50MINUTES - Creating Mind Maps: Organise, innovate and plan with mind mapping

Mind mapping is a method, like a sales tool for capturing the associative thinking of the individual making the mind map. It becomes the mirror of what is happening in his brain: it reproduces a personal and unique vision by appealing to the imaginary language of the brain (keywords, images, colours, etc.).

Known as a mind map, cognitive mapping or concept mapping, this type of representation is a process combining words, pictograms and colours around a central goal: it takes the form of a tree. Connected to the core are ideas that revolve around the centre, like the branches of the tree.

Health, finance, work, relationships, events, history, geography, science, meetings, cooking all of these current life situations, whether personal or professional, may require the use of mind mapping.

Within a group, mind mapping itself is a simple and effective communication tool. It raises the level of relevance of the ideas and positions itself as an alternative method to linear presentations. It boosts creativity and incites productivity, as it allows for saving time and/or money through its clarity and simplicity. It is therefore actively involved in the development of companies that use it. The diversity of its use is unlimited, as you can adapt it to each individual case. For example, it can be used to:

• collaborate with colleagues, customers or partners;
• memorise a presentation or speech;
• write articles, reports, letters or specifications;
• organise and run projects or meetings;
• manage time by prioritising tasks and placing priority on certain ones;
• develop creativity, alone or when brainstorming in teams to solve a problem or anticipate the potential risks in a new situation;
• take notes during a conference, meeting, interview or when reading a book (feel free to combine mind mapping with traditional note-taking);
• communicate through training, a presentation or a speech.

Mind mapping is a method that is particularly suitable for everything related to creativity, and it is not uncommon for it to be applied during a brainstorming session between the employees in a company. This technique activates creativity and simplifies the production of ideas in a group. The dynamic interactions prompt a lot of ideas, while the method for organising, analysing and dissecting them, a second time around, removes as many lines of enquiry as possible.

Specifically, a working meeting of this type goes as follows:

• Divergent thinking (creative) phase.
  • A group between 4 and 12 committed and motivated people with very different profiles is led by a facilitator whose role is to orchestrate, stimulate and direct participants, while taking note of ideas generated without censor or comment;
  • Plurality is a source of inspiration and inventiveness; criticism is banned when stating raw ideas because every opinion has potential;
  • Imagination and spontaneity are installed;
• Convergent thinking (critical) phase. Then, a bit like in rugby, you have to convert the try, get the ball in the net, turn ideas into solutions, and create new perfectible and realistic prospects for generating results. In the end, a limited number of ideas will be refined on a given subject, while a list of several others will be set aside for future analysis and development.

We can now better understand the use of mind mapping and its performance during a brainstorming session. In such meetings, sometimes you structure complex cases or challenging projects. Using a mind map makes this action simple and intuitive. Project management of all types will be easier and items will be structured to bring powerful collaboration options and promote success.

Quick tips

As part of a collaborative exchange and to maintain teamwork:

• Know that there are no bad ideas and that everything can be subject to further analysis;
• Calm the dominant participants, those who monopolise the exchanges, otherwise the meeting will soon become sterile;