January 30, 2020
7 Ways to Use Mind Maps in Business
Innovation is the lifeblood of any creative and successful business. Being able to adapt to change and implement ideas that will take the company forward is what will set you apart from your competitors. Ultimately, the core of this comes down to simply generating good ideas – then knowing how to action them effectively.
By integrating our Mind Mapping and work management software, Ayoa, into your business, you can streamline your working processes, save time, wave goodbye to information overload and boost your productivity. Read on to find out how…
Present
Present something different and deliver with impact. Mind Maps allow you to brainstorm ideas, make a plan of action and present it to your colleagues – all in one place. By only using one keyword per branch, Mind Maps encourage clearer, more concise and more stimulating presentations. In addition to this, the combination of keywords and the visually stimulating structure of a Mind Map is proven to increase recall of information and allow you to handle challenging questions with confidence.
Mind Maps in Ayoa offer a refreshing alternative to presenting with slides, giving you a highly visual and effective way of conveying your message. You can even attach files, webpages, and PowerPoint slides to the branches of your map within Ayoa, creating a truly multimedia presentation – all easily manipulated from within your Mind Map.
Plan
Plan your schedules, meetings, briefs and proposals in a new and more efficient way with Mind Maps. You can divide up topics and tasks into different branches, adding sub-topics and smaller related tasks as child branches. Then you can draw connections between related tasks to see how different projects impact each other, helping you to also prioritize your time accordingly.
But once you’ve got your ideas, how do you action them? Unlike other Mind Mapping tools, Ayoa allows you to turn your ideas into ‘tasks’ with ease. Each task contains a bunch of handy features, including Due Dates, Reminders, Checklists and even Comments for you to discuss work with colleagues directly within a task – making managing and tracking your work easier than ever.
You can then collate your tasks into Task Boards which you can share with your colleagues, allowing you all to work collaboratively. Use Ayoa’s Task Boards and Mind Maps to make to-do lists, plan your weekly schedules, or even construct a three-month marketing plan or set goals for the year. A Mind Map is the perfect space to organize and group information in a clear and coherent way. Cover all aspects in one place, from agendas and objectives to resources and locations, so you can stay organized and on the ball.
Consolidate
With a Mind Map, you can consolidate a vast range of information, and with Ayoa, you can take this to a multimedia level by adding a variety of media and links to the relevant branches of your Mind Map. By adding any spreadsheets, weblinks, images and more that relate to a specific project you’re working on, you will make your working processes more efficient, keeping every together in one dynamic workspace.
With all the relevant information at your fingertips, you can save hours of time. With Ayoa, you have the potential to create your own library of information that is easy to navigate. Integrating new data or amending existing data is simple as you aren’t tied to a rigid structure – a Mind Map is a living document.
Project Manage
Manage time, data and resources to achieve new levels of productivity with Ayoa’s project management features. Create Mind Maps to scope projects, then add tasks, dates, milestones and durations to bring them to fruition. With features including Gantt Timeline View, as well as Task Boards and Mind Maps for you to manage your projects in the way that suits you, Ayoa can also be fully integrated with Google Calendar, Google Drive and more – ensuring you never leave a project unfinished or behind schedule again.
Problem Solve
Find innovative solutions with a tool that provides a space for exploring the relationships between the various facets of a problem while inspiring creative and critical thinking. By creating a Mind Map, you can view all the elements of a problem at once – stimulating creative association and integration. The process acts as a trigger device for your creativity and encourages your brain to track out ideas that normally lie in obscurity at the edge of your thinking. Ayoa gives you complete freedom to manipulate and draw connections between your ideas, without interrupting your train of thought. So if you’ve ever felt like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall trying to figure out a solution or come up with a new idea, give Mind Mapping a try!
Collaborate
Mind Mapping can often be thought of as a solo activity. While it’s a great tool for personal ideation and mapping out projects, brainstorming great ideas is even better when you team up with others. Mind Maps allow you to harness the input of all members of a group in a dynamic and creative way and is proven to enhance critical thinking. Ideal for developing plans or implementing key projects, contributions can be added to the relevant branches of a map and either explored further or put on hold for later discussion.
See the Bigger Picture
A Mind Map is a perfect platform for analyzing your business, making decisions and anticipating potential threats or risks. PEST, SWOT, Five Forces, SMART, Six Thinking Hats, Four P’s, Balanced Scorecard, Value Chain Analysis and any business model you may wish to explore, can be simplified and enhanced by using a Mind Map as your workspace. The radiating nature of a Mind Map allows limitless expansion of ideas whilst keeping a coherent and organized structure – providing you with the whole picture in one visual snapshot.
Ready to take your project plans and business goals to the next level? Discover more about Mind Mapping in Ayoa and get started for FREE today.