Reflection - Mind Mapping 

 Challenge & Selection : 

 As a board member of a non - profit student consultancy firm I was confronted with a strategic positioning   challenge . Historically , our organization linked students of the local University , who were eager to exhibit   their recently gained academic and theoretical knowledge into practice at local small and medium   enterprises ( our clients ) on a project base . The challenge was triggered since our key stakeholder/ partner ,   the local University , decided to organize consultancy projects themselves instead of outsourcing this to a   semi - independent student entrepreneur organization . Since we were a spin - off of the local University our   very own existence was at stake unless we were able to reinvent our proposition . The only question was   ‘ how ’ ? We ’ve always assumed that the main driver to do business with us for local small and medium   enterprises and the students themselves , was the fact that we were affiliated with the University . This   way the project scope included the strategic positioning of our non - profit student consultancy firm with   limited resources based on the added value to the several different stakeholders including a high urgency .   The goal was to unravel the intrinsic motivation of our current clients and students to do business with us   in order to reposition ourselves into the market and outsmart the new competition provided by the local   university ( former key stakeholder ) . We expected to cluster the different stakeholders based upon their   motivation to do business with us . 

 Our challenge was to understand the current reality/ ‘ as is ’ of our organization by collecting high 

 amounts of data from several stakeholders and to look for patterns , insights etc . in order to develop   design criteria for the ‘ what if ’ of our organization . Therefore the mind mapping tool proved to be the   ideal tool to come up with creative solution since it would enable us to make a smooth transition from   the current situation to the future/ desired state of our organization . 

 Application : 

 After finishing a projects with our clients we invited both the students ( who executed the project ) and the   client , to participate in projective techniques to uncover their reason to work with our organization and   to share their experiences . In this way we were able to align our own organization on the current reality   since some of us stated that students were ( since we were non - for profit ) more important than our clients   and vice versa . In order to solve this puzzle we asked clients and students to post their experiences on the   sticky notes . After a break of 30 min we asked them to cluster their own experiences . Then the insights   were identified related to each cluster and connections between clusters where highlighted . This proved   to be one of the toughest parts of the exercise . After asking ‘ so what ? ’ related to several clusters the true   meaning of the experience emerged . For example , the amount of freedom during the project indicated   by the students became : the amount independency compared to normal university assignments or usual   student jobs ( e.g. call centers ) . 

 By this it became clear that the main driver for both the students and our clients was that our 

 organization existed of young student entrepreneurs who did n’t follow the University rules but were   willing to take risk and experience things outside the box . After having this insight the pivot between ‘ what   is ’ and ‘ what if ’ started focusing on the creation of the criteria which was in our case the fact that it should   be entrepreneurial . By thinking : ‘ if anything was possible ’ how would our organization look like , we   entered the next stage . 

 Insight & Approach : 

 By designing the new positioning of our organizations based upon the new design criteria ( e.g.   entrepreneurial )   we were ultimately able to position our organization as the platform for ambitious and   entrepreneurial students , who want to organize consultancy projects for themselves . The mind mapping   tool showed how our different stakeholders were interlinked . Since our clients were looking for this exact   entrepreneurial spirit our organization ensured its long - term survival as a springboard for students   allowing them to put their theoretical knowledge into practice and triple the turnover in the first year . 

 This course made me understand the importance of mind mapping in creating design criteria 

 when being in the transition from the as is to what if . Especially , the ability to process high amounts of   data and cluster them struck me . Therefore I would definitely perform a min mapping exercise when being   in a similar situation . When I ’ve done it before it would be aimed at looking for immediate solutions   instead . I would not have discover the specific application of mind mapping without the course and by   that misusing this very valuable tool . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection - Mind Mapping 

 Challenge & Selection : 

 As a board member of a non - profit student consultancy firm I was confronted with a strategic positioning   challenge . Historically , our organization linked students of the local University , who were eager to exhibit   their recently gained academic and theoretical knowledge into practice at local small and medium   enterprises ( our clients ) on a project base . The challenge was triggered since our key stakeholder/ partner ,   the local University , decided to organize consultancy projects themselves instead of outsourcing this to a   semi - independent student entrepreneur organization . Since we were a spin - off of the local University our   very own existence was at stake unless we were able to reinvent our proposition . The only question was   ‘ how ’ ? We ’ve always assumed that the main driver to do business with us for local small and medium   enterprises and the students themselves , was the fact that we were affiliated with the University . This   way the project scope included the strategic positioning of our non - profit student consultancy firm with   limited resources based on the added value to the several different stakeholders including a high urgency .   The goal was to unravel the intrinsic motivation of our current clients and students to do business with us   in order to reposition ourselves into the market and outsmart the new competition provided by the local   university ( former key stakeholder ) . We expected to cluster the different stakeholders based upon their   motivation to do business with us . 

 Our challenge was to understand the current reality/ ‘ as is ’ of our organization by collecting high 

 amounts of data from several stakeholders and to look for patterns , insights etc . in order to develop   design criteria for the ‘ what if ’ of our organization . Therefore the mind mapping tool proved to be the   ideal tool to come up with creative solution since it would enable us to make a smooth transition from   the current situation to the future/ desired state of our organization . 

 Application : 

 After finishing a projects with our clients we invited both the students ( who executed the project ) and the   client , to participate in projective techniques to uncover their reason to work with our organization and   to share their experiences . In this way we were able to align our own organization on the current reality   since some of us stated that students were ( since we were non - for profit ) more important than our clients   and vice versa . In order to solve this puzzle we asked clients and students to post their experiences on the   sticky notes . After a break of 30 min we asked them to cluster their own experiences . Then the insights   were identified related to each cluster and connections between clusters where highlighted . This proved   to be one of the toughest parts of the exercise . After asking ‘ so what ? ’ related to several clusters the true   meaning of the experience emerged . For example , the amount of freedom during the project indicated   by the students became : the amount independency compared to normal university assignments or usual   student jobs ( e.g. call centers ) . 

 By this it became clear that the main driver for both the students and our clients was that our 

 organization existed of young student entrepreneurs who did n’t follow the University rules but were   willing to take risk and experience things outside the box . After having this insight the pivot between ‘ what   is ’ and ‘ what if ’ started focusing on the creation of the criteria which was in our case the fact that it should   be entrepreneurial . By thinking : ‘ if anything was possible ’ how would our organization look like , we   entered the next stage . 

 Insight & Approach : 

 By designing the new positioning of our organizations based upon the new design criteria ( e.g.   entrepreneurial )   we were ultimately able to position our organization as the platform for ambitious and   entrepreneurial students , who want to organize consultancy projects for themselves . The mind mapping   tool showed how our different stakeholders were interlinked . Since our clients were looking for this exact   entrepreneurial spirit our organization ensured its long - term survival as a springboard for students   allowing them to put their theoretical knowledge into practice and triple the turnover in the first year . 

 This course made me understand the importance of mind mapping in creating design criteria 

 when being in the transition from the as is to what if . Especially , the ability to process high amounts of   data and cluster them struck me . Therefore I would definitely perform a min mapping exercise when being   in a similar situation . When I ’ve done it before it would be aimed at looking for immediate solutions   instead . I would not have discover the specific application of mind mapping without the course and by   that misusing this very valuable tool .
### Output: 