Mind mapping with a ToP twist
By Eunice Shankland
Imagination ushers us across the threshold of creativity and innovation. It wakens our sense of wonder bringing freshness to work and everyday life. This can happen during ToP (Technology of Participation) facilitation as well. This article describes an attempt to evoke this by combining the Focused Conversation Method with Mind Mapping in a dance of divergence and convergence.
I have been experimenting with mind maps since the 80’s with individuals and groups - clients like FAO (UN) and Citibank, at our ICA staff planning, personal journaling and for summarizing conference presentations. I like the ease of using mind maps to encourage people to work collaboratively, building on each other’s ideas, suspending judgment and focusing on their wealth of experience and perspectives. Mind mapping also encourages people to use visual language, that is, a combination of images, words and colours to express thoughts on paper. I find it increases the creative and collaborative thinking of the groups I work with and is also an excellent tool for accelerating divergent thinking.
The Focused Conversation Method, developed by ICA colleagues, incorporates the ORID (Objective, Reflective, Interpretational and Decisional) levels of thought. It enables a group to see relationships of ideas, articulate emerging themes, discover what matters and build consensus. This method is a powerful way to bring synthesis or convergence to an exploration.
I find that combining these methods expands the range and volume of ideas generated, letting participants explore divergent dimensions of an issue and enabling them to find connections and come to conclusions.
This Mind Map (with a twist) is divided into four quadrants, representing four facets of the Issue for group brainstorming.
Each group takes one facet of the issue and works together to brainstorm ideas within its chosen facet. The participants write their ideas and link them to other ideas already on the map. New ideas are added to the Mind Map, increasing divergence.
Then the four quadrants are put together to complete the mind map of ideas. The facilitator uses ORID (Focused Conversation Method) to find and draw the connections between ideas within each quadrant and across the mind map. The ideas linked together become a theme.
Each theme that emerges from the conversation is then written as a question. The group weighs up the three questions and decides on the question that is most important for them to further elaborate and find solutions. The group may decide to find solutions for all three questions.
As a result, the group gains a common understanding of a multidimensional issue. It brings to the surface perspectives and experiences that are present in the room and beyond. It enables the group to see the details and the big picture, giving them plenty of data to work with.
This integrated approach is a part of a new course, Facilitating for Innovation: Inspiring Group Creativity. A group of 15 members of the ToP network in the US participated in a three-year research project that explored the role of creativity in the development of innovative ideas. As a result, selected techniques and tools to use in group work were incorporated in a one-day course. This course will benefit group facilitators, team leaders, change agents, community workers and project managers. It is offered by the team of developers: Ann Epps, Cheryl Kartes, Cherie Lockert, Marti Roach and Eunice Shankland. It will be presented in Singapore at the IAF Conference (International Association of Facilitators) in August. The course has three parts: “Shaking up the Creative Mind”, “Problem Framing and Reframing”, and “Strategy Innovations.”
Harnessing the power of ToP methods and integrating them with other methods is another way to bring freshness to our facilitation and ignite creative sparks in our work and our lives. This course will continue to evolve and we hope that it will be a fresh addition to the ToP facilitator’s tool kit.
I thank the Winds and Waves for posing the challenge to me to share my work in progress. Please join us by sharing your work, asking questions and learning more about Facilitating for Innovation: Inspiring Group Creativity. This Course will be offered in Minneapolis and San Francisco this year. For the course schedule, please go to http://www.ica-usa.org or contact any of the developers.
Mind Map created at a course for ToP trainers and ICA USA staff
in Chicago, in May 2014.
Eunice Shankland is an ICA ToP Facilitator. |
