As a lean coach I spend a lot of time helping people learn how to solve problems. One of the things I’ve noticed is that when thinking about solutions, many people spend a lot of time trying to find the ‘one right answer’, the ‘best’ solution and then simply apply it. Although they may have started out with a number of possibilities, their goal is to whittle those down – converge – on one, and only one. In my practice, I teach people how to use the creative power of divergent thinking instead. That means generating many different kinds of ideas for possible solutions and then testing each to find out – through doing – which one bears fruit. This way, people’s creative abilities blossom and problems get solved in new and innovative ways.
