Reflection – Mind Mapping 

 Challenge 

 Leading a team for the annual creation , development , and implementation of the hiring process for 300   positions on a college campus can be a daunting task . When I first joined the company , when I would ask   a question about how we recruited or hired our staff and question to my team ( comprised of staff and   students ) ‘ why that way ? ’ I was almost always told “ that ’s they way we ’ve done it . ” Reviewing data from   the previous 5 years , I could see that the rate and quality of applications for the positions had declined   steadily and we needed to rethink our processes and not keep doing it the same way we always had ,   which required new levels of buy - in from my team and thinking in ways we had not before . Our   employees were front line staff for customer service , crisis response , and being leaders within their   communities so a decline in their skills and abilities truly was impacting the experience of the others on   our campus , which was showing through satisfaction surveys and feedback groups we had held . 

 Selection 

 I had used visualization and mind mapping in previous positions in order to find themes and patterns   and knew these may assist in creating new hiring marketing , interview questions and process , and hiring   experiences . I knew that I needed to lead this team from the “ what is … ” and “ this is how it ’s always   been ” to the “ what if … ” mindset . In order to do that , I chose mind mapping and created a plan to lead   the group through it . 

 Application and Insight 

 In our first meeting , I broached the topic of wanting to move from the “ what is ” and has been to a more   innovative approach of “ what if we did … . ” There was quite a bit of resistance from people – much of it   was couched in “ why fix / change it if it ’s working ? ” I did n’t want to give in to the mindset as I knew we   could make our process better by looking at what we could do and challenged them to work alongside   of me . I went as far to say “ let ’s try something different this year and if it does n’t work we ’ll do it the old   way again next year . ” Giving that concession seemed to relax them and we moved into weeks of mind   mapping exercises . We put post - it notes up around the room , talked about why some ideas were more   feasible than others , challenged and supported each other on thoughts and moved from a team that   worked on autopilot to an engaged group of people with a passion for the work . We put some ideas on   the side for future years and created a proposal for the executive team that included 3 different   timelines for marketing , interviewing , and hiring our staff – none of which included the process from the   previous year . 

 By using mind mapping with our team we were able to move our marketing , interviewing , and hiring   process from a place of stagnation into an area where we were able to work better with applicants from   the first contact through hiring . The team started with ¾ full - time staff and ¼ student staff , but when   word got around to student staff that we were seriously diving into the recruitment and hiring   processes , many more students staff began to come , which gave us much more insight as to what their   true experience and thoughts were . It allowed us to get unfettered feedback as to what we had been   doing well in past iterations , but also what could be . Having the post - its on the walls every meeting so 

 Reflection – Mind Mapping 

 we could add and refer back to them was very helpful as well – especially as our meetings were required   to be open to the public and we never knew when a new person or group would attend . 

 Moving into the next year the team had gained so much interest for the innovations and changes we   had made that we had to create a maximum number of members and attendees so that we could   continue to move forward . I believe we were a success as we moved from the “ what is ” into the “ what   if ” by mind mapping and the results could be seen through the quality , quantity , and satisfaction of the   candidates . And because we were doing something that other teams were not – changing and leaning   into the excitement of innovation through design thinking . 

 Approach 

 This course has assisted me in seeing the value of the growth mindset and how important the process of   design thinking is within a company . Mind mapping , at the time and in the space we were in at the time ,   was the best way to be able to move my team from “ what is ” into the “ what if ” and the results paid off   tenfold . They were more engaged in the process , so much so that their supervisees started attending   our team meetings to see what was going on . I had one attendee afterward share that they were taking   the mind mapping exercises to a group project as it worked so well within our team – and they ended up   working better together and getting the top score . 

 In higher education , in the role that I hold , I do not have a lot of opportunities for learning launches ( as   we ’re highly regulated and frequently only have one time to try something , so it ’s ‘ sink or swim ’ ) but   incorporating visualization , storytelling , and mind mapping will continue to be a part of my approach in   the teams that I lead and work within . 


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 

 Leading a team for the annual creation , development , and implementation of the hiring process for 300   positions on a college campus can be a daunting task . When I first joined the company , when I would ask   a question about how we recruited or hired our staff and question to my team ( comprised of staff and   students ) ‘ why that way ? ’ I was almost always told “ that ’s they way we ’ve done it . ” Reviewing data from   the previous 5 years , I could see that the rate and quality of applications for the positions had declined   steadily and we needed to rethink our processes and not keep doing it the same way we always had ,   which required new levels of buy - in from my team and thinking in ways we had not before . Our   employees were front line staff for customer service , crisis response , and being leaders within their   communities so a decline in their skills and abilities truly was impacting the experience of the others on   our campus , which was showing through satisfaction surveys and feedback groups we had held . 

 Selection 

 I had used visualization and mind mapping in previous positions in order to find themes and patterns   and knew these may assist in creating new hiring marketing , interview questions and process , and hiring   experiences . I knew that I needed to lead this team from the “ what is … ” and “ this is how it ’s always   been ” to the “ what if … ” mindset . In order to do that , I chose mind mapping and created a plan to lead   the group through it . 

 Application and Insight 

 In our first meeting , I broached the topic of wanting to move from the “ what is ” and has been to a more   innovative approach of “ what if we did … . ” There was quite a bit of resistance from people – much of it   was couched in “ why fix / change it if it ’s working ? ” I did n’t want to give in to the mindset as I knew we   could make our process better by looking at what we could do and challenged them to work alongside   of me . I went as far to say “ let ’s try something different this year and if it does n’t work we ’ll do it the old   way again next year . ” Giving that concession seemed to relax them and we moved into weeks of mind   mapping exercises . We put post - it notes up around the room , talked about why some ideas were more   feasible than others , challenged and supported each other on thoughts and moved from a team that   worked on autopilot to an engaged group of people with a passion for the work . We put some ideas on   the side for future years and created a proposal for the executive team that included 3 different   timelines for marketing , interviewing , and hiring our staff – none of which included the process from the   previous year . 

 By using mind mapping with our team we were able to move our marketing , interviewing , and hiring   process from a place of stagnation into an area where we were able to work better with applicants from   the first contact through hiring . The team started with ¾ full - time staff and ¼ student staff , but when   word got around to student staff that we were seriously diving into the recruitment and hiring   processes , many more students staff began to come , which gave us much more insight as to what their   true experience and thoughts were . It allowed us to get unfettered feedback as to what we had been   doing well in past iterations , but also what could be . Having the post - its on the walls every meeting so 

 Reflection – Mind Mapping 

 we could add and refer back to them was very helpful as well – especially as our meetings were required   to be open to the public and we never knew when a new person or group would attend . 

 Moving into the next year the team had gained so much interest for the innovations and changes we   had made that we had to create a maximum number of members and attendees so that we could   continue to move forward . I believe we were a success as we moved from the “ what is ” into the “ what   if ” by mind mapping and the results could be seen through the quality , quantity , and satisfaction of the   candidates . And because we were doing something that other teams were not – changing and leaning   into the excitement of innovation through design thinking . 

 Approach 

 This course has assisted me in seeing the value of the growth mindset and how important the process of   design thinking is within a company . Mind mapping , at the time and in the space we were in at the time ,   was the best way to be able to move my team from “ what is ” into the “ what if ” and the results paid off   tenfold . They were more engaged in the process , so much so that their supervisees started attending   our team meetings to see what was going on . I had one attendee afterward share that they were taking   the mind mapping exercises to a group project as it worked so well within our team – and they ended up   working better together and getting the top score . 

 In higher education , in the role that I hold , I do not have a lot of opportunities for learning launches ( as   we ’re highly regulated and frequently only have one time to try something , so it ’s ‘ sink or swim ’ ) but   incorporating visualization , storytelling , and mind mapping will continue to be a part of my approach in   the teams that I lead and work within .
### Output: 