Diagonal Thinking
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In 2003, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA)[1] embarked upon a project called Diagonal Thinking to understand better what makes people in the advertising, media and marketing communications agencies ‘tick’. Hamish Pringle originated the concept of 'Diagonal Thinking' in 1986/7. Having joined the IPA as Director General in August 2001, he agreed to donate the intellectual property rights to the concept in exchange for the IPA investing in the idea and finally bringing it to fruition.
The first stage of the project was to explore the hypothesis that there is such a thing as Diagonal Thinking i.e. the ability of successful people in advertising and marketing communications to think outstandingly well in both linear/inductive and lateral/creative ways.
Consultancy AgencyPeople[2] were engaged to carry out a piece of exploratory small-scale pilot research and, most encouragingly, this seemed to give an initial validation of the ‘Diagonal Thinking’ hypothesis. On this basis AgencyPeople were commissioned to carry out a second stage comprising a programme of research of sufficient scale to give confidence in the findings.
The second stage of the research project has now been completed amongst five discipline ‘cohorts’ of account management, account planning, media planning, media buying, and creative people and the results are exciting. The Diagonal Thinking hypothesis has not only been validated amongst these bigger samples of people within each of the core agency disciplines there is also evidence that star employees have more of this thinking ability than average performers. The total sample of 100 is statistically significant and the sub-samples are valid as recruitment benchmarks.
This project, and its resultant selection tools, could have far-reaching implications for the UK’s creative industries because it would widen the talent pool and help ensure the UK remains at the forefront in the face of intense international competition.
Work on the Diagonal Thinking website is progressing well and we expect to launch it during the second quarter of 2008.
[edit] What is Diagonal Thinking?
'Diagonal Thinking’ is the concept which underpins a new tool designed to aid the recruitment of talent into the creative industries, especially from a more diverse range of people.
This is the culmination of a five- year research project for the IPA by John Gage and Sarah MacPherson of AgencyPeople, a consultancy specialising in supporting creative businesses. Latterly sponsored by Creative & Cultural Skills the research has tested and validated the hypothesis that the most successful individuals working in adland are both linear and lateral thinkers – they think ‘diagonally’.
These top brains in commercial creativity are innovative, can explain concepts in both rational and emotional terms, have a broad range of interests and a passion for execution. They can be highly logical, but link ideas hitherto seen as remote from each other; they want to do work that is creative, but also for it to have a practical impact.
[edit] Advertising industry context
“We are determined to maintain and build on the UK’s position as a centre of excellence. This is why the IPA’s Diagonal Thinking project is so important. It will help us identify and recruit the people who have the special Diagonal Thinking ability, and thus secure for our industry the best possible talent from the most diverse range of backgrounds. But our ambition extends to the other sectors of the creative industries to which we’re so closely related. We’re offering to share with others the expertise we and our consultants, AgencyPeople, have acquired in developing Diagonal Thinking as a recruitment tool. Our hope is that the hypothesis that we have validated for ‘Adland’ can also be shown to be true for successful people in design, film, music, fashion, architecture and many other creative industries which we and Government see as central to the future prosperity of UK plc.”
Moray MacLennan, President of the IPA, Chairman M&C Saatchi – Europe
[edit] How has Diagonal Thinking been validated?
Over the past five years, a cohort of over 100 advertising industry luminaries, drawn from five job disciplines in agencies, has been profiled using psychometric tests. This research has validated the Diagonal Thinking hypothesis with average scores being higher than the comparison or norm group score.
With 100 people in the overall study, the results are statistically significant. Sub disciplines, with 20 participants in each, represent a valid recruitment benchmark. The full Diagonal Thinking Test will be useful to agencies as a recruitment and selection tool for graduates and mid-career joiners, offering them an alternative to the standard skills competency tools.
[edit] Why have we developed it?
The advertising industry has long been dependent on graduate intake, attracting very few school leavers or mid-career joiners. There has also been a tendency for work experience, internships and recruitment to favour ‘friends and family’, and this has been exacerbated in London and other major cities by the high cost of living and relatively low starting salaries in agencies compared to other professional services.
Together with a lack of diverse role models to encourage self-selection amongst students, this has resulted in a large section of society from certain social, ethnic and educational backgrounds not considering advertising as a career option – a high risk for employers in a highly competitive and globalising market.
These factors are addressed in the Government’s key strategy document ‘Creative Britain, New Talents for the New Economy’, which acknowledged ‘Diagonal Thinking’ in the context of Commitment 3: "The DCMS will work with its NDPBs, and through them its sectors, to agree actions to promote a more diverse workforce."
[edit] What is the self-assessment approach?
The full Diagonal Thinking Test uses a unique cocktail of psychometric tests designed to identify people who combine these thinking styles, but is too expensive to apply on a mass scale. However, the IPA will be able to provide a more widely available practical application of this research. This is via an online, entry-level, Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment which those considering a career in advertising will be able to take free of charge.
The assessment is not designed to ‘screen out’ applicants, but is intended as a career guidance tool to inform people whether they are ‘Diagonal Thinkers’. This will help ensure that a more diverse mix of people is encouraged to apply to the industry, based on their special thinking ability, rather than being put off by fears that they may not have the appropriate background. Applicants can also show their results to prospective employers, as preliminary evidence that they are ‘Diagonal Thinkers’ and hence are more likely to succeed in advertising.
[edit] What does the advertising industry say about Diagonal Thinking?
“We are an industry that is committed to hiring top talent and continuous training. Making the right selection decision is key, as hiring the wrong people can turn out to be a very expensive mistake. This new tool can give us greater confidence with mid-career joiners as well as opening the door to new talent we might never have found through our normal channels.”
Liz Nottingham, HR Director Starcom, MediaVest Group
“Rather unexpectedly, businesses like banking have rapidly become models of diverse employment. They can do this because they have an objective measure of the kind of talent their industries need. We need something similar: if we can spot talent early – and help people to discover this talent in themselves – it will help this vital UK industry maintain its worldwide lead.&rdquo
Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy Group UK
[edit] What will it assess?
The Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment measures two components: linear (or rational) thinking, and lateral (or creative) thinking. Linear thinking is defined as the ability to reason analytically and logically. In the test participants are asked to complete a critical reasoning questionnaire after reading passages of information on every-day occurrences, and answer questions such as: “Can this statement be inferred from the previous passage?”
On the other hand, lateral thinking is about creating new ideas and making links between ideas that weren’t previously connected. In the test participants are given scenarios such as: “How would you encourage people to recycle more?’’ and asked to think of as many answers as they can, in a set amount of time.
Applicants will complete the assessment online and then be able to print out their scores, which they can then use as the basis of an application for one of the various roles in the advertising industry. The assessment will comply with the Data Protection Act and applicant profiles will be monitored anonymously to ensure diversity/equal opportunities are respected.
[edit] The broader opportunity
Given that other creative industries have a need for similar, complex personalities, and also have issues of low diversity, could they too benefit from this approach? With so many ‘creative’ courses now available to students in the UK, and tens of thousands of students attending them, the need to help young people decide whether or not to pursue a commercial creative career has never been more vital.
If Diagonal Thinking could be validated for other creative industry sectors then they too could employ their versions of the Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment and the full Test as an alternative to the standard skills competency tools. In the process we could learn more about the special qualities required by the different sectors within the creative industries, and make more of the UK’s human capital in building ‘Creative Britain’.
“The creative industries account for 7.3 % (excluding craft and design) of the gross domestic product in the UK and are growing at twice its rate. So, it makes sense to future proof the contribution these industries make to the UK economy by ensuring that those who are most likely to succeed realise their potential by accessing a career within one of its many sectors. The work that the IPA has done in relation to adland is fascinating and, I am sure, will have a big impact on its recruitment and retention success. It would be great to see this standard setting initiative extending across and benefiting other creative sectors.”
Tom Bewick, CEO, Creative & Cultural Skills
[edit] What happens next?
The Diagonal Thinking Self-assessment for the advertising industry will be launched in summer 2008. It will be available free of charge via the IPA website, the Creative & Cultural Skills’ new Creative Choices portal and any other organisation interested in education, training and development.
[edit] Further background
In 2003, Andrew McGuinness, then of agency TBWA, was invited to Chair a joint Working Party comprising representatives from the IPA Training & Development, the IPA Personnel Advisory Group and the IPA Creative Forum to run the ‘Creative DNA’ project, with Mary Budd, IPA Employment Affairs Advisor providing Secretariat support.
The Working Party’s remit was to explore the ‘Diagonal Thinking’ hypothesis to see whether there are any common denominators in terms of thinking style amongst successful people in advertising, and, if so, to develop tests designed to identity those who possess it, both at the broad level of ‘advertising’ per se and then within its specialisms.
It was agreed that professional expertise was required and the brief to industrial psychologists was to propose a research methodology and a costing for a project whereby the ‘Diagonal Thinking’ concept / hypothesis might be validated and selection tools for this ability be developed, which would be the exclusive property of the IPA.
If we can really identify proper criteria for advertising stardom, we could revolutionise the way that people are developed and managed within agencies. We can hope to raise the quality of agency selection decisions, which should reduce the wastage of newly recruited staff and increase the return on investment in training and developing them.
The overall objective for these tools will be to become a key part of the long-term strategy, which is designed to enhance further the calibre of new entrants to advertising, to increase the 'standing' of the industry and to close the remuneration gap between agencies and management consultancies.
These IPA selection criteria could have a variety of applications, including a web based 'self test' for young people seeking to understand whether or not they might be suited to the advertising industry as a career option. As well as helping candidates trying to enter the business at the graduate or college leaver stage, a variation of such selection tools will be useful for agencies in evaluating older people with more experience, who are presently underrepresented in our industry.
After a search and tender process, John Gage and Sarah MacPherson of consultancy, AgencyPeople, were appointed to work on hypothesis validation and test development.
AgencyPeople proposed a two-stage project.
[edit] Stage 1
This was an initial very small-scale exploration of the ‘Diagonal Thinking’ hypothesis in which the sample was comprised of five ‘stars’ drawn from amongst those people perceived to have made a great success of their career in advertising. These exemplars were from the creative, account planning, media planning, media buying, and account management disciplines.
The results were very encouraging with the preliminary interviewing process establishing many commonalities of thinking style and personality. Most importantly, all the respondents scoring highly on both the well-established proprietary tests for linear/inductive and lateral/creative abilities that AgencyPeople administered. In this context there was initial evidence in support of ‘Diagonal Thinking’ hypothesis.
[edit] Stage 2
On this basis AgencyPeople proposed a second stage in which larger cohorts of about 20 individuals would be put through the preliminary interviewing process and take the same pair of tests. These cohorts were to be drawn from the same five core disciplines, but with a 50:50 mix of ‘star’ and ‘average’ performers as established by a specially designed recruitment questionnaire.
Due to budget constraints, the IPA could only afford to fund one cohort, account management, and the research is due to be completed by March 2006.
If the validation process continues to show useful results – in particular that there is a discernible difference in Diagonal Thinkingability between ‘star’ and ‘average’ respondents – then the IPA will continue to invest in the process of validation with the other four core disciplines.
[edit] Academic qualifications in advertising
The traditional method of entry to the advertising industry is via the graduate recruitment schemes of individual agencies. Over 6,000 people apply for only about 600 graduate jobs each year, mainly in London. The number of applicants is likely to rise as a result of Government policy.
There has been much research into what academic qualifications are required in order to be a success in advertising. It might be thought that degrees in marketing, or business studies would automatically stand a student in good stead. However, in practice, agencies are as likely to employ someone with a good degree in English to History and for them to do well in the business.
Further, several of the most successful of all advertising people have not been to university at all, but embarked on their agency careers in the despatch department. Sir Frank Lowe and Peter Mead are prime examples.
A further issue is that the industry is disproportionately white and overwhelmingly young.
The IPA 2007 Agency Census, the definitive survey of marketing and communication agencies, showed that 19,077 individuals were employed in 261 IPA member agencies. Of the 127 agencies providing a full census return, 67 provided information in respect of the ethnic diversity of their employees:
93.9% of employees were white (92.7% in 2006) 2.2% of employees were Asian 1.7% of employees were black 0.9% of employees were of mixed origin 1.3% of employees were from other ethnic backgrounds
With regard to age; in 1991 37% of the UK population was aged 45 and over and it is projected that by 2011 this will be 43%. Against this background, the advertising industry remains exceptionally young. In 2007, an estimated 47.2% of the employed base in IPA member agencies was aged 30 or under, 33.9% was aged 31–40, 13.5% was aged 41–50 and 5.3% over 50. The average age of employees in member agencies is 33.5 years.
For all these reasons, we are keen to be able to distinguish between the categories that Dr Meredith Belbin calls “eligible” and “suitable”. “Eligible” candidates have the qualifications and experience that we would expect from previous successful candidates. However, we are concerned that this may be casting our net too narrowly, and missing out on those from non-traditional backgrounds. Candidates who are “suitable” may not have the expected CVs, but possess the right combination of qualities to succeed in our industry. We hope that the results of this research will enable us to identify them.
[edit] Is there a common denominator
One frequently occurring thing that seems to unite the 15,190 people employed by IPA members is that their academic qualifications often indicate a talent for both the arts and the sciences.
Even if a successful person in advertising has a good degree in English or History, very often it turns out that they have Maths, Physics or other science subject at A level or with a top grade at GCSE.
Our hypothesis is that a facility in both arts and sciences is a significant benefit in a career in advertising, as enables someone to think in both a linear or rational mode and a lateral and intuitive mode.
There are many 'left hand brain' people who can do an excellent job in the more rational occupations, such as engineering or scientific research. By the same token there are 'right hand brain' people who can make a great contribution in the arts, theatre and musical worlds. Can successful advertising people do both?
[edit] The Diagonal Thinking Hypothesis
The Diagonal Thinking idea is based upon long experience of observing the people who are particularly well suited to the business of advertising.
(The word 'advertising' is used throughout in its widest sense to include all commercial communications such as direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations, sponsorship etc, which are designed to create publicity and reputation for a product, service, charity or social brand.)
At its core the advertising business is all about creative commercial communications. It's not enough to just come up with an arresting visual, verbal or aural message about a product or service, the message has to be relevantly anchored in reinforcing or modifying customer attitudes and behaviour towards the brand.
Thus the really great creative people in advertising, who actually make the lateral leap from a brief to a brand-building idea, are also able to post-rationalise the logic behind it and argue for their concept in order for an often-sceptical client to understand and accept it. They can think in both linear and lateral modes – they can think 'diagonally'.
There are relatively few individuals who are able to think in both these modes. For example this quality is not always present in 'pure' artists who produce their works and often have little to say why they did so or what their import is - usually that job is left to art critics, curators and collectors.
On the other hand, many other professionals such as lawyers, accountants and management consultants are excellent at logical reasoning, and indeed can produce imaginative solutions in that context, but are often incapable of translating their business insights into creative ideas.
The key ability is being able to build an argument using inductive logic while also being able to make intuitive creative leaps. The best people in the advertising and communications business oscillate between linear and lateral thinking modes in confronting a business problem. They are capable of ‘Diagonal Thinking’
==A spectrum of abilities within 'Diagonal Thinking'?
It may well be that there is a spectrum within Diagonal Thinking in that people who work in the creative department may be found in a different location on the thinking 'map' from their account management, account planning, and media planning colleagues. Thus it would be useful if this range of Diagonal Thinking were explored within the project.
[edit] Other qualities
As well as Diagonal Thinking there are clearly other qualities, which can help an individual succeed in advertising. Inter-personal and communication skills, the ability to be flexible and an intuitive grasp of situations are just some of them. Is it possible to test for these in the same process as that for establishing the talent for Diagonal Thinking?
[edit] External links
- ^ IPA: http://www.ipa.co.uk
- ^ AgencyPeople: http://www.agency-people.co.uk
