Reflection – Mind Mapping 

 Challenge & Selection     As a business improvement consultant , I am always confronted with the variety of problems brought by   customers ’ to “ fix ” . Customers come to me looking for different ways of addressing their problems after   they probably tested many other techniques . My answer to them is that I am just the plumber and I may   not know your business but I only have a box of tools that I can use once I understand your pain . One of   these customers came to me complaining about their lengthy hiring process and all the issues and   complains he is getting from business units leads as the required staff are arriving later than the needed   time . The customer has already completed 2 years ago a Lean Six Sigma study which resulted in a major   improvement but still he feels the process can be improved to meet the Service Level Agreement ( SLA )   clauses and corporate Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs ) regarding hiring cost .     Application     After a week discussion , I found out that the hiring team and major customers are lacking a common   understanding of the future and they do n’t share the same criteria for what a new process could be . I   suggested what about drawing their stories showing where they think improvement can be made . I   gathered the hiring team and major customers in a room , which had already big posters showing the   hiring value stream ( from Lean Six Sigma study ) , Corporate KPIs and other policy documents . I also added   the results of a survey done recently to new hires about their hiring experience .     I provided colored sticky notes to the hiring team and their customers and asked them to write their ideas   and stick it near the process step which may improve the hiring process . There was no rule on the number   of sticky notes they can use and they should not discuss them among themselves in the initial step . Once   this task was completed , I asked them to group and use the affinity technique to group similar ideas and   put outlies as one bucket to also be discussed . While they started the grouping , initial patterns start to   emerge like unclarity of job description , contradicting business KPIs , agents ’ role in international offices   and package negotiation issues .     By picking a random first theme , I asked each participant to tell us more about his / her idea and try to   connect if to other similar ones . This exercise is lengthy but is the heart of the Mind Mapping as it   generates new linkages and common understanding of the “ to be ” criteria design . All ideas are discussed   and put under relevant theme . Once this activity is completed , the attendees are requested to identify   new patterns and insights about their groupings and draft statements to develop the criteria . These   statements are reviewed asking “ so what ” until meaningful improvement criteria are defined .     I use my phone camera to freeze this image showing all their input under the final statements . Statements   are written in a different color post it and then share by email with the group for a final reflection . We   reconvened after few days to generate the final list of criteria , which will be used to develop the new   design for a prototyped process .       Insight and Approach     The Mind Mapping technique , as explained by Yolanda Rodriguez revealed new insights that   previous studies did n’t identify . As example , the international agencies were not empowered to conduct 

 on - time CVs screening , the job descriptions were outdated and created confusion desiring the selection   phase and finally , business units KPIs and hiring department KPIs were contradictory and generated   frustration among staff and managers .      The Mind Mapping output was used by the improvement team to define criteria for new designs and   prototypes . The hiring manager was willing to assign a team to conduct experimental hiring using the new   ideas for a small simple of candidates . The results were encouraging as the time to hire was reduced by   30 % and the candidates ’ satisfaction has increased . The new findings were submitted to enhance the IT   system , approval processes and jobs descriptions .     After this application , I used the Mind Mapping in many different projects to generate new ideas and   insights that are not always following a linear pattern , where data is scare and complexity is obvious . I   also use the tool as a communication tool between different stakeholders to compare and contracts their   ideas . Each group is requested to explain views using Mind Maps and common grounds are easily   identified . 


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 business improvement consultant , I am always confronted with the variety of problems brought by   customers ’ to “ fix ” . Customers come to me looking for different ways of addressing their problems after   they probably tested many other techniques . My answer to them is that I am just the plumber and I may   not know your business but I only have a box of tools that I can use once I understand your pain . One of   these customers came to me complaining about their lengthy hiring process and all the issues and   complains he is getting from business units leads as the required staff are arriving later than the needed   time . The customer has already completed 2 years ago a Lean Six Sigma study which resulted in a major   improvement but still he feels the process can be improved to meet the Service Level Agreement ( SLA )   clauses and corporate Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs ) regarding hiring cost .     Application     After a week discussion , I found out that the hiring team and major customers are lacking a common   understanding of the future and they do n’t share the same criteria for what a new process could be . I   suggested what about drawing their stories showing where they think improvement can be made . I   gathered the hiring team and major customers in a room , which had already big posters showing the   hiring value stream ( from Lean Six Sigma study ) , Corporate KPIs and other policy documents . I also added   the results of a survey done recently to new hires about their hiring experience .     I provided colored sticky notes to the hiring team and their customers and asked them to write their ideas   and stick it near the process step which may improve the hiring process . There was no rule on the number   of sticky notes they can use and they should not discuss them among themselves in the initial step . Once   this task was completed , I asked them to group and use the affinity technique to group similar ideas and   put outlies as one bucket to also be discussed . While they started the grouping , initial patterns start to   emerge like unclarity of job description , contradicting business KPIs , agents ’ role in international offices   and package negotiation issues .     By picking a random first theme , I asked each participant to tell us more about his / her idea and try to   connect if to other similar ones . This exercise is lengthy but is the heart of the Mind Mapping as it   generates new linkages and common understanding of the “ to be ” criteria design . All ideas are discussed   and put under relevant theme . Once this activity is completed , the attendees are requested to identify   new patterns and insights about their groupings and draft statements to develop the criteria . These   statements are reviewed asking “ so what ” until meaningful improvement criteria are defined .     I use my phone camera to freeze this image showing all their input under the final statements . Statements   are written in a different color post it and then share by email with the group for a final reflection . We   reconvened after few days to generate the final list of criteria , which will be used to develop the new   design for a prototyped process .       Insight and Approach     The Mind Mapping technique , as explained by Yolanda Rodriguez revealed new insights that   previous studies did n’t identify . As example , the international agencies were not empowered to conduct 

 on - time CVs screening , the job descriptions were outdated and created confusion desiring the selection   phase and finally , business units KPIs and hiring department KPIs were contradictory and generated   frustration among staff and managers .      The Mind Mapping output was used by the improvement team to define criteria for new designs and   prototypes . The hiring manager was willing to assign a team to conduct experimental hiring using the new   ideas for a small simple of candidates . The results were encouraging as the time to hire was reduced by   30 % and the candidates ’ satisfaction has increased . The new findings were submitted to enhance the IT   system , approval processes and jobs descriptions .     After this application , I used the Mind Mapping in many different projects to generate new ideas and   insights that are not always following a linear pattern , where data is scare and complexity is obvious . I   also use the tool as a communication tool between different stakeholders to compare and contracts their   ideas . Each group is requested to explain views using Mind Maps and common grounds are easily   identified .
### Output: 