Mind Mapping to a better relationship

Challenge:    For a little background, I have been out of the corporate world for many years and until last  month had not even heard of the concept of design thinking. My submission is a hypothetical  that came out of discussions I had a week ago about the current state of affairs in the United  States – specifically the protests. In one, a person asked me, “what do you think is the answer?”  My immediate thought was that there are likely numerous answers and getting people together  to explore possibilities is a better way to start the process. It was my “aha moment” to perhaps  understanding design thinking. How could I apply design thinking to towards a solution?  Obviously, there’s so much to potentially tackle that my hypothetical takes a narrower  approach to deal with one aspect. This hypothetical is a conference/symposium for a city that  has significant tension between law enforcement and its citizens and continues to maintain a  negative reputation. Participants will be leaders from law enforcement as well as city  government. It is a simple hypothesis that can be replicated for any other city facing the same  challenges. The Mind Mapping tool will be the one utilized.      Selection:    I chose Mind Mapping because in this particular hypothetical scenario, because much of the  “what is” should be covered. There are cities that are already experiencing a harmonious  relationship; ideas, thoughts, current practices are already available. Mind Mapping will allow  participants to push entertain/analyze the ideas and data in front of them (of course any they  want to add will be acceptable) and work from there.      Application:    The event should begin with a page out of Storytelling in order to help bring about an  atmosphere and mindset that’s conducive to moving towards a mutually beneficial end. This  helps prepare the mind for the mapping tool. Borrowing from William Phillips’s video, there  will also be a setup in a large conference room with posters and graphs with data, ideas and so  forth. The participants will be given time to see all and make note of ideas they believe can best  be utilized (the “good stuff” as she refers to them). Upon reconvening in clusters, they’ll go  through a similar “theme” exercise before undergoing the “So What?” test.       Insight:    As mentioned earlier, this is a hypothesis thus there it hasn’t been tested. Ideally, the intended  result is that Mind Mapping will enable the civic and law enforcement participants to examine

and determine possible exercises to improve relationships. The visual mapping should help as  they transition from ‘What is’ to ‘What if’ as they move to the next phase.     From a personal perspective, Mind Mapping is something I find fascinating – it’s nothing like  anything I’ve known. Going back to the video of George & Geoff, my methodology in business  was much more like George’s in that I would start with a goal in mind and find the solution to  get there. I’ve always prided myself as an out-of-the-box thinker because at times I would come  up with ideas that might not be conventional and that’s served me well. However, I’m realizing  that I am ‘out-of-the-box’ when compared to George. The reality is there’s a whole new  approach to thinking that I had no concept of, which is tremendous. I viewed the Mind Mapping  video numerous times because of my fascination. While I see myself utilizing Visualization much  more often in every day thinking (which is already a fantastic), I’m hoping that at some point I’ll  face a challenge that allows me to get to Mind Mapping.

