At one time ‘flowcharts’ were considered to be the preserve of the IT Department, but in reality they are an invaluable business aid. Look at this simple chart for the production of this newsletter:

What is so special about that diagram? Certainly the steps are not complicated, so why draw the chart at all? What it does reveal is that there are two ‘road blocks’ in the way of successfully publishing on time, namely:

1. Making sure there is enough material available
2. Even more importantly, making sure the newsletter is finalised in time to meet the publishing deadline

Certainly a flowchart helps you organise workflow, but more importantly, it helps you identify problems, hopefully, before they happen. In fact there are four specific reasons that flowcharts are important in business.

A flowchart:

1. Identifies problems by making you look at every step in a process
2. Improves workflow because it forces you to create a process to be followed. We all know that consistency is vital to smooth operation
3. Improves quality for similar reasons to those given in point 2
4. Creates a clear process to induct a new person into that process i.e. the flowchart becomes a training tool.

So we have determined that the flowchart should be an essential part of business life.
Flowcharts can take a number of formats with the illustration above being the most recognised. However the flowchart can come in many forms. For example:

Here at Mindsystems we have been using a great charting program called ‘SmartDraw’.

So impressed are we with this software that we are currently concluding negotiations with SmartDraw to offer the product via Mindsystems Sales Channels. So watch this space!

In the May issue of Clarity we investigated the way, in business terms, we could communicate most effectively. If you read that article you would remember that we identified two distinct modes:

• ‘Synchronous’ communication in which the methods is as close as possible to ‘face-to-face’ communication and at the very least, in real time.
• ‘Asynchronous’ communication which meant communication with others, but not always in real time. This has the advantage of collaboration which allowing each individual to work at his or her own pace.

We are extremely pleased to tell you that the long awaited Mindjet® Connect has arrived and caters for both those needs. The online implementation seems very simple, perhaps over simple, at first sight. However that is one of its strengths as it is both extremely versatile and easy to use. Look at this example of the ‘Workspace’:

Things to note:

• It is possible to have as many Workspaces as you wish which are listed in ‘Space 1’. In this case a Workspace called ‘Mindjet Training’ has been selected.
• The members of the selected Workspace are shown in ‘Space 2’. The owner of the space (in this case Zoe England) can add or subtract members at will.
• ‘Space 3’ contains the documents associated with the Workspace. It is interesting to note that this area will hold a variety of documents, not just MindManager maps. For example we have uploaded a Knowledgelink documents and found that someone else in another location can activate (click on) that file and KnowledgeLink Pro will open on their desktop and the file will be loaded. (This assumes that they have KnowledgeLink installed!)
• ‘Space 4’ shows the history of the documents in ‘Space 3’. In this case we had prepared a Mindjet Training Plan (Mindsystems is the accredited training centre for the region) and Steve DiLauro (Mindjet’s Training Manager) made some modifications the following day... note that  Zoe was in Melbourne and Steve was in San Francisco!

Clearly there is not enough space in this news letter to cover all the features; however it should be equally clear that this represents a breakthrough in organisational efficiency. The real beauty of Connect is that is of as much use for communication, collaboration and idea/project development within a building as it is between cities or even between countries. Other features to note:

• Set up real time chat meetings
• The ability to work offline and then sync the map with the online version
• There is full data security for all your online data
• Microsoft Integration
• Plus many other features.

More info: http://www.mindsystems.com.au/products/mindmanager/connect.php

Over the years we have seen many examples of great software being introduced into an organisation by an ‘evangelist’... only to die a slow and often expensive death because virtually no one actually uses it. I am sure you have had similar experiences.

What can be done to avoid this unfortunate situation? The answer is a single word: ‘Training’.

In this situation, training has three roles:

• Removes the fear of the unknown. It is amazing how many people resist ‘new things’ simply because they think it will all be too difficult and they do not want to make a fool of themselves
• Sells the concept to the participants. In general terms, people are reluctant to change unless they see a good reason to change
• Allows group input which both harnesses group intelligence and group buy-in. Almost all software requires some degree of customisation to ensure it absorbs the unique aspects of the organisation
  

As an example let’s consider a typical Mindsystems ‘In-House’ one day training program for a company just starting to use MindManager. The formula is basically the same each time with small variations to suit the individual organisation. They are:

• Introduce the concept of mind mapping and ‘sell’ the importance of mapping to the individual. It is worth noting that many of the MindManager support problems we get come down, not to the software, but to a lack of knowledge of the principles of mapping.
• Demonstrate the main functions of the software with practical exercises (Each participant should have their own laptop/desk top)
• Demonstrate some of the more advanced features (including the use of complementary software) with two goals in mind:
• Make sure people are aware of the full potential of the software
• Show the ‘bling’ ... remember we are still in sales mode!
• Spend time with actual company workflow issues such as developing company specific templates.

It goes without saying that such a training program must follow a number of important guide lines:

• The instructor must be highly professional and really know his or her subject matter
• The program must ‘walk the talk’. In other words the actual MindManager maps should be used to illustrate things whenever possible. (e.g. as out lines for the course, as brainstorming tool in group discussions, as a part of PowerPoint presentations etc)
• Senior management should be involved with the first course.

This last point is particularly important in that if staff get the idea that the software is not good enough for the senior managers, why should it be good enough for them? This is one of the main reasons for many types of innovation to fail. It simply must start from the top.

To sum up: Training forms a critical part of innovation of any sort, be it communications, team development, new processes or software introduction.

The Mindsystems group was originally founded around training programs of all types. If you have training needs why not talk to us?

Please see: http://www.mindsystems.com.au/services/training/index.php

There are many processes that we repeat over and over again. There are other processes that are very important, but we do infrequently. In the first case we waste a great deal of time and energy going back to square one, and in the second attempt we might make mistakes because we do not do the task regularly.

You may be familiar with templates if you use a word processor. Every time you click ‘new’ in Word you get a basic template which has such things as text types and heading formats associated with the new document.

Word makes it easy to be more sophisticated than that. For example you could have a template with preformatted headers and footers which include company information and logos. It could easily be a partially completed form of a standard letter.

KnowledgeLink Pro V5 makes a real science of the template, indeed templates are one of its more powerful features. In brief KLP comes with a whole set of pre-installed templates for a range of common business tasks. For example:

It can be seen that by selecting various 'Risk Management' templates, it is possible to rapidly build up a custom tree that exactly fits a particular situation. (NOTE: If you select more templates they are automatically appended to the bottom of the open template).

That example was using pre-installed templates. However the real power of KnowledgeLink Templates comes into play when you start making your own. For example if you create a brilliant structure that you may want to use again it is as simple as a mouse click to store that tree as a new template.

A particularly useful feature is that all characteristics of the tree are saved when you choose to make a new template. This includes fonts, colors and most importantly, the contents of the topic notes including text and graphics. This means you can create templates with instruction for use plus hints and tips or examples.

This is really only limited by your own imagination.

Why not take a free trial of KnowledgeLink Pro V5?
http://www.mindsystems.com.au/products/knowledgelink/index.php