Master Mind
Mind Mapping is increasingly used by trainers, leaders and managers to brainstorm, problem solve and manage their projects. Here Clive Lewis, MD of Illumine Training, looks at why it has caught on.
You may have heard of Mind Mapping, you may even have some idea of how to draw them but do you use Mind Maps® in your work? If not then this is the article for you. Here I am going to argue the case that this is an approach that can improve your project management, bring your presentations to life and even help you with information overload.
Mind Maps reflect the natural way in which we think. That is why they often look a bit like neural pathways in our brains. They show, in visual form, the way that we link together all our ideas around particular subject areas.
To explain this, take a look at the Mind Map below. The subject is ‘a business trip’ and from this central idea you will see thick lines, basic ordering ideas (BOIs), emanating from the central image. These BOIs are like chapter headings in a book, they signpost our main ideas about the subject and from each of these BOIs we can generate many more ideas and associated thoughts. Look at the map and you will see that everything radiates from that central image and that is why Mind Mapping is called ‘radiant’ thinking.
Example Mind Map: Organising a business trip
So how can we can use Mind Mapping in our work?
One good examples is in the area of presentations. Let me explain.
Imagine I am making a presentation to my team on how they are expected to work better together. How might Mind Mapping help me? Well in the first instance I can get clear in my own mind what key aspects of team working I want to talk about. This might be the way the team is led, the team goals, the people currently in the team, the performance expected, the communication between team members. These are my BOIs and they help me to start organising what I want to say about the topic. I can then build up my map around these BOIs drawing on my own experience and developing my ideas until I am happy that I am covering all the main ground. Then when I have completed my map it gives me a great platform from which I can give my talk.
An important point to note here is that the Mind Map helps my audience to stay with the structure of my thinking. Furthermore, because it provides the whole picture, it will help people to stimulate their ideas as well as remember what the presentation was all about. So instead of needing 25 slides which nobody will remember I have just one image which captures everything.
You will have already noted from the business trip Mind Map that this technique is also extremely useful for project planning. It can provide a bird’s eye view of a major project and in this way help managers to think about all the scoping and resourcing issues involved. But that isn’t all.
Think for a moment about how ideas get generated within projects. Project teams often brainstorm for new ideas but is this an efficient approach? I don’t think so. Many ideas get lost in brainstorms. In contrast Mind Mapping helps to capture and organise ideas around the BOIs. Indeed when you use Mind Mapping in association with brainstorming you have a tool that both organises and stimulates. It also allows you to see the connections between areas that otherwise might have been missed and this has direct implications for problem solving. In developing new perspectives and analysing problems in such a visual way teams can open up their thinking and come up with new solutions to the problems they face.
Finally for anyone who has to learn or study Mind Maps are invaluable. This makes this technique extremely relevant both for trainers who want to help their delegates to remember what they are learning and for all managers who are suffering from information overload. Let me explain.
One of the key principles in Mind Mapping is that it codes information efficiently. It is hard to remember a long list of words but an image can remind us of a whole scene, conversation or string of ideas. In this respect Mind Maps are deliberately designed to stimulate our minds. Their use of colour, imagery and the separating out of key ideas all help here. Our brains like visual creativity and an image opens up associative thinking and captures the attention. Whether you are trying to capture the spoken word, learn from a text book or study apiece of distance learning Mind Mapping can directly help with the capture of new information.
And of course the style you use to create your Mind Map will be completely your own. While there are important guidelines for how to Mind Map, people draw up their maps and present their ideas in ways that make sense to them. When you design your maps you will have your own associations, your own graphic style and your own phrases which are meaningful to you. It is this creativity and individuality that makes your Mind Map and the information coded within it memorable.
So if you haven’t ever used Mind Maps my invitation to you is to get started now. If you want more information on how to draw them up then see the panel below, go to www.mind-mapping.com or take a short course. As with any new skill you will have to build up your skills but most people find it an easy and natural way to work and one which builds their creativity and effectiveness. With benefits like these how can you afford not to know how to Mind Map?