Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge    I work in the strategic development team in one of the largest property development  company in Hong Kong and my challenge is to identify, source and present investment  ideas to the top management. We are working on a new project which is located in  Singapore and we are going to launch the presale in Hong Kong.     This is a new challenge to our team as we had never launched any similar projects in  Hong Kong. We have decided to review and organize our promotion program and sales

materials so as to boost the sales and create revenue.    Selection    We have chosen Mind Mapping as the tool for designing our sales campaign so as to  find a common understanding among our team members.    Application    Our team has arranged a meeting for the idea brainstorming. Project particulars,  feedback from agents, market news were placed on the walls and printed to all team

members. In the discussion, we avoided saying “no” to the others. Everyone in the  room was equal and was given markers and sticky notes.

From the information on the wall, team members shared views with each other and  wrote down their ideas on the sticky notes. Around 10 minutes later, I was selected as  the facilitator. We exchanged ideas and opinions about the notes on the wall to  evaluate and examine each idea carefully. For example, we discussed the most  effective media and the way we connect with our customers. I reviewed the sticky  notes on the wall. If we got the same or similar idea, I added the sticky notes on the  same role.

After 20 minutes, we could already found a common understanding among the team.  Although we got more than 10 promotion ideas on the wall, 2 of them were more  popular than the others. We decided to further explore the feasibility and cost-and- benefit analysis after the meeting.

Insight

By applying the mind‐mapping tool, each team member was given a chance to share  their ideas. In our regular meeting, some of the team members used to dominate the  discussion considering their seniority.     It is good to change the format from formal meeting to brainstorming with sticky notes.  I observed that members can build some new ideas based on others, and generate  more solutions for the team. Furthermore, our team can reach a consensus  immediately through the result of Mind Mapping so as to enhance the effectiveness  of work.

Approach     Given that our team has already gone through several design thinking activities, the  mind mapping is the appropriate tool. Our team needs to review the insight gained  from this sales launch and incorporate this insight into future campaign.

