“Diverge Before You Converge”: Tips for Creative Brainstorming
An integrative process for idea generation is based on ideas from education, consumer research, business model design and emergent strategy.
The most effective brainstorming processes draw from both individual thinking and group discussion, with individuals coming together only after independent idea generation.
Image of “mini stack” interchange of Interstate 10, loop 202, and State Route 51 in Arizona courtesy of Flickr user squeaks2569.
Can companies be more disciplined about creativity?
Many of us think of creativity as something that’s free-form. Certainly in the arts, there’s a stereotype of the musician or painter who is driven by an almost frenzied inspiration when he or she is most productive.
But businesses ask employees to come up with creative ideas all the time. And in the business realm, generating new ideas is only one piece of the puzzle. The other piece is thinking through how ideas can be put to action.
In their article The Discipline of Creativity, in the Winter 2014 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review, Joseph V. Sinfield, Tim Gustafson and Brian Hindo write that they have developed “an integrative process for idea generation based on approaches drawn from several domains, including education, consumer research, business model design and emergent strategy.” They break down the process into seven steps that they’ve seen work in their research and in partnership with clients of Innosight, a global strategy and innovation consulting firm where they all work.
“The first three steps are designed to help managers understand the problem deeply,” they write. Those steps are to define the problem and solution space, break the problem down and make the problem personal. “Steps four through six describe how to generate tangible ideas for solutions,” they continue. Those steps are to apply an outside-in perspective, diverge before you converge and create “idea resumes” for a complete solution. The final step, create a plan to learn, explains how to translate the ideas into action.
One of the most intriguing steps is number five, “diverge before you converge.” What exactly do they mean by that?
“In confronting creative challenges, it makes sense to consider as many ideas as possible,” the authors write. “However, unless you’re careful, traditional brainstorming sessions can be risky: One powerful voice can overwhelm the others and cause the group to settle on early suggestions prematurely.