Innovate Learning

Mission Statements Don't Have to be Anywhere Near as Hard as We Make Them

Some terrific advice from Fast Company's Dan Heath about how to approach creating mission statements.

Getting Your Thoughts Out with MindMaps

Whether working individually, or collaborating as a group, mindmaps can be a great tool to use to capture your thoughts. Mindmaps can be drawn by hand, or you can use the computer to collect your ideas. I typically hand-draw maps for presentations that I'm working on independently, and use online mindmap applications when collaborating with others. The advantage to working with an online mindmap application is the ease with which you can share your mindmaps with others, even allowing them to make changes. You also have the benefit of being able to easily delete and change aspects of your mindmap, which is not the case when doing a hand-drawn one.

My two favorite online mindmap applications are:

Mindomo

Mindmeister

Both of these applications offer free accounts that allow you to create, save and share a small number of mindmaps (6-10). If you need the ability to save more editable maps than that, you'll need to look into their paid options. You are able to save them as a graphic or PDF to your computer, and you can save as many mindmaps as you want that way. However, if you want to be able to go back and make changes later on, you'll need to consider the limitations of the free services.

I've found that creating mindmaps while facilitating  meetings can help the group stay on purpose and ensure that the ideas are being captured as intended.