When divergence becomes convergence

Lionel Wijesiri

We love that moment when a divergent anomaly becomes the missing piece of the puzzle. The key that unlocks a mystery! The “Eureka!” of an inventor! The punch line of a joke! Tedious teachers tell us the answers. Astounding teachers make us see the answers for ourselves; Click! Snap! The light comes on and we are filled with the electricity of life.

Most people do what obviously makes sense. This is why most people are boring. The key to holding the attention of the world is to do what indirectly makes sense. This is a simple, yet practical application of Chaos Theory. (In a scientific context, the word chaos has a slightly different meaning than it does in its general usage as a state of confusion, lacking any order. Chaos, with reference to chaos theory, refers to an apparent lack of order in a system that nevertheless obeys particular laws or rules.

The two main components of chaos theory are the ideas that systems - no matter how complex they may be - rely upon an underlying order, and that very simple or small systems and events can cause very complex behaviours or events.) There can be no delight without an element of surprise. We notice the disparate element and think, “This doesn’t make any sense. I must be missing something.” Wait for it... wait for it... wait for it... then it all comes together in an implosion of understanding and we are submerged in a new reality.

Divergence Yes, wait for it... that is the key element. Remember, when we are exploring and making any decision, we use two generic processes: divergence and convergence that have quite different thinking methods.

Divergence is the process of thinking broadly, of expanding one’s mind, of going places where one does not normally go. In fact it is very much what most people think about when they consider creativity.

Divergent thinking is very important as the process whereby ideas are generated. Although everyone can do it, some take to it more easily and find idea creation (sometimes called ideation) both natural and fun.

For others, it is something more of an effort, both to create the ideas and also to get over the internal blocks that prevent them from telling others about their half-formed ideas.

An important first step of divergent thinking is to be open. It involves temporarily suspending judgment and deliberately opening yourself up to new thoughts and ideas. If you are seeking to change someone else’s mind, then opening them up to the thought of new thoughts is often an important first step and may need a little practice before moving onto the main topic.

Convergence Divergent ideation creates a constant flow of ideas, no matter how good or bad they are (and without even a thought about this), with the knowledge that they will be sorted out in the subsequent convergent activity.

When you have created a big pile of ideas, the creative activity does not stop there. The next stage, which can be very difficult, seeks to thin down the idea set into a very small set of ideas (maybe one) that will be taken forward for further development. This approach requires skills of selection, evaluation and judgment to whittle down the list to the most useful ideas. In this process, there can be argument and debate about the true potential of ideas As convergence completes, closure is achieved and the decision is made. For many people this is a point of great satisfaction. For others, it includes the worry that you might have got it wrong.

A danger here is that the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater, as good ideas are thrown out with the bad. It is important here to keep a balance, and the good thinkers have an important task to challenge the ejection of any ideas that may have serious potential.

Conflict Have you ever been in a wild debating session (creative or otherwise) and seen two groups of people crossing swords, where one group are constantly trying to keep the exploration open, whilst the other group is trying to come to a closure point and get a decision made? Maybe you were in one of these two groups.

Conflict can happen in groups when one person is diverging and another is converging. This can happen even between husband and wife. The result is that they are going in different directions and a train wreck is on the cards. A good idea for both parties is to deliberately avoid going in both directions at once. Deliberately say ‘Right, we are now converging, OK?’ Using a repeated sequence of divergence and convergence is a great way of maintaining focus in many situations. You start with divergence, explore only as far as you have the time for and can handle the complexity it creates. You then pull everything together to converge on a decision that takes you forward a step. At the next point, you now repeat the whole process.

It is easy when problem-solving to get lost in the detail. A sequence of divergence and convergence helps a lot. Here’s how it can happen: Divergence: What are all the problems we could work on? Convergence: This is the best. Divergence: What are all the contributors of the problem? Convergence: This one is the most significant. Divergence: What are all the possible ways of fixing it? Convergence: This one is the cheapest (or quickest) and so on...Manage the divergence and convergence when changing minds to the best effect. Diverge to help them find what is wrong and how it can be fixed, but do not allow endless divergence. Guide convergence towards the solution you want (or even a better one, if you can find it with them). Divergence or convergence is not a one-shot thing in serious creativity practices. They constantly sequence, one after the other and form a matched pair of activities that enable you to both think broadly and also stay focused.

Randomness is irritating. Chaos is thrilling. Be chaotic. (Or be boring. It’s your choice)