Mind Flow/Mind Map
It can be difficult to put one’s thoughts down on paper in a linear manner, especially when it comes to creative processes. When trying to unearth new ideas and solve old problems in a fresh, evolved way, mapping our thoughts can go a long way towards clarifying connections between ideas and moving forward on an issue that previously served as a stumbling block.
The mind flow technique comes in to guide members of a team through these very issues. Used to generate a straightforward diagram of a team member’s (otherwise jumbled-seeming) thoughts, a mind flow map allows real insight into thought processes and helps give other members a deeper understanding of nonlinear mental activities. Overall, creating a mind flow brings a fresh perspective to the realms of creativity, innovation, change management, and engineering within an organization.
To start employing the technique, it generally helps a team to have at least one member who’s experienced with mind flow. That person will become the facilitator, who records the map of the mind flow on a dry erase board (or some surface that’s easy to make changes on) after explaining the essential process. Then, the facilitator will write a central object on the board, like “Training Consultant’s Work” in the given example.
From there, team members will begin to brainstorm related branches. With this example, “Development” and “Training” can serve as such branches that represent aspects of the consultant’s workload. Once the team has come up with all the relevant immediate branches they can think of, the facilitator will connect them to a circle surrounding the initial object. Off of these first, few branches, the facilitator will connect further stems with relevance. From “Training,” it might occur to team members to branch out to “Workshops,” which leads to the notions of “Scheduling,” “Classes,” and “Teams.”
Branches should continue to extend from every initial branch of the mind flow diagram until the team has exhausted each segment. For such an informally structured and creative process, it’s perfectly in keeping to use images to signify certain attitudes or areas of the mind flow.
A really good representation of a mind map (and the one used for the graphic above) can be found at http://thepeakperformancecenter.com/educational-learning/thinking/mind-mapping/
