Affinity DiagramsOrganizing Ideas Into Common Themes

Is it ever a bad thing to have too many ideas?

Probably not, but if you've ever experienced information overload or struggled to know where to begin with a wealth of data you've been given, you may have wondered how you can use all of these ideas effectively. When there's lots of "stuff" coming at you, it is hard to sort through everything and organize the information in a way that makes sense and helps you make decisions.

Whether you're brainstorming ideas, trying to solve a problem or analyzing a situation, when you are dealing with lots of information from a variety of sources, you can end up spending a huge amount of time trying to assimilate all the little bits and pieces. Rather than letting the disjointed information get the better of you, you can use an affinity diagram to help you organize it.

Also called the KJ method, after its developer Kawakita Jiro (a Japanese anthropologist) an affinity diagram helps to synthesize large amounts of data by finding relationships between ideas. The information is then gradually structured from the bottom up into meaningful groups. From there you can clearly "see" what you have, and then begin your analysis or come to a decision.

Affinity diagrams can be used to:

Draw out common themes from a large amount of information. Discover previously unseen connections between various ideas or information. Brainstorm root causes and solutions to a problem.

Because many decision-making exercises begin with brainstorming, this is one of the most common applications of affinity diagrams. After a brainstorming session there are usually pages of ideas. These won't have been censored or edited in any way, many of them will be very similar, and many will also be closely related to others in a variety of ways. What an affinity diagram does is start to group the ideas into themes.

From the chaos of the randomly generated ideas comes an insight into the common threads that link groups of them together. From there the solution or best idea often emerges quite naturally. This is why affinity diagrams are so powerful and why the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers consider them one of the "seven management tools."

Affinity diagrams are not the domain of brainstorming alone though. They can be used in any situation where:

The solution is not readily apparent. You want to reach a consensus or decision and have a lot of variables to consider,

concepts to discuss, ideas to connect, or opinions to incorporate. There is a large volume of information to sort through.

Here is a step-by-step guide to using affinity diagrams along with a simple example to show how the process works.

How to Use the Tool

1. Describe the problem or issue:

2. Generate ideas by brainstorming. Write each idea on a separate sticky note and put these on a wall or flip chart. Remember to:

Emphasize volume. Suspend judgment. Piggyback on other ideas.

3. Sort ideas into natural themes by asking: What ideas are similar? Is this idea connected to any of the others?

If you're working in a team:

Separate into smaller groups of 3 to 4 people. Sort the ideas IN SILENCE so that no one is influenced by anyone else's

comments. Keep moving the cards around until consensus is reached.

4. Create total group consensus: Discuss the shared meaning of each of the sorted groups. Continue until consensus is reached. If some ideas do not fit into any theme, separate them as "stand-alone"

ideas. If some ideas fit into more than one theme, create a duplicate card and put

it in the proper group. Try to limit the total number of themes to between five and nine.

5. Create theme cards (also called affinity cards or header cards): Create a short 3-5 word description for the relationship. If you're working in a group, do this together, out loud. Write this theme/header on a blank card and place at the top of the group it

describes. Create a "super-headers" where necessary to group themes. Use a "sub-header" card where necessary as well.

  Drawn using SmartDraw. Click for free download.6. Continue to group the themes/headers until you have reached the broadest, but

still meaningful, categories possible: Draw lines connecting the super-headers, themes/headers, and sub-

headers. You'll end up with a hierarchical structure that shows, at a glance, where

the relationships are.

Tip:Grouping ideas under headings, and then grouping headings under super-headers in an affinity diagram is a practical way of "chunking" information generated in brainstorming sessions, during process mapping, or even a planning exercise. Click here for more information on Chunking.

Key Points

Affinity diagrams are great tools for assimilating and understanding large amounts of information. When you work through the process of creating relationships and working backward from detailed information to broad themes, you get an insight you would not otherwise find.

The next time you are confronting a large amount of information or number of ideas and you feel overwhelmed at first glance, use the affinity diagram approach to discover all the

hidden linkages. And when you cannot see the forest for the trees, an affinity diagram may be exactly what you need to get back in focus.

Writing a ProcedureMaking sure things are done without mistakes and omissions

Procedures – and their close cousins, policies - can be the curse of our existence. Sometimes they're too tight and restrictive, and other times they're non-specific and loose.

Would you want to go through a complicated procedure just to get an extra pen or pad of paper? Of course not. That should be quick and easy. On the other hand, if your colleague calls in sick, and you're suddenly responsible for getting the payroll out on time, would you want a well-written, detailed procedure to help guide you?

If done right, procedures can have an important effect on an organization. When written clearly and properly, they can help systems and people function better. If your people know what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and how not to get it wrong, you can reduce frustration and save a tremendous amount of time and effort.

This is where procedures can help.

A good procedure is accurate, brief, and readable. But these qualities aren't always easy to achieve. Sometimes people do too much, and they end up with a lengthy procedure book that others tend to ignore.

The good news is that with some knowledge and practice, you can learn these procedure-writing skills. and identify great opportunities to improve the quality of the things you do.

What Is a Procedure?

Procedures are the workhorses of a company. While policies guide the way people make decisions, procedures show the "how to's" for completing a task or process.

Procedures are action oriented. They outline steps to take, and the order in which they need to be taken. They're often instructional, and they may be used in training and orientation. Well-written procedures are typically solid, precise, factual, short, and to the point.

When Do You Need a Procedure?

Not everything needs a procedure, so don't create procedures for basic tasks - otherwise they'll be ignored. The number-one rule of procedure writing is to make sure there's a

reason to create them: Perhaps people forget to take certain actions, perhaps they keep on getting things wrong, or perhaps tasks are so long and complex that people need a checklist if they're going to get things right.

A written procedure is necessary only if the issue is important or if there will be a significant benefit from clarifying a process. Before you begin, ask yourself if people really need or want to know about something.

You need a procedure when a process:

Is lengthy (example: year-end inventory). Is complex (example: benefits administration). Is routine, but it's essential that everyone strictly follows rules (example: payroll). Demands consistency (example: handling a refund request). Involves documentation (example: disciplining a staff member). Involves significant change (example: installing a new computer system). Has serious consequences if done wrong (example: safety guidelines).

In a company, it's typical for many things to get done without written procedures. There are "unwritten rules" and informal procedures. But sometimes these unwritten rules need to be set in procedure. This may need to happen when.

Similar questions are asked repeatedly. People seem confused. There are too many ways that people interpret the procedure.

How Do You Write a Procedure?

Procedures should communicate what readers NEED to know, not just what they WANT to know. They might need to know how to do the process correctly, faster, or with less waste.

They also might like to know why they have to do something a certain way, where they can go for help, and what happens if something goes wrong. Where necessary, make sure your procedures deal with technical issues as well as subjective elements.

It's also important that your procedures have the right level of detail. Here are some questions to consider:

Do users have enough information to complete the action? Is there enough information to guide users in using good professional judgment? Is the level of detail appropriate for the subject? Is the level of detail appropriate for readers? How comfortable are readers with the subject?

Step One: Gather Information

Before you start writing, gather detailed information on the process you're making into a procedure.

Talk with content experts as well as others who hold key information - long-time staff members, stakeholders, technical staff, and people who will use the procedure.

Take lots of notes, and then sit down with the information and sort it out. As the procedure writer, you want a clear understanding of what's going on in as much detail as possible. From there, cut down the information to what the end-user really needs to best understand the process. (A great tool for organizing details is a mind map. This can help you make sure you've included and connected all the right pieces.)

Step Two: Start Writing

When you write the first draft of your procedure, don't worry about exact words and format. The main purpose is to include the information you need. Once you've done that, you can work on the words and organization.

Here are some good rules to follow:

Write actions out in the order in which they happen. Start with the first action, and end with the last action.

Avoid too many words. Just be specific enough to communicate clearly.o Example: "Add to the Cancellations tab on the spreadsheet" rather than

"Supplement the existing records on the spreadsheet with these new ones." Use the active voice.

o Example: "Place the file in the administrator's inbox" rather than "The file should then be placed in the administrator's inbox."

Use lists and bullets. Don't be too brief, or you may give up clarity. Explain your assumptions, and make sure your assumptions are valid. Use jargon and slang carefully. Write at an appropriate reading level.

Step Three: Assess Design Elements

You may find that words alone aren't enough to explain the procedure. Sometimes other elements can help your presentation. Here are some common formats:

Flowchart - This shows a process as a diagram. Using a series of symbols and arrows to indicate flow and action, you can outline a process and make it easy to follow. Be sure you don't complicate your chart with too many unfamiliar symbols or too much text. If you need to, break it into a series of smaller flowcharts. Click here to learn about creating flowcharts.

Many procedures seem "black and white," with clear steps and only one way of doing things: "Complete A, then B, then C." But sometimes you need to be less exact and allow room for personal judgment. When a procedure is too tight, it can cause confusion. Since life isn't always simple and clear-cut, some procedures need to allow subjectivity and individual choices.

Play script - This looks like a script for a play with different characters. In this case, though, you list the different staff members with different responsibilities. Scripts can be especially useful when more than one person is involved in a process.

Person responsible Action

Writer Gather information

  Write procedure

  Show draft to stakeholders

   

Stakeholders Review draft

 Submit corrections and comments

   

Writer Create final draft

   

Department manager Approve final version

   

Question and answer - Match common procedural questions with their correct answers. This is a useful format when procedures are confusing or when there are lots of variations. It also helps address "what if" issues.

Example:

Q. What if the columns don't balance?

A. First, don't panic. Start with the simplest reasons, and work backward. Recalculate the columns. Then look for transcription errors. If this doesn't solve the problem, go back and look at how you got your figures. If you were unsure of any points, recheck those figures first. Then systematically recheck each figure until you find the error.

Matrix - This table connects one variable with another. Where the variables connect, the cell shows the appropriate action. Matrix tables are really good for reference purposes, because they eliminate the need for constant searching. You can use them for many applications, including knowing what tasks to carry out and when, helping users make decisions, and knowing what forms or reports to use.

Budgeting Schedule

 Quarter

1Quarter

2Quarter

3Quarter

4

Budget analysis x x x x

Budget request     x  

Income statement x x x x

Sales forecast   x   x

Customer analysis   x    

Staffing analysis     x  

Key Points

Well-written procedures help you improve the quality of work within your organization, help you reduce the number of errors and omissions, and help new people perform complex tasks quickly and effectively.

To get the most out of your procedures, follow some simple rules when developing them: Make sure the procedure is necessary. Then write it in a way that's easily understood – using simple, clear words to communicate as briefly as possible.

When it comes to how many procedures you need, sometimes the fewer the better. So make sure each procedure is absolutely necessary before you spend time creating it.

Time ManagementBeat Work Overload. Increase Your Effectiveness. Achieve Much More.

This section of Mind Tools teaches you personal time management skills. These are the simple, practical techniques that have helped the leading people in business, sport and public service reach the pinnacles of their careers.

The skills we explain help you become highly effective, by showing you how to identify and focus on the activities that give you the greatest returns. Investing in these time management activities will actually save you time, helping you work smarter, not harder. What's more, these same techniques help you beat work overload – a key source of stress.

You'll finish by learning about goal setting, a vitally important skill for deciding what you want to achieve with your life.

Enjoy the articles!

Time Management - Start Here!

How Good is Your Time Management? - "Zero in" on the time management skills that will help you most.

Beating Procrastination – Manage your time. Get it all done.

Activity Logs – Know where your time goes.

Prioritized To Do Lists – Taking control of your time.

Action Programs – Becoming exceptionally well organized.

Prioritization – Making best use of your time and resources.

Effective Scheduling – Bringing your workload under control.

Personal Goal Setting – Planning to live your life your way.

Locke's Goal Setting Theory – Understanding SMART goal setting.The Golden Rules of Goal Setting – Five rules to set yourself up for success.

Backward Goal Setting – Using backward planning to set goals.

In Flow – Maximizing productivity through improved focus.

Leverage – Achieve much more with the same effort.

 Career Excellence Club Member Tools: (How to become a member)

 Costing Your Time – Understand the real value of your time.

Managing Interruptions – Maintain focus. Keep control of your time.The Art of Concise Conversations – Stick to the point - humanely.Action Priority Matrix – Making the most of your opportunities.Prioritization – Making best use of your time and resources.

Treasure Mapping – Visualizing your goal for greater achievement.Pickle Jar Theory – Make your schedule work. Leave time for fun!New Year's Resolutions – Planning for a year of achievement

The Urgent/Important Matrix - Using time effectively, not just efficiently

Leadership SkillsBecome an Exceptional Leader

The old-fashioned view of leadership is that leaders are marked out for leadership from early on in their lives, and that if you’re not a born leader, there’s little that you can do to become one.

That’s not the way we see it now. The modern view is that through patience, persistence and hard work, you can be a truly effective leader, just as long as you make the effort needed.

The articles in this section help you develop your leadership skills so that you, too, can become an exceptional leader.

Start with the introduction by clicking here, or pick the articles you’re interested in below. Enjoy them!

Leadership Skills - Start Here!

Blake Mouton Managerial Grid - Balancing task- and people-oriented leadership

Leadership Motivation Test - How motivated are you to lead?

Leadership Motivation Tools - Find the passion to lead

Winning Expert Power - Leading from the front

Leadership Styles - Using the right one for the right situation

Emotional Intelligence - Developing strong "people skills"

Mission Statements and Vision Statements - Unleashing the power of purpose

Team Effectiveness Assessment - How well do you and your team work together?

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing - Helping new teams perform effectively, quickly

Belbin's Team Roles - How understanding team roles can improve team performance

Successful Delegation - Using the power of other people's help

Task Allocation - Picking the right person for the job

  

  Play this video for our quickguide to these resources.

The GROW Model - Coaching team members to improve performanceMentoring - An essential leadership skill

How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?

Herzberg's Motivators and Hygiene Factors - Learn how to motivate your team

Adam's Equity Theory - Balancing employee inputs and outputsAvoiding Micromanagement - Helping team members excel - on their own

Conflict Resolution - Resolve conflict rationally and effectively

 Career Excellence Club Member Tools: (How to become a member)

 Management by Objectives (MBO) - Motivating people by aligning their objectives with the goals of the organization

Crisis Planning - Preparing your best response to the unexpected

Ethical Leadership - Doing the right thing

Cross Cultural Leadership

Working in Virtual Teams - Team working that overcomes time and space

Leading Equals - Motivating people effectively, without authorityNow You're the Boss... - Learning how to manage former peers

Building Tomorrow's Leaders - Identifying and developing leaders in your organization

Successful Induction - Getting new team members off to a great start!

Understanding Developmental Needs - Help your team reach peak performance

An Up-to-Date Understanding of Leadership

Within all of these theories, frameworks, and approaches to leadership, there's an underlying message that leaders need to have a variety of factors working in their favor. Effective leadership is not simply based on a set of attributes, behaviors, or influences. You must have a wide range of abilities and approaches that you can draw upon.

Having said this, however, there's one leadership style that is appropriate in very many corporate situations – that of Transformational Leadership. A leader using this style:

Has integrity. Sets clear goals. Clearly communicates a vision. Sets a good example. Expects the best from the team. Encourages. Supports. Recognizes good work and people. Provides stimulating work. Helps people see beyond their self-interests and focus more on team interests and

needs. Inspires.

In short, transformational leaders are exceptionally motivating, and they're trusted. When your team trusts you, and is really "fired up" by the way you lead, you can achieve great things!

The transformational leadership style is the dominant leadership style taught in our How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You program, although we do recommend that other styles are brought in as the situation demands.

Having said that Transformational Leadership suits very many circumstances in business, we need to remember that there may be situations where it's not the best style. This is why it's worth knowing about the other styles shown below so that you have a greater chance of finding the right combination for the situation you find yourself in.

Popular Leadership Styles – A Glossary

The leadership theories and styles discussed so far are based on research. However, many more terms are used to describe approaches to leadership, even if these don't fit within a particular theoretical system. It's worth understanding these!

1. Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where leaders have absolute power over their workers or team. Staff and team members have little opportunity to make suggestions, even if these would be in the team's or the organization's best interest.

Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Therefore, autocratic leadership usually leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. For some routine and unskilled jobs, the style can remain effective because the advantages of control may outweigh the disadvantages.

2. Bureaucratic leadership

Bureaucratic leaders work "by the book." They follow rules rigorously, and ensure that their staff follows procedures precisely. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights) or where large sums of money are involved (such as handling cash).

3. Charismatic leadership

A charismatic leadership style can seem similar to transformational leadership, because these leaders inspire lots of enthusiasm in their teams and are very energetic in driving others forward. However, charismatic leaders can tend to believe more in themselves than in their teams, and this creates a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader leaves. In the eyes of the followers, success is directly connected to the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and it needs a long-term commitment from the leader.

4. Democratic leadership or participative leadership

Although democratic leaders make the final decisions, they invite other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving team members, but it also helps to develop people's skills. Team members feel in control of their own destiny, so they're motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward.

Because participation takes time, this approach can take more time, but often the end result is better. The approach can be most suitable when working as a team is essential, and when quality is more important than speed to market or productivity.

5. Laissez-faire leadership

This French phrase means "leave it be," and it's used to describe leaders who leave their team members to work on their own. It can be effective if the leader monitors what's being achieved and communicates this back to the team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership is effective when individual team members are very experienced and

skilled self-starters. Unfortunately, this type of leadership can also occur when managers don't apply sufficient control.

6. People-oriented leadership or relations-oriented leadership

This is the opposite of task-oriented leadership. With people-oriented leadership, leaders are totally focused on organizing, supporting, and developing the people in their teams. It's a participative style, and it tends to encourage good teamwork and creative collaboration.

In practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of leadership.

7. Servant leadership

This term, created by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone, at any level within an organization, leads simply by meeting the needs of the team, he or she is described as a "servant leader."

In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership, because the whole team tends to be involved in decision making.

Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest that it's an important way to move ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, and where servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and ideals. Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people who practice servant leadership can find themselves left behind by leaders using other leadership styles.

8. Task-Oriented leadership

Highly task-oriented leaders focus only on getting the job done, and they can be quite autocratic. They actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, plan, organize, and monitor. However, because task-oriented leaders don't tend to think much about the well-being of their teams, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of autocratic leadership, with difficulties in motivating and retaining staff.

9. Transactional leadership

This style of leadership starts with the idea that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they accept a job. The "transaction" is usually the organization paying the team members in return for their effort and compliance. The leader has a right to "punish" team members if their work doesn't meet the pre-determined standard.

Team members can do little to improve their job satisfaction under transactional leadership. The leader could give team members some control of their income/reward by using incentives that encourage even higher standards or greater productivity. Alternatively, a transactional leader could practice "management by exception" – rather

than rewarding better work, the leader could take corrective action if the required standards are not met.

Transactional leadership is really a type of management, not a true leadership style, because the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for knowledge-based or creative work.

10. Transformational leadership

As we discussed earlier, people with this leadership style are true leaders who inspire their teams constantly with a shared vision of the future. While this leader's enthusiasm is often passed onto the team, he or she can need to be supported by "detail people." That's why, in many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add value.

Key Points

While the transformational leadership approach is often highly effective, there's no one "right" way to lead or manage that fits all situations. To choose the most effective approach for yourself, consider the following:

The skill levels and experience of your team. The work involved (routine, or new and creative). The organizational environment (stable or radically changing, conservative or

adventurous). You own preferred or natural style.

Good leaders often switch instinctively between styles, according to the people they lead and the work that needs to be done. Establish trust – that's key to this process – and remember to balance the needs of the organization against the needs of your team.