From CONVERGENT-thinking to DIVERGENT-thinking

I spoke to a technician who had switched his career from the machining line to a service line. Personality-wise, he is so gentle, close to being timid. Nevertheless, he is very diligent at work but frequently, he has been perceived as sabotaging the peers or colleagues. He is an apple in his superior's eyes but a lemon in his colleagues'.

During regular office meetings, when he tries to bring up his work problems which are legitimate, he would usually be shot down. This not only happens at his present workplace but even at the previous one. Perhaps, due to his gentle and soft nature, he is not assertive enough in his communication skills. This is a typical setback of the technically-trained.

Technical people are obviously well-versed with technical knowledge and skills, but generally lacking in communication or interpersonal skills. It will be an added advantage if the technical people were to fill up those skill gaps and strive to develop their faculty in divergent-thinking.

The interesting thing is, if you ask an engineer how far it is from Tampines to Chinatown, he is able to give you the exact answer even to two decimal places. This is a convergent-thinking question. But, if you ask him how to get from Tampines to Chinatown, then he might have some problems answering that. This is a divergent-thinking question.

For this reason, many engineers or technical people tend to move away from the convergent-type of training to that which is more divergent, by taking up business administration or marketing courses as their post-graduate programmes. Such programmes would help them open up their minds and provide the necessary insights into those areas that call for a more divergent type of thinking and the training of the soft skills.

Also, technical people usually work behind the scene and are usually not so visible. Hence, at times, they are not being remembered or recognised sufficiently for their contributions as much as those who bring in sales orders or are at the frontline and are responsible for making direct contribution to the company's bottomline.