Mind mapping     Challenge       As an innovation leader and a person with a great capability to structure, the mind mapping  tool is one of my main used ones. During the exploration exercises, I lead with different  operational teams in the company, and right after the phase of collecting valuable  information from my partners, I start to work in building a picture that helps and supports  the whole team to keep working on such picture, each one contributing with his /her  knowledge but still with a common approach.     People usually have not much time, priority is business and supporting innovation, ideation  or exploration activities are actions that even being key for keep developing the company  capabilities, is understood as a loss of time, that is why it is so important to be precise and  facilitate the discussions professionally.     Selection     As in other occasions, I planned to apply this tool in my last initiative I have lead and in  which a very broad and particular group of people are identified as stakeholders.     To bring all the people on board in an easy way, I engaged the team building together a  mind mapping to identify considerations, concerns, and priorities they might identify,  before starting the next step of solution design.      Application     The exploration as such is about finding solutions to one of our main business pain points.  Such a problem has been highlighted by many different units and a common approach to  finding a standardized solution has been started. This is the reason why so many  stakeholders located worldwide have been identified to support it.      During the mind mapping session, the majority of the stakeholders were represented. To  facilitate discussions, five teams were built. Counting with the support of four more  colleagues that act as moderators, the sessions run in parallel.      Questions as which criteria could be prioritized and which company value should be  dominant, discussions were driven to reach consensus and a common view. Time for  building own reflections and finding consensus was also provided.       Insight and approach     I have applied this kind of approach previously but without knowing about the name and  stages, as they are presented in the training. Having a more deep understanding of how and  when to apply it, and its final goal, help me to focus on the goal of the sessions and avoiding  further discussions on the next steps of the solution design.

Facilitating these sessions is more complicated than it is expected, and even more when the  team has many participants. That is why explaining the overall vision and process and set  clear expectations of the session were very helpful. In my process of keep learning and  becoming better facilitator, I will ensure that goals are clearly explained from the beginning,  participants are receiving a proper introduction and are guided to find agreements.

