As school students, we would all use the rote learning technique to memorize chapters, poems, theorems, and essays. One of the main problems of this technique is that after a period of time, we are all likely to forget what we learned earlier unless there were visuals to go along with it. Businesses can learn from this.
The point is that it is hard to retain what we have learned without visual aids.
Businesses Using Mind Mapping
Visuals are an important tool for communicating. As the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. If someone learns a chapter, a math formula, or a theorem using visuals/diagrams, it is highly likely that it will stay somewhere in his or her memory for a long time. This is because visuals can make a complicated thing simple.
This is where collaborative mind mapping tools become important.
A mind map is a collection of ideas that have been put into the format of a visual diagram. They enable meaningful learning, help with memorization and retention, a more engaging form of learning, and more importantly make complex issues easier to understand.
Mind maps are widely used by business organizations around the world. They use the mind maps for anything, from creating a plan for developing a healthy habit to fleshing out a pivotal business idea.
Here we discuss the five different ways a business can utilize mind mapping.
Better Time Management
A well-organized time plan is vital for effective schedule management for any company. Mind maps can be used while drawing up an overview of a business’s daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly objectives.
It is also a great way to visually prepare the upcoming plans and priorities for each day. They are more logical than any other visualization tool for schedule planning. Its radial and hierarchical structure help break down a team’s project into smaller and manageable tasks.
Mind maps also enable one to set a deadline for each task and assign certain people to finish the task. This way, everyone in a team can track both their own time schedule and the whole project time plan.
Improved Presentations
As mentioned above, a mind map is a great visualized illustration of information and so is a great memory tool, not just for the presenter but also for the audience.
One can use this tool at the beginning of his or her presentation to give the audience an overall picture of what all it covers. The presenter can later refer to it again at certain key points as well use it to summarise key points at the end.
More Efficient Project Management
A project manager’s job is to plan and organize time and resources. Online mind mapping becomes useful here. In addition to scoping a project and keeping track of the main milestones, the mind map allows the project manager to coordinate task groups and monitor the whole process.
Mind maps are a popular tool to visualize priorities, task allocations, dependencies, and resources. All this information can be translated to a Gantt chart, so the project manager gets two visual perspectives to track the project.
Better Decision Making
Making the right decision is crucial for any business. If a decision goes wrong, it could even lead to the downfall of the organization. This is why businesses rely on and promote collaborative decision-making to arrive at the most sensible decision before taking an important step ahead.
Businesses need to get different insights from different stakeholders, like people and top managers, to compare different options, predict outcomes, get feedback, and forecast risks. A consensus might be hard to reach with too many opinions coming in.
A mind map could effectively address this issue. It is a great aid in the decision-making process. One can put a decision at the center of the map and brainstorm everything associated with it, and then map out pros and cons, and assess the value of each choice. Since everything is in visual forms, it is easy for the stakeholders to get clearer thoughts and make better evaluations for their final determination.
Boosted Productivity
Mind maps also boost productivity. A survey conducted by mind mapping expert Chuck Frey reveals that mind mapping could boost the productivity of employees by 20 to 30 percent. About two-thirds of the respondents of the survey admitted that mind mapping saves them seven or more hours of work and learning per week. Around a third of those surveyed revealed mind mapping saves them three to seven hours per week.
The survey also found that mind mapping could increase creativity by as much as 50 percent.
In this fast-paced business environment, tools like mind maps are vital to achieving faster growth. Those who are reluctant to make the most of such tools might be left behind.
Image: Depositphotos
This article, “5 Ways Your Business Can Utilize Mind Mapping” was first published on Small Business Trends