and love for freedom also like exploring creative solutions. ISFP leadership is often defined by divergent thinking.
Bonus: Here’s a brief comparison between ISFP and INFP personalities!
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe Balance Between Convergent and Divergent Thinking
Though divergent and convergent thinking are fundamentally different, they are not mutually exclusive. Every professional and project manager needs to incorporate both convergent and divergent decision-making styles in their toolkit.
Divergent thinking opens up options, while convergent thinking narrows down the decision. When solving any problem, you need the divergent thinking phase to generate ideas and the convergent thinking phase to make the final decision.
Moreover, in business, you’ll face a wide range of problems every day. Some might need the range of divergent thinking while others need the speed and efficiency of convergent thinking.
For example, when a marketing team is looking to develop a new advertising campaign, you might encourage divergent thinking to generate concepts that will grab attention and influence the audience.
Once you have a bunch of options, you need convergent thinking to refine these ideas based on the target audience, budgets, brand guidelines, etc. So, everyone needs to develop skills for both thought processes and learn to strike the right balance based on context.
Here’s how you can.
Summarize this article for me pleaseTechniques to Enhance Convergent Thinking
Convergent thinking leverages existing knowledge, methods, and processes to solve problems. Some of the most commonly used techniques are as follows. Any good project management tool will help you explore options and make decisions.
SWOT analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, factors critical to any decision you’re making. Let’s say you’re considering a job change, you can make decisions based on a thorough SWOT analysis.
ClickUp’s personal SWOT analysis template can help.
Consequences and pay-offs
This is a variation of pros and cons, with a little more focus on outcomes.
What are the consequences of not making this decision? What are the payoffs of making this decision? This technique chooses the answer based on the answers to the above two questions.
For example, let’s say you’re thinking about choosing Python as your programming language. What could go right if you choose Python? What could go wrong if you don’t?
With ClickUp Whiteboard, you can outline consequences and pay-offs for all your options to quickly make decisions.
Decision tree
The decision tree is a little more advanced, mapping out the decision-making journey based on choices. Here’s what a decision tree might look like.
If that seems complex, here is ClickUp’s decision tree template to ease your starting trouble. This is a customizable whiteboard that helps you identify key decision points, and make progress by eliminating unsuitable options.
Summarize this article for me pleaseStrategies for Promoting Divergent Thinking
Divergent thinking often takes a blue-sky approach, exploring numerous options before shortlisting a few. Some common techniques used in divergent thinking practice are as follows.
Six thinking hats
Edward de Bono developed a problem-solving and decision-making strategy in his book Six Thinking Hats. He recommends adopting six distinct perspectives, symbolized by hats of different colors, to explore a problem comprehensively and generate holistic solutions.
At the end of the session, each one of you will have approached the problem from six different perspectives. It broadens context, facilitates structured exploration, and balances creativity.
Brainstorming
Everyone’s heard of brainstorming as one of the most popular group decision-making techniques. It is the process of groups coming together, generating ideas to solve a problem in a short duration, without judgment or constraints. It encourages creativity, radical ideation, and spontaneity.
Any of the best whiteboard software can be a great brainstorming tool. It helps project teams generate ideas, document them collaboratively, shortlist viable options, explore pros and cons, and make effective decisions.
ClickUp also includes a wide range of whiteboard templates, making brainstorming ideas easier for your business needs.
Mind maps
If you feel like you have too many ideas that you’re unable to manage, mindmapping is a great technique to streamlining your creative thinking. Mindmaps are diagrams that organize ideas/information into a hierarchy of relationships around a central concept.
ClickUp Mind Maps can serve as your problem-solving software by helping you plan and organize your ideas as nodes and relationships. Create workflows, share them among team members, collect feedback, and follow the divergent thinking process among distributed teams.
Summarize this article for me pleaseEnhance Your Convergent and Divergent Thinking With ClickUp
A good decision-making process needs the right mix of convergent and divergent thinking. You need creative options that differentiate you from the competition. You also need an efficient way to choose from the options and make a decision.
Learn the techniques and strategies of both convergent and divergent thinking so you don’t have to give every decision a lot of thought. ClickUp’s features and free decision-making templates make it all the more easy for you.
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
