1.5 - About University

6.8M IND M APPING: A BREAKTHROUGH T OOLInspired by Tony Buzan, Will McWhinney, Bernie Novokowsky, Jim Webber, and Doug Smith.Many concerns faced by leaders are complex and fuzzy and have multiple causes and solutions.Mind mapping is a creative, real-time, energizing method for illustrating issue complexity andsystemic interrelations. Mind mapping promotes creative problem solving by helping participantsto visualize data (helpful for visual learners); to see interrelationships among data elements;and to look at new solutions. Done well, this mind mapping tool can lead to breakthroughsby reframing an issue or finding a better solution.There are five typical steps to producing a mind map:➊Set theStage✔ As necessary, explain what a mind map is, why it is helpful, and how to construct one.✔ Clarify ground rules as necessary; no evaluation during the first pass, clarification okay, okay tosuggest topics or interlinks to be drawn.➟➟➋Create aFirst-PassMap➟➌Step Back✔ Place a large sheet of paper on a wall or use a large whiteboard.✔ In the middle, write a word or phrase that frames the problem.➟ ✔ Ask participants to write on the paper related topics, concerns, causes, solutions, and systems;then discuss their placement on the map, and their connection to each other.✔ Encourage outside-the-box ideas and connections.✔ Work until new ideas and links seem exhausted.✔ Staying in a developmental mode—not yet evaluative—step back and look at the emerging mapin a holistic way. In step 2, the problem was broken into its elements; in step 3, ask participants➟ for a synthesis of the data.✔ Ask participants what new insights they are developing into the original concern. If potentialactions are suggested, place these on a Parking Lot sheet for possible action later.✔ Look for clusters of topics; circle them with a unique color. Label the cluster. Draw new lines toshow interrelationships as needed.➟➍Redrawthe Map➟➎PlanAction➟✔ At this point, a new map should be emerging. Draw this new picture of the concern on a newsheet of paper or whiteboard, illustrating its relationships. On this redrawn map, new andperhaps better sources of action should emerge.✔ Looking at the map, ask, “When should action be taken? On which elements, clusters, orrelationships?”➟ ✔ Clarify and document the action plan.SECTION 6 TOOLS FOR CRITICAL THINKING AND INNOVATION 193