Case study: Ideas workshop with the NHS

mindmappro

13 June 2018

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Key themes included:
Why was the session impactful?
Why did it work?
The session was a demonstration of:
Visual theming for creative outputs
Live sessions, future resources

Collaborative idea generation

Mind Map Pro partnered with MediWales and Teamworks in June 2018 to deliver an idea generation workshop at the annual MediWales Connects: NHS Collaboration Conference.

The conference was set up in 2015 to connect and unify every health board and trust that collectively makes up NHS Wales, bringing together clinicians, research and development professionals, as well as medical technology and pharmaceutical partners together in a conference setting.

The workshop, titled ‘100 ideas in 30 minutes’, was delivered as a dynamic creative thinking session for attendees to explore how to improve collaboration within the NHS and with industry, ultimately generating impactful solutions for the future of healthcare.

Gwyn Tudor, CEO of Teamworks Design and Communication, led the workshop whilst Mind Map Pro’s own Tess Coughlan-Allen used Mind Map Pro to mind map the ideas live as they were explored during the workshop.

To begin the session, Gwyn and Tess prepared the first layer of key areas to accelerate the idea generation. These were:

Communication
People
Technology
Places
Social
Legal
Economic
Political

During the session, the entire group took it in turns to contribute their ideas aloud and were encouraged to develop each other’s points, introduce innovative solutions and share new perspectives. More than 100 ideas were captured live using Mind Map Pro within 30 minutes.

The group were able to see emerging themes being visually represented in the mind map, displayed on three large screens across the room, whilst benefiting from the dynamic and interactive style of workshop.

Key themes included:

Sharing culture:
– Encouragement to collaborate
– Collaboration across NHS health boards and trusts, with industry and with third sector
Better use of time:
– Improving processes
– Allocating time for thinking, collaborating, R&D
Open data:
– Digital availability of research expertise
– Availability of records, populations, lessons learnt, evaluations

Workshop attendees included a mixture of NHS staff, researchers and industry collaborators, adding the benefit of diverse thinking with a variety of expertise, insights and experiences in the room.

After the workshop, delegates were sent a detailed list of key themes with the mind map as a digital resource to work from, opening up opportunities for ideas to be developed further in professional collaborations.

Why was the session impactful?

It was productive and practical
There was a dynamic flow of ideas
It followed a ‘quantity breeds quality’ method
Conclusions from the session were shared with the mind map after the workshop

Why did it work?

The interactive nature encouraged input from all
The visual mind map helped the group see the discussion evolve
The positive environment meant there were no ‘wrong answers’ or disputes
A diverse group brought diverse thinking

The session was a demonstration of:

Collaborative thinking (a ‘hive mind’)
Openness of participants in a supportive and encouraging environment
Many shared drivers, barriers, opportunities and observations
Actionable, realistic opportunities for improvement

Visual theming for creative outputs

Following the workshop, another workshop host at MediWales Connects used Mind Map Pro to visually theme their session, picking up the tool after seeing it in action for the first time earlier that day.

Sara Long, Welsh Clinical Leadership Fellow for Aneurin Bevan Continuous Improvement and her team delivered a creative workshop with a capture phase to collect thoughts from conversations during the session.

Using Mind Map Pro after their workshop to theme the output into mind maps for sharing, Sara said: ‘We liked how Mind Map Pro helped us to visually bring together the themes that came out of the workshop session.’

The team at Mind Map Pro were delighted that conference attendees could see how easily the tool can be integrated into a creative learning environment to benefit collaborative thinking for all.

Live sessions, future resources

Although the event is over, the delegates from MediWales Connects have been encouraged to use the outcomes of their sessions as digital resources to inform future collaborative projects.

Isabelle Ford, Events and Engagement Manager for MediWales, said:
“Our partnership with Mind Map Pro was a great asset to the conference, allowing us a platform to capture ideas from the day. As a collaboration conference, it was important to get delegates communicating and sharing ideas. We didn’t want these conversations to be lost, so by using Mind Map Pro we now have a resource of ideas to share back with delegates and take forward for future events and partnerships.”

The team from Mind Map Pro will continue to support idea generation and encourage collective thinking from diverse groups. Contact us to learn more, learn how to mind map or find out more about what a mind map is.

Read about other events and workshops we have done, including TEDxBristol, CoInnovate and Digital Festival.

Mind Mapping Frequently
Asked
Questions

What are the benefits of mind maps?

Although mind maps can be used for many purposes, the most common use case is for presentations. Mind maps are easy to create, which means it doesn't take much time to create one. Mind mapping is also a great tool for brainstorming because it makes complex ideas easier to understand. It also improves your presenting because it helps you think about how you want to present your ideas on the screen and in text form simultaneously. It also boosts your creativity because it helps you think outside of the box when creating or presenting content and helps you see new ways of thinking that can be implemented into future projects or presentations

Mind Mapping Frequently Asked Questions

This is a question commonly asked by students and teachers. To help you out, here are some tips on how to create a good mind map.

1. Choose the right topic: It is important to find the right topic before creating your mind map because it will be difficult if you start with an incorrect topic. You should also make sure that your idea is not too broad because it may not fit into your mind map properly.
2. Do not try to cover too much ground in one go: You should create sub-headings in order to divide your ideas into smaller chunks and make it easier for the reader to digest what they are reading about.
3. Make sure that you have a good structure: A well-structured mind map will help readers understand what you want them to know

Are Mind Maps Are Better Than Text Notes?

Mind maps are seeing a surge in popularity with students and professionals alike. This is because traditional note taking can be difficult to interpret by others, whereas a mind map provides a visual representation of the interconnected ideas making it easy to understand.

There are many benefits of mind maps over text notes, including:

- Mind maps help you remember more because they're more visual
- Mind maps make it easier to find related ideas because they're organized by theme or color
- They're better for collaborative brainstorming sessions because you can see all the different points of view in one place

How do I turn my mind map into an academic essay?

Writing an essay is a daunting task for many students, especially those who are not used to writing. It can be difficult to know what topics are appropriate for your paper and how they should be structured.
The best way to approach this is by brainstorming ideas and then turning them into an outline. The following steps will help you turn your mind map into a fully structured essay:
- Brainstorm the main topic of your paper and subtopics that you want to cover. All sub-topics will stem from the main idea in the center of the mind map.
- Brainstorm various possible thesis statements that could support the main topic of your paper, as well as examples of supporting evidence from the brainstormed topics.
- Create an outline with all the main points covered in each section of your paper.

How to Use Mind Maps in Your Business and Marketing Strategy?

Mind maps are a great way for businesses to see the big picture and understand how all the different parts of the strategy fit together. Let's use the example of a business selling window treatments to see how we might present this information in a mind map. The window treatment business has three different strategies: advertising, selling materials, and selling services. The company might want to present these strategies as separate ways of making money in the mind map so that it can see what each strategy is doing for the business. The company might also want to place a chart with revenue for each strategy on the left of the mind map and then show how these revenue streams connect on the right.The idea is that by looking at the whole picture, you can see how all of your different strategies are connected and what they're doing for your business. There are many more mind map examples for business, including; Brainstorm Marketing Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Target Market Analysis, Market Research, Competitor Analysis, SWOT etc.

How Do You Integrate Mind Map Pro into Your Content Creation Process?

The best way to integrate Mind Map Pro into your content creation process is by using them as the main tool for exploring ideas and taking notes. This allows you to better organize and study your notes later on, which can then be used for content creation. You can also use Mind Maps as an outline for content creation, and as a general guide for how you want your content to flow and look like.

Mind maps are often used in the world of academia and business to help think through a subject. However, they can also be used as a general guide for how you want your content to flow and look like. They're an easy way to get started on an article or blog post, as well as a great way to map out what you want your audience to know about an issue or topic.

Who Invented The Mind Mapping Technique?

Tony Buzan is a British author and psychologist who is best known for his mind mapping technique. He used it to help people organize thoughts, ideas, and memories. Tony Buzan was born in London on the 8th of October in 1925 and studied at Oxford University. He later became a lecturer at the University of Surrey before returning to Oxford as an assistant lecturer in psychology.

In 1967, he published his book "The Mind Mapping Book", which helped popularize the mind mapping technique. He also wrote many other books on various topics such as "The New Mind Map Book", "The Active Mind", "How To Think Better" and "Think Better".