7 ways to impress your boss with mind map-enhanced thinking

Whether you’re trying to move ahead in your current company or seeking new opportunities, the single biggest thing that will differentiate you is the way that you think.

A mind mapping tool can be a powerful ally to help you level up your thinking and accelerate your career.  According to respondents of my last Mind Mapping Tools survey:

• It increases the productivity of its users by an average of 35%,
• It increases the creativity of its users by an average of 50%,
• The number one benefit of mind mapping software they cited is improved understanding of complex business issues, and
• Two-thirds of respondents said it has improved the quality of their work to a large extent.

If a mind mapping tool isn’t currently part of your personal productivity toolkit, it should be.

Here are 7 ways you can easily use your mind mapping tool to differentiate yourself in the eyes of your boss:

1. Ask more insightful questions based on your more detailed visual analysis of a business challenge or opportunity
2. Uncover and reveal connections, relationships and patterns that your peers aren’t even aware of. Your boss will definitely appreciate you for thinking deeply and creatively about the business.
3. Look at the challenge from multiple perspectives; by comparison, your peers are probably only looking at it from a single perspective – inevitably the most obvious one.
4. Uncover new opportunities and ideas based on lateral thinking (literally, “thinking sideways:) with your mind map and present them to your boss.
5. Lead a team brainstorming session, using a mind map to capture the group’s output.
6. Enhance your reports with compelling mind map visuals that add clarity and depth to your findings.
7. Reveal your thinking process using a mind map. How did you arrive at your ideas, insights and conclusions?

Conclusion

If you think, plan and reason just like everyone else you will be treated like everyone else. To succeed, you must differentiate yourself.

In your work, your compensation and your level of advancement will be equal to the quality of your thinking. Make sure it’s the best it can be!