Challenge : In my new area of work as an HR, I had to address various requests from 10 different  functions and manage them based on criticality to business. I was getting close to 50-70 requests a day  and each of these had a thread of information which I had to process. I was struggling in trying to  understand how to get a hang of the full scenario as I was always afraid that I might miss something out.  I was trying to get help from peers but was finding it difficult to articulate my inhibitions / uncertainties,  which also spread across process, people, systems etc.

Selection : Though I am ambidextrous, I am more inclined towards left hand as my strong hand. Same  goes with my thinking. I think better with a bunch of pens in my hand and a blank canvas in front of me.  I feel completely comfortable standing in the middle of a messy room as it lights up my creativity and  helps me to visualize various connections and categorizations of the things around me. Also, its  interesting to exchange information on a open canvas rather than through other restricting mediums.  Hence, I choose mind mapping as my tool.

Application : I put down my understanding of the processes and the people it will affect (customers and  stakeholders) and traced the interlinkages between various stages in the HR lifecycle. Then I started  connecting each request I got into these buckets of the elaborate mind map I had created. I had then  opened this map with my team to discuss upon my understanding and to brainstorm on making it as  elaborate as possible.

Insight : This helped me to easily pick up various aspects of the processes. It helped us to gather insight  about what and all are affected when you must make a change in one part of the process. More  importantly, I was able to quickly align with my teammates on the understanding about existing  processes and figure out where are the drain holes in the processes which we need to address together.

Approach : Going forward, I would like to combine this approach along with visualization of ease of  usage of each of these processes along with my team and stakeholders. I want to use various parts of  my office work space as my mind map and put visualizations of the processes there with trigger  questions for my peers and other stakeholders to brainstorm on the go.

Eg: When a customer (my employee) walks across to collect his Transfer letter, he can contribute on my  wall describing Transfer process, by drawing how it can be made faster)

When manager approves a request for relieving, he can doodle on time spent to handle the paperwork.


Challenge : In my new area of work as an HR , I had to address various requests from 10 different functions and manage them based on criticality to business . I was getting close to 50 - 70 requests a day and each of these had a thread of information which I had to process . I was struggling in trying to understand how to get a hang of the full scenario as I was always afraid that I might miss something out . I was trying to get help from peers but was finding it difficult to articulate my inhibitions / uncertainties , which also spread across process , people , systems etc . Selection : Though I am ambidextrous , I am more inclined towards left hand as my strong hand . Same goes with my thinking . I think better with a bunch of pens in my hand and a blank canvas in front of me . I feel completely comfortable standing in the middle of a messy room as it lights up my creativity and helps me to visualize various connections and categorizations of the things around me . Also , its interesting to exchange information on a open canvas rather than through other restricting mediums . Hence , I choose mind mapping as my tool . Application : I put down my understanding of the processes and the people it will affect ( customers and stakeholders ) and traced the interlinkages between various stages in the HR lifecycle . Then I started connecting each request I got into these buckets of the elaborate mind map I had created . I had then opened this map with my team to discuss upon my understanding and to brainstorm on making it as elaborate as possible . Insight : This helped me to easily pick up various aspects of the processes . It helped us to gather insight about what and all are affected when you must make a change in one part of the process . More importantly , I was able to quickly align with my teammates on the understanding about existing processes and figure out where are the drain holes in the processes which we need to address together . Approach : Going forward , I would like to combine this approach along with visualization of ease of usage of each of these processes along with my team and stakeholders . I want to use various parts of my office work space as my mind map and put visualizations of the processes there with trigger questions for my peers and other stakeholders to brainstorm on the go . Eg : When a customer ( my employee ) walks across to collect his Transfer letter , he can contribute on my wall describing Transfer process , by drawing how it can be made faster ) When manager approves a request for relieving , he can doodle on time spent to handle the paperwork .