Design Thinking for Innovation: Final Assignment

Mind Mapping (Module 3)

Challenge:    In the workplace our team was relatively new established to offer leadership consulting  services to clients. As a team, we were still in the process of finding our core service  offerings and trying to determine exactly what we wanted to be known for. Each of the  team members had a slightly different vision of what they thought the core focus should  be and each had slightly different priorities and goals. The team consisted of different  divisions that were located in different geographical locations, meaning that they each  served different clientele in different regions. The team needed to come together in  order to offer one comprehensive representation of the services and offerings and to  develop a clear and concise mission statement.     Selection:     To approach this challenge creatively, we decided to use a mind-mapping process. In  design thinking, mind mapping is not just a map of your own thoughts, but rather is a  visual representation of the thoughts of other team members and the thoughts of our  end consumers. We had information and feedback from clients about their expectations  and what they would like to see from our service offerings, along with the views and  perceptions of each individual team member. At this stage, we had a lot of information  and viewpoints and needed a tool that would help us to visualize these ideas and  organize them into useful themes. For these reasons,  we decided to use mind mapping  to help use creatively visualize our information.     Application:     In applying the tool, we did follow a somewhat traditional mind mapping procedure. We  started with a core idea, in this case, the expectations of our clients. Trying to think  about the question, what services do our clients want from us. From this question we  created a gallery. In the first round, we used sticky notes and were able to write down  key words to discuss our thoughts, ideas and perceptions about what the clients wanted  from us. Each team member had a few minutes to think about this individually and write  their ideas privately on their own sticky notes. Before placing the sticky note on the wall,  each team member briefly described to the group why they choose this word or  concept. As the ideas were presented, they were clustered into key themes in the  gallery by the moderator. The next step was to classify the client need that we wanted  to solve and for this we used images. From a large selection of printed images each  team member had time to individually select an image or multiple images that  represented the customer need. Again, before placing the images in the gallery, each  team member briefly explained their selected image and the moderator clustered the  image.

After these stages, as a team we discussed what aspects of the gallery really resonated  and tried to further cluster and identify themes in the information. Once we had identify  some of the key themes, we split into smaller groups and were able to work on putting  together a rough draft of a service offering description that included the key themes  identified.     Insight:     Throughout the mind mapping process, it was really insightful and interesting to hear  different perspectives from the different team members. It is often very easy to get stuck  in your own idea and it becomes difficult to see the challenge from other perspectives.  Often because of this, you actually lose sight of the customer perspective and begin  developing a solution that does not meet the consumer’s needs. The mind mapping tool  allowed us to visualize the different ideas and perspectives from the different team  members, but also visualize the challenge from the customer perspective. Feedback  from clients was organized into our mind map and we were able to identify gaps in our  teams’ understandings and the expectations of the end client. The process really helped  us to think about the challenge not only from our own perspective or the perspective of  our close stakeholders, but also a much more diverse perspective. We were more open  to hearing more ideas and giving the team the time to discuss and articulate their ideas  was a good team building opportunity.     Approach:     In the future, I would likely still choose to use the mind mapping tool to approach this  challenge, however, there are a few things that I would do differently when using the  tool. The first thing is that I would allow for more individual brainstorming time. Most of  the collaboration was done in a group setting and might have made younger staff feel  intimidated to share their true thoughts and feelings. Each member vocally presented  their own idea while adding it to the mind map board. I would have had the members all  add the ideas to the map, without highlighting which idea came from who in the first  stage. By following this approach, we may have gained more honest input from the  team members.


Design Thinking for Innovation : Final Assignment Mind Mapping ( Module 3 ) Challenge : In the workplace our team was relatively new established to offer leadership consulting services to clients . As a team , we were still in the process of finding our core service offerings and trying to determine exactly what we wanted to be known for . Each of the team members had a slightly different vision of what they thought the core focus should be and each had slightly different priorities and goals . The team consisted of different divisions that were located in different geographical locations , meaning that they each served different clientele in different regions . The team needed to come together in order to offer one comprehensive representation of the services and offerings and to develop a clear and concise mission statement . Selection : To approach this challenge creatively , we decided to use a mind - mapping process . In design thinking , mind mapping is not just a map of your own thoughts , but rather is a visual representation of the thoughts of other team members and the thoughts of our end consumers . We had information and feedback from clients about their expectations and what they would like to see from our service offerings , along with the views and perceptions of each individual team member . At this stage , we had a lot of information and viewpoints and needed a tool that would help us to visualize these ideas and organize them into useful themes . For these reasons , we decided to use mind mapping to help use creatively visualize our information . Application : In applying the tool , we did follow a somewhat traditional mind mapping procedure . We started with a core idea , in this case , the expectations of our clients . Trying to think about the question , what services do our clients want from us . From this question we created a gallery . In the first round , we used sticky notes and were able to write down key words to discuss our thoughts , ideas and perceptions about what the clients wanted from us . Each team member had a few minutes to think about this individually and write their ideas privately on their own sticky notes . Before placing the sticky note on the wall , each team member briefly described to the group why they choose this word or concept . As the ideas were presented , they were clustered into key themes in the gallery by the moderator . The next step was to classify the client need that we wanted to solve and for this we used images . From a large selection of printed images each team member had time to individually select an image or multiple images that represented the customer need . Again , before placing the images in the gallery , each team member briefly explained their selected image and the moderator clustered the image . After these stages , as a team we discussed what aspects of the gallery really resonated and tried to further cluster and identify themes in the information . Once we had identify some of the key themes , we split into smaller groups and were able to work on putting together a rough draft of a service offering description that included the key themes identified . Insight : Throughout the mind mapping process , it was really insightful and interesting to hear different perspectives from the different team members . It is often very easy to get stuck in your own idea and it becomes difficult to see the challenge from other perspectives . Often because of this , you actually lose sight of the customer perspective and begin developing a solution that does not meet the consumer ’s needs . The mind mapping tool allowed us to visualize the different ideas and perspectives from the different team members , but also visualize the challenge from the customer perspective . Feedback from clients was organized into our mind map and we were able to identify gaps in our teams ’ understandings and the expectations of the end client . The process really helped us to think about the challenge not only from our own perspective or the perspective of our close stakeholders , but also a much more diverse perspective . We were more open to hearing more ideas and giving the team the time to discuss and articulate their ideas was a good team building opportunity . Approach : In the future , I would likely still choose to use the mind mapping tool to approach this challenge , however , there are a few things that I would do differently when using the tool . The first thing is that I would allow for more individual brainstorming time . Most of the collaboration was done in a group setting and might have made younger staff feel intimidated to share their true thoughts and feelings . Each member vocally presented their own idea while adding it to the mind map board . I would have had the members all add the ideas to the map , without highlighting which idea came from who in the first stage . By following this approach , we may have gained more honest input from the team members .