“Mess Finding” – The Convergent Stage

The creative process alternates between divergent thinking and convergent thinking. During the divergent phase of “mess finding” you should have developed long lists of possible areas for engagement (my use of the pronoun “you” includes parent and child). During convergence, we focus on two or three specific problems or opportunities for which you will forge creative solutions. Isaksen and Treffinger write (1983) “Converging during ‘mess finding’ involves evaluating or rating the appropriateness and significance of the variety of mess statements you generated during the divergent phase.” Here are some general guidelines to follow.

First, make sure you determine personal ownership. Ask yourself, “Is this opportunity or problem something for which I have responsibility or decision-making authority?” If not then choose a different challenge to work on. This is the “take charge” question and makes you the determining factor as to whether or not your problem is resolved or challenged achieved. “Taking charge” is a central theme of creativity and leads to innovation.

Assuming you have ownership, now check for the presence of passion or resolve. Do you really want to do this? Are you willing to submit this challenge to systematic efforts to achieve a solution? To what extent are you willing to invest time? Are you willing to make sacrifices? The level of your motivation, coupled with your sense of ownership, will determine the outcome. If you don’t have a high level of motivation, then find something else to focus on. If you are not driven to face this challenge or problem, you will give up quickly. Nothing will happen.

Personal creativity requires ownership and motivation. These two qualities have the power to “make stuff happen.” Tony Wagner notes in Creating Innovators that America’s innovation has been powered by people of self-sufficiency and self-determination. Making a similar point, Daniel Pink, author of Drive, concludes that innovators have a desire to somehow “make a difference.” The message in creativity literature is consistent. Ownership and motivation drives creativity. Possessing these two driving factors, people from all walks of life are capable of tremendous productivity.

Assume that you have found two or three items from your “mess” for which you have both ownership and motivation. Let us now apply some creative thinking skills to further define your challenge. Start by assessing your familiarity with the challenge. How much do you know about this area? If you want to get better grades, are you familiar with the skills and characteristics required for excelling in reading, math or writing? If you want to become a better basketball player, are you aware of the skill standards for shooting, dribbling, or passing that are required to make the high school team? What practices or strategies do high achieving students or athletes possess that you need to learn?

Without assessing familiarity, children often have wild, unrealistic ideas about their challenges. I remember when a seventh-grade student decided he wanted to play football for one of Cleveland’s high-powered Catholic high school teams. He stood 5’4”, weighed 145 lbs., and was a slow runner. The physical attributes of his mom and dad suggested his physical stature would not change much. Given these circumstances, his chances for success were slim to none. But had he done his “homework” on the subject, he would have discovered that he probably did not have the physical attributes necessary to play on this high school team. He needed to find another challenge.

A few years ago one of my students determined that he wanted to improve his mathematics grade. I asked him, “What will that require?” He gave a very generic answer, “Work harder. Study more. Do better on tests.” I pressed him for specifics, “What does work harder mean? What does ‘study more’ look like? What kind of tests are you having trouble on? What are your weaknesses in math?” He shrugged his shoulders, puzzled. He did not know enough about his challenge to formulate a definitive problem for which he could construct a plan of action. He lacked familiarity with his challenge.

For any problem or challenge, you will need to ask yourself, “What do I know about this subject? What do I need to know? What would I like to know?” You will not be able to frame the definition of your problem or challenge if you do not understand it. On the contrary, the more you learn about your challenge, the more you understand it, the more you will be able conceive of a plan that will help your attain your objective.

From the February 2013 Birchwood Clipboard