Reflection

Challenge and Selection

Our department is involved in and provides the secretariat for numerous interdepartmental

committee and working groups, many of which have a similar membership.  These forums have been

individually established to help us progress work across government and have evolved in direction.

As we have limited resources, we need an efficient and effective way of ensuring we meet our

stakeholder’s expectations and achieve our objectives.

We had gathered information about our working groups and committees, the resources involved in

servicing these forums and our aims for the coming year.  We wanted to identify and develop an

agreed set of priorities, so we could potentially rationalise or streamline these forums, focus our

efforts and be more effective and efficient.

I chose mind mapping (Module 3) to help us quickly work through the vast amount of information

and develop an agreed view about our current state, before trying to identify a way forward (What

if).

Application

We gathered all the information we had about the forums, including their membership, purpose,

scheduling, programs of work and expected lifespan.  I transformed an office into an information

booth displaying it through a mix of mediums such as Post-it notes, whiteboards, butchers paper,

calendars and handmade posters.

Stakeholders, staff, and managers were invited to the information booth, given coloured dots and

asked to identify the forums that helped progress or inform their work created work or lacked

relevancy to their projects. They were then invited to write down one thing they valued and wanted

from a forum that currently did not exist.

While the information booth concept worked, some people were confused about the purpose of the

exercise, and the office we chose to set up in was not big enough for people to move around as

freely as we would have liked.

Insights

Through mind mapping, we identified a range of strategies to help link the work across forums,

reduce duplication of effort (both in servicing forums and for members of the forums).  We were

also able to decrease the number and frequency of forums, by establishing smaller self-servicing

committees.

Also, the mind mapping exercise identified a disconnect between our priorities and the work of one

of the committees, which we have now been able to address.

Most importantly, this was the first time many had participated in mind mapping.  All agreed the

design thinking approach had facilitated a rich conversation that had enabled us to identify and

agree on shared priorities that would allow us to take our work to the next level, with the hope of

achieving improved results, and had broader application in government.

Approach

The exercise was extreamly powerful and would use mind mapping again.  Next time, I would display

the information differently as some participants found it a little chaotic, and due to the size of the

office, it was harder to engage with than I would have liked.  I would also brief participants on

arrival, so they were clearer on what we were trying to achieve to avoid confusion and make it a

safer experience for people to share their views and concerns.

