CREATIVITY: DIVERGING & CONVERGING

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and quotable legend Yogi Berra once said, “When you get to the fork in the road, take it.”

The same can be said for creativity. The time-tested Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving process (aka “CPS”) defines two basic dynamics in creative process. It starts with “Divergence” and ends with “Convergence”. Idea generation or brainstorming sessions that do not use both of these processes will very likely be unproductive. The dynamics of the first stage, DIVERGENCE requires: 1) Not Judging 2) Combining & Building Ideas 3) Stretching for “Wild & Crazy” Ideas and 4) Striving for Quantity of Ideas. The principles of CONVERGENCE are around selecting ideas and moving to action planning and include: 1) Being Deliberate & Thoughtful  in Choosing Ideas 2) Reflecting on Your Primary Objectives 3) Combining & Improving Ideas (development) 4) Framing Things in the Affirmative — evaluating ideas positively and 5) Considering the Most Novel Ideas –often scary or seemingly “impossible” or “absurd”. That’s where the gold often is!

Both Divergence and Convergence are vital stages of the creative process and the aspects of each of these stages are vitally important in creating the new and novel in a way that makes a significant positive difference AND that is implementable — i.e., breakthrough ideas that are plausible. For more information on best creative process practices, you can find it here at the Creative Education Foundation:

http://www.creativeeducationfoundation.org/creative-problem-solving/the-cps-process/