we now have a template translation of crystal mapping in Polish. Crystal-Mapping_in_polish

Many thanks Wojciech!

Below is an example of a Personal Dashboard created in crystal mapping and our Think it, Map it, See it, Do it process to help people create them.

Among the many theories, teachings and techniques in the area of personal development there are two features which are common to all and critical to success:

• you have to know where you are going and
• you have to know how you’re going to get there.

The first point is pretty much a given in that it is vital that you know what you’re trying to achieve and where you want to get to. Otherwise how would you know if / when you’d arrived?

The second is a bit less clear cut because there are usually a number of ways you could get to the same point. However, the fact that you need a plan or a route to follow is not in doubt. All journeys need to be planned.

Just as you wouldn’t set out to climb Everest without knowing which route you were going to take, you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t at least) set out to achieve your life or career goals without a map.

Crystal Mapping helps you map your goals so you can see where you are going and how you’re going to get there.

We work on a simple process: Think it, Map it, See it, Do it.

For most of us life is busy. We live at speed, grabbing coffee on the go, having a sandwich at our desk, making calls as we drive (hand’s free obviously). When we have ideas for things we’d like to do or changes we’d like to make we don’t write them down so we forget about them – sometimes for good. It’s important to think about what you want. So, go on think about it!

One of the problems people often find with all the different methods and techniques of self improvement and the vast library of literature that exists is how to remember the stuff which is relevant and how to bring it all together in a way that is personal to you. Well – the best way is to make a map – so its crystal clear what you are trying to achieve!

Visualisation is the key to success for most successful people and it takes place on two levels. On one level it is important to visualise our goals in our minds and to start to allow our subconscious mind to go to work on finding strategies to achieve them. Secondly you need see how you’re progressing. Your own crystal map personal dashboard lets you see exactly how you’re performing in achieving your life goals!

When you took a few moments to think about your goals you were doing nothing new. You probably didn’t need to think that hard before a few ideas at least popped into your head. That’s because these dreams have rattled around between your ears for quite a while. But now is the time to do something different. Just do it!

Crystal Map it!

When I started to formulate my ideas for visually communicating information in radiant circles to show ‘content in context’,  the first thing I did was to start drawing it out on paper. Starting from the centre or the core objective of whatever I wanted to communicate using my, as yet, unnamed approach, the radiant circles began to flow intutively. I then started to do this in powerppoint. An early painstakingly built powerpoint example is below:

This clunky looking map tried to show how a particular project’s vision (explained in more detail in my book) required all the parties to accept responsibility for certain key goals that were vital in delivering the overall plan.

It shows the top level map and got the main aims across for each business group in the project and showed the bigger picture. But it didn’t show the details for each main element. Step 2 was to crystallize (see what I did there) each business group further into its key teams and objectives.

Map 2 looked like this

The critical aspect of Map 2 was that it was clear that while the business group had specific and identified goals, they were all subordinate to achieving the overall vision and plan. It was a small step to continue iterating from that to the full blown map below.

Once I’d created the above visual which showed how plans and goals for each business group could be formed into a bigger picture structure it struck me that the map looked kind of  ‘organic’ and seemed to grow naturally – a bit like how ice crystals grow.  A bit more thought on the nature of how organic mechanisms grow and I soon arrived at Crystal Mapping via a few ‘molecular’ and ‘atomic mapping’ side streets and ‘genetic’ and ‘DNA map’ alleyways.

One other attribute of the name also struck home instantly. Everything I was trying to do was about ‘clarity’. There’s nothing better than crystal clarity!

This is not surprising as research suggest only about 5% of organisations can claim their employees genuinely understand the company’s vision and strategy. But what’s worse is the seemingly tacit agreement on the behalf of many leaders who seem to think this is ok and that they’ll still achieve and reach their goals/targets/dreams regardless!

Well you might be one of the lucky leaders and do just that but just think how much luckier you could be if you had all your team focused on the same destination with a shared vision, clear goals and an understood purpose. In fact just think how much more successful you could be if when you asked your team, “Are we clear?” they all responded with one voice “Crystal”, we’ll drop the Sir.

So how do you do it?  Make a crystal map – what else! – it shows the direction you’re headed and how you’re going to get there – clearly and simply.

Crystal Maps are a really easy way to communicate purpose, mission, vision, whatever you want to call the driving ambition of your company. Mapping vision and purpose and setting goals and objectives in a unified and connected manner lets everyone in the team see the bigger picture as well as team targets and person goals. We’ve got interactive examples on the website. But just to show how really simple they can be here are a few static top level examples from a project I did with a large UK based organisation