Consciously switching thinking modes is a key ingredient for a high-performing team in a world that "won’t wait for us."

After years of working as an IT Leader, I realized that my innate curiosity often clashed with my responsibilities. In many cases, a manager’s role demands making decisions here and now, without the luxury of constantly asking, “What if?” When you’re weaving through projects and problems, there is simply no time for that, and wanting to explore every single path can completely stall the momentum of even the best-organized team.

The breakthrough came from understanding divergent and convergent thinking. The former is about out-of-the-box brainstorming and looking at a problem from multiple angles. The latter relies on analysis, logic, and narrowing choices down to the single best solution. This naturally defines the Leader’s territory: spending more time in the second phase while delegating the first to the team. This split requires trust, strong information synthesis, critical thinking, and taking full ownership of decisions made under this setup. For topics that cannot or should not be delegated, maintaining the self-discipline to switch between modes is crucial so you don’t get stuck in either.

Personally, the biggest impact came from strictly limiting my own creative phase and accurately spotting situations that leave no room for long “what-if” scenarios. In any properly tuned process, the measurable payoff is a shorter path from defining a problem to resolving it.

I believe that being aware of these cognitive mechanisms is essential. When we consciously switch thinking modes while accounting for our own tendencies and those of our team, we gain a critical ingredient for a high-performing team in a world that “won’t wait for us.”

Interested in my take on divergent and convergent thinking?
Check out this article for some food for thought:
“Divergent and Convergent Thinking Through the Lens of IT and AI”
Article on nejczew.com
Post on medium.com

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Paweł Nejczew