Jory MacKay on April 01, 2025 How (and why) to balance convergent and divergent thinking
Decision-making is highly inefficient. A recent McKinsey study found that 61% of business leaders confessed that their decision-making process was slowing them down, leaving them unable to take the quick action required to drive their organizations forward.
To break through the noise, the best decision-makers use a mix of convergent and divergent thinking.
This combination of deep and analytical thinking with creative problem solving can help you come up with groundbreaking solutions without investing much time or resource.
If you’re struggling to think “outside of the box”, mixing convergent and divergent thinking is a great way to see your problems from a new perspective and forge a new path towards success.
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What is convergent vs. divergent thinking? How are they different?
Convergent thinking focuses on coming up with a single, detailed solution that represents the ‘best’ way to solve a problem. Convergent thinking focuses on speed, accuracy, and logic, and strives to find the single most correct solution by using tried-and-tested methods, techniques, and data.
On the other hand, divergent thinking is used to generate new creative ideas by identifying as many possible solutions to a problem as possible. Divergent thinking often occurs in a free-flowing manner, using spontaneity, different viewpoints, and creativity to help decision-makers think ‘outside of the box’.
Both thinking patterns were discovered by American psychologist J. P. Guilford as part of his famous Structure of Intellect (SI) theory.
Guildford’s study looked at how people generate ideas, and found evidence that we commonly produce logical, straight-forward ideas (convergent production) and more diverse, innovative ideas (divergent production) when faced with different types of problems.
The study also indicated that most people naturally lean towards being more convergent or divergent.
This unconscious bias typically aligns with other characteristics, such as our personality traits, risk-appetite, and work style.
While it’s a broad generalization, usually those who are more logical, data-oriented, and technical are great convergent thinkers, whereas divergent thinkers are more creative, people-orientated, and visionary.
But both types of thinking have their benefits in the workplace. Let’s take a look at each in more detail and how to apply them in product or project management.
Convergent thinking: Structured, straightforward, and safe
Convergent thinking is all about selecting and diving deep into a single, optimal solution for a problem. Getting into this sort of detail is common in the business world, ensuring that solutions have been fully analyzed to understand the risks and benefits before proceeding.
The benefits of convergent thinking are clear: Detailed analysis helps to reduce risk, uncover opportunities, and properly estimate work.
But, convergent thinkers can sometimes end up down rabbit holes, fixating on an ideal that may not turn out to be the right one.
For project and product management teams, convergent thinking is especially useful when completing tasks such as:
- SWOT analysis: Completing a detailed strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of different solution options.
- Risk management: Understanding the likelihood and impact of risks to come up with mitigating actions that protect the business.
- Project planning: Planning out the detailed tasks and owners for the activities within a project plan or a product roadmap.
If you’re facing a highly technical, risky, or time-critical decision, convergent thinking is often the way to go to ensure you have the detailed and logical approach you need to give stakeholders confidence.
Divergent thinking: Creative, chaotic, and occasionally risky
Divergent thinking aims to produce multiple answers by shifting perspectives, transforming information, or combining new elements or data sets. In many situations, the solutions that arise from divergent thinking are brand new, making them more exciting.
Divergent thinking helps businesses become more innovative, more creative, and uncover new opportunities, such as new product or service offerings.
On the flip side, divergent thinkers can get carried away with fanciful ideas, causing them to lose focus, waste time, and spend money chasing a pipe dream that will never work in reality.
For project and product management teams, divergent thinking is especially useful when:
- Brainstorming ideas: Helping teams come up with new products or services that may excite customers and set them apart from competitors.
- Solving complex problems: Highly complex ‘wicked problems’ are more likely to be solved by divergent thinkers who can look at information and data with a new perspective.
- Solution design: Whether it’s marketing, process improvement, or product-based projects, divergent thinking is great for coming up with solutions that look, act, and operate differently.
If you’re stuck in a rut, pushing for innovation, or trying to stand out from your competitors, divergent thinking is more likely to help you come up with a creative, ‘out-of the-box’ solution.
How to bring convergent and divergent thinking together for better ideas
While convergent thinking is the safe bet that provides stakeholders with confidence, at times, it can be too much of a safe bet.
That’s why the best leaders, managers, and teams use a mix of divergent and convergent thinking to help generate and implement the best ideas.
Let’s look at how you can combine the two into a 4-step decision-making process that’ll help you turbocharge your project and product deliveries.
1. Discover the underlying problems and causes (Divergent)
When first faced with a complex problem, we need to try to get to the bottom of things and understand the true root cause. This is an inherently divergent activity, where we look at a situation through different lenses to get to the nub of the issue.
Techniques to use:
- Brainstorming: Workshops are a common way to get people together to discover why things are the way they are. There are a range of brainstorming techniques out there to help you and your team get to the root of any problem you’re facing.
- Interviews: For product-based teams, user interviews are a great way to uncover more information from your customers. Whether in-person or remote, they provide an outside perspective that’s great for divergent thinking.
Real-life example:
Hardeep is a Product Manager for FinGuru, an app that teaches users to invest in Forex and Crypto. Hardeep has noticed that users are failing to complete the Forex training pathway, and he needs to decide how to address the problem. He gets the team together to come up with ideas as to why this is, while also speaking to users to gain some feedback.
2. Define each one and plan the approach (Convergent)
With the discovery stage complete, it’s time to start narrowing down the options using some objective and logical convergent thinking. Most businesses don’t have the time or resources to explore many options in detail, so prioritizing the best ones is important to drive towards success quickly and efficiently.
Techniques to use:
- Prioritization: When it comes to filtering your list of options, prioritization is the name of the game. There are many prioritization techniques out there, so pick the one that works for you, considering the feasibility, do-ability, and effort of each cause you face.
- Validate: Not all solutions are born equal, so coming up with a way to validate ideas is important. Whether it’s a prototype, small MVP, or a mockup, look for ways to quickly rule out ideas that don’t have legs.
- Avoid analysis paralysis: Many decision-making processes get lost at this stage due to analysis paralysis. When you’re presented with so much information, it can be hard to see the wood from the trees. Check out our guide to overcoming analysis paralysis if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Real-life example:
Through the discovery, Hardeep comes up with three reasons why users are dropping off the training pathway: the app’s interface is unfriendly, the technology is too slow, or users simply aren’t engaged by the content. Hardeep and the team consider all three, and agree that the UI and technology both work well, so plan to focus on making the content more engaging.
3. Develop new ideas and solutions (Divergent)
With a problem to solve, it’s time to lean back into divergent thinking techniques to come up with new ideas and solutions to help you and the team move forward. Ideation is hard work, so try to use a range of different techniques to help get those creative juices flowing again.
Techniques to use:
- Promote creativity: Creativity is a free-flowing state, so do everything possible to boost your creative process and get yourself in a place to create new ideas. To help, check out the Planio guide on becoming more creative.
- Bring a barbarian to the meeting: It’s easy to fall into familiar patterns at this stage. Instead, try to question your assumptions and typical processes to unlock new ideas.
Real-life example:
Hardeep gets together with the content and design team to come up with new ideas to make the Forex training course more engaging. They discuss adding in videos, quizzes, and an AI-chat bot to help users interact with the content in a way that helps them learn faster and fall in love with investing.
The best decision-makers use a mix of convergent and divergent thinking.
4. Deduce, decide, and deliver (Convergent)
With your chosen solution defined, it’s time to go back into convergent thinking by diving deep into the details. Doing this helps decision-makers to ratify their decision while giving teams all the information they need to push ahead and execute the delivery.
Techniques to use:
- Scope definition: Once you’ve chosen your solution, you need to scope it properly to ensure you have all the information you need to deliver it. Writing a scope of work can help with the initial project setup, as well as set the foundation for any scope changes in the future.
- Project planning: The best implementations have a solid plan in place to help guide them from A to B. To give everyone confidence in your decision, create a project plan that details the actions, owners, and sequences of activities to come.
Real-life example:
Hardeep and the team decide to improve the FinGuru app by adding a series of videos to boost engagement. They plan the videos in detail, including estimating the time and cost to create them, as well as the impacts on the app’s loading speeds. Once agreed, they implement the project to deliver the changes.
Here’s where Planio can help:
Once you’ve decided on your course of action and deliverables, Planio is the perfect tool to help you turn your ideas into reality.
With intuitive features for task management, traditional and Agile project management, document management, and collaboration, it’s the ideal way to bring your team together to create something new and exciting for your customers.
5 ways to become a more divergent thinker
Project and product teams are packed full of people who are great at making plans and delivering on their promises. But for many, this means they’re strong convergent thinkers who struggle with unlocking the divergent part of their brain.
If that sounds like you, here are five ways you can become a more divergent thinker:
- Use different ideation techniques. As we saw in our step-by-step guide, there are many techniques to help you come up with great ideas, including brainstorming, user interviews, and mind mapping. Try different techniques to help you look at problems in different ways and form new ideas.
- Seek out inspiration. People come up with their best ideas when they’re inspired. To help you get to that space, seek out colleagues, friends, and mentors that inspire you and get their advice and opinion on tricky topics. A fresh perspective can really help get the creativity flowing.
- Use team rituals. Teams that are cohesive, open, and honest are the ones who often come up with the boldest and brightest ideas. If you’re struggling to break down a big problem, use team rituals to come together as a team and generate new bonds that promote creativity.
- Free yourself of distractions. Divergent thinking often comes when we’re in a relaxed state of full focus. To help with this, use techniques such as time blocking or Pomodoro to break up your day and create dedicated time to focus on overcoming your mental block.
- Don’t judge ideas too early. Logical, structured thinkers have the tendency to shut down ideas that are a little out of the box. Some of the world’s most innovative ideas probably sounded ridiculous at first, so take the time to explore those wacky ideas. There’s always a chance one of them will turn out to be just the solution you and your team need.
Stay ahead of the game by unlocking our convergent and divergent brains.
Final thoughts: Creativity and innovation are risky business
With the majority of leaders confessing that they struggle with decision-making, unlocking our convergent and divergent brains is a great way to help us all stay ahead of the game.
While convergent thinking comes naturally to many of us, divergent thinking helps come up with new, exciting ideas that can then be explored and brought to life through structure and logic. Combining the two is hard, but get the process right, and you’ll create a shortcut to arrive at groundbreaking ideas that help you and your team move forward.
Once you’ve got to your decision, Planio is the perfect tool to help you deliver on it. As a complete collaboration tool, Planio’s project, document, and workflow management features help you and your team stay in sync, collaborate on new ideas, and deliver the things that matter to your stakeholders and your customers!
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