Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge

The organization I work for runs a week long BootCamp as the main onboarding program for all new  hires.  It is a great program packed with information and presentations.  It is designed for all employees.   One of the challenges we face is that managers feel it lacks information for them in their day to day  management tasks.  This is not well covered in the BootCamp content as it does not apply to all new hire  employees.  As part of the Human Resources team, our project is to find a way to better onboard our  new managers.

Selection

With some discussion, we explored the problem we faced and were clear the What Is of our problem.   Our goal was to look for patterns and insights that may help us see what a better onboard program  enhanced with manager specific content will look like.  We used the Mind Mapping tool in our meeting  discussion to help us achieve that.

Application

On the Idea Wall in our meeting room, we first put up a few categories of tasks that managers need to  undertake and are not covered in the current BootCamp program.  We then put sticky notes of specific  tasks under each category.  For ones that didn’t fit any category, we still put them on the wall.  Quickly  the wall was full of sticky notes with tasks that were obvious to most of us and quite a few that were not  so obvious.  Once we moved them around the categories they fell under and discussed them further, it  became clear to us that once we find an effective way of incorporating them, either through a guide  document, a video post, or a blog, they will great improve our onboarding content to the new managers  coming into the organization.

Insight

In our exercise, the Mind Mapping tool certainly helped us identify connections and patterns as we  brainstormed ideas.  It led to a more creative solution to our challenge of designing a component of  onboarding mangers that complemented our current generic BootCamp program for all new hires.  It  was an effective tool that guided us to the What If phase of our problem.

Approach

As we focused on using Mind Mapping to look for pattern and insights in our ideas, we were aware that  other tools that we didn’t use and could help us, such as using secondary research, speaking to experts  and looking at what other similar organizations have done in their approaches to onboard managers.


Reflection – Mind Mapping Challenge The organization I work for runs a week long BootCamp as the main onboarding program for all new hires . It is a great program packed with information and presentations . It is designed for all employees . One of the challenges we face is that managers feel it lacks information for them in their day to day management tasks . This is not well covered in the BootCamp content as it does not apply to all new hire employees . As part of the Human Resources team , our project is to find a way to better onboard our new managers . Selection With some discussion , we explored the problem we faced and were clear the What Is of our problem . Our goal was to look for patterns and insights that may help us see what a better onboard program enhanced with manager specific content will look like . We used the Mind Mapping tool in our meeting discussion to help us achieve that . Application On the Idea Wall in our meeting room , we first put up a few categories of tasks that managers need to undertake and are not covered in the current BootCamp program . We then put sticky notes of specific tasks under each category . For ones that did n’t fit any category , we still put them on the wall . Quickly the wall was full of sticky notes with tasks that were obvious to most of us and quite a few that were not so obvious . Once we moved them around the categories they fell under and discussed them further , it became clear to us that once we find an effective way of incorporating them , either through a guide document , a video post , or a blog , they will great improve our onboarding content to the new managers coming into the organization . Insight In our exercise , the Mind Mapping tool certainly helped us identify connections and patterns as we brainstormed ideas . It led to a more creative solution to our challenge of designing a component of onboarding mangers that complemented our current generic BootCamp program for all new hires . It was an effective tool that guided us to the What If phase of our problem . Approach As we focused on using Mind Mapping to look for pattern and insights in our ideas , we were aware that other tools that we did n’t use and could help us , such as using secondary research , speaking to experts and looking at what other similar organizations have done in their approaches to onboard managers .