Divergent Thinking | That's How Our Small Business Inventory Tool Came to Be
Sir Ken Robinson, author/educator and creativity expert, asserts that “Imagination is the source of all human achievement.” While his efforts are focused primarily on reforming the education system, his wisdom applies to business as well. If you are not familiar with Sir Ken you can learn more at http://sirkenrobinson.com/ or by checking out one of his Ted talks https://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson.html . One of his core beliefs is that worldwide our current education system actually decreases our ability to think creatively. He is quoted as saying, “I believe this passionately: that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather we get educated out of it.”
If imagination is in fact the source of achievement this doesn’t bode well. We have been trained through years of education and workplace norms that convergent thinking is best. That when we are brainstorming ideas we should eliminate the outliers and identify those suggestions that are most likely to succeed. We have learned that thinking outside the box is crazy and unproductive. Reaching a solution that is mutually agreeable is the goal. While many times we can get by with this kind of thinking, we are certainly missing out on some great, breakthrough ideas that could really revolutionize the way we do things. Stockpile, our small business inventory tool, is just one divergent thinker's attempt to modernize small business.
According to Sir Ken, we were born divergent thinkers. When we were young creativity came naturally to us. It stands to reason then, that we still have that ability. Perhaps, it’s like riding a bicycle. If you haven’t done it in awhile you may be a bit wobbly at first, but if you keep at it you will quickly find your balance because we never truly forget. If we want to really change the face of our business we need to get back to that level of free thinking. We need to not only allow the ‘crazy’ ideas we need to embrace them. Without criticism, without judgment. We need to really consider the possibilities. For example, we toiled over the features and such that would be part of our small business inventory application. In the end, we diverged from the norm and offered less as more. We built our small business inventory feature set to include only what is needed by the majority of small businesses. That's a step away from complexity and a step towards ease of use. Less is more is just one example of divergent thinking.
In an RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) talk from many years ago, Sir Ken uses a paperclip example to illustrate his point. He says the average person can come up with only 10-15 uses for a paperclip, while an extraordinary person can come up with 200. Why? Because the average thinker only considers a typical paperclip. The key to finding more possibilities is to consider variations on the paperclip itself. Could it be larger? smaller? made out of rubber? This is true divergent thinking. We need to be open to new ideas and new ways of looking at things.
If you’ve been following our series on process mapping you’ve got a blueprint of how your business operates on a daily basis. You’ve identified some areas that could use some improvement and you’ve probably already begun brainstorming ways to change your system to increase workflow. Choose one area of concern and take a moment to look at it divergently. Jot down any idea that comes to mind without worrying about whether or not it makes sense. Really let your mind wander as you consider possible solutions. Try not to let concerns about finances or personnel interfere with your thought process. If you can silence the little voice in your head that says “that won’t work” long enough to really think outside the box, you just might come up with your own game changing idea.
Once you have a list of possibilities you can begin to drill down deeper and start to evaluate the feasibility of implementation. Not all your ideas will be great ones and that’s okay. Some of them just might be and that is brilliant! Take a look at our small business inventory tool and consider what you see as food for divergent thought.
