WHY DIVERGING ON THE ROAD TO THE FUTURE MAY BE A GOOD THING
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Establishing an innovation-friendly environment requires a degree of nontraditional thought — and action — that many leaders and organizations may be unprepared to implement .
The innovation process is divided into two broad modes of thinking : ‘ Divergent ’ and ‘ Convergent ’.
Innovation as a Learning Process
Teresa Di Cairano , co-founder and Director of Intervista Institute , affirms , “ Though there are a few notable exceptions , business schools often emphasize left-brain thinking with a stronger emphasis on analysis and planning . The result may be less innovative and entrepreneurial than you may want . Innovation benefits from both right-brain and left-brain thinking — ideally working in concert .”
And therein lies the rub . Establishing an innovation-friendly environment requires a degree of nontraditional thought — and action — that many leaders and organizations may be unprepared to implement . To some , the notion of innovation may simply be overwhelming .
However , framing innovation as a learning process , rather than as a series of daunting tasks , may be the best way to overcome this mental roadblock . David Kolb ’ s experiential learning theory ( wherein he identified the four steps of the learning process : experiencing , reflecting , thinking and acting ) can provide insights into the innovation process as well . We can also understand the innovation process as the interplay between abstract and concrete thinking , and between the analysis and synthesis modes .
“ This allows us to better navigate our thinking on the not-so-obvious road to innovation ”, says Robert Mazerolle , co-founder and Director at the Intervista Institute .
How Right-Brain vs Left-Brain Thinking Impacts Innovation
Relevant to understanding the innovation mind using Kolb ’ s learning model , is that it explains the state between experience and reflection as divergent , and the one between thinking and action as convergent . Similarly , Derrick Palmer , a managing partner of Innovation Point , states : “ The innovation process is divided into two broad modes of thinking : ‘ Divergent ’ and ‘ Convergent .’ Often these states are also referred to as right and left brain .
The divergent mode ( right brain ), is at the heart of the Strategic Innovation approach . It ’ s open-ended , exploratory and inquisitive , deploying non-traditional creative thinking and future visioning techniques . It includes ‘ exploratory ’ consumer / customer insight research , qualitative exploration of industry / market trends and speculates on possible industry discontinuities .”
Not every organization grasps the importance of divergent thinking . As Palmer observes : “ It is here , with the notion of ‘ divergent thinking ’ that organizations often fail in their attempts to innovate . Believing that it is frivolous , ‘ blue sky ,’ time consuming and slows time to market , they choose to minimize or neglect it .
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