Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: fb1047697143cc52d8ef8ffac986114c5c23621133e0f2c97f241e35e27bd376

# Divergent Thinking Mind Map Style

Participants map associations radiating outward from a central prompt, then pass their sheets around their circle to build upon each other's ideas.

**Time:** 25 minutes. Set to 25 minutes for standard workshop delivery; source suggests 30 to 60 minutes.
**People:** 4 to 24. Small circles of 3 to 6 people. Form two circles of 3 and 4 if the group has 7.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Generate an expansive pool of initial and secondary ideas connected to a single challenge.
**Use it when:** Use early in planning or problem framing when a team needs a wider variety of ideas before narrowing down.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the team already has adequate options and must converge, evaluate, or select immediate next steps.

## Materials and tools

- One large sheet of blank paper (A3 or flipchart) per participant
- Two different colored markers per participant (for example, black for first round, green for passed rounds)
- One visible countdown timer
- Digital whiteboard platform with numbered frames for remote participants (if running remote or hybrid)

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange chairs and tables into small clusters of 3 to 6 people.
2. Place one large blank sheet and two colored markers at each seat.
3. Write the central focus prompt on a visible room board.
4. For remote or hybrid delivery, create one numbered frame per remote participant on a digital whiteboard before starting.

## Say this to open

Write our central prompt in the middle of your page and draw a circle around it. Branch outward with immediate ideas, questions, and associations. Do not censor yourself. After six minutes, we will pass maps to the right so your neighbors can add their own branches.

## How to run it

### 1. Set prompt and branch initial ideas (6 minutes)

Participants write the focus challenge in the middle of their page and circle it. Using their primary marker, they draw branches outward to capture immediate thoughts and sub-topics. For example, if the center is 'Volunteer Onboarding', one branch might be 'First Day Welcome' which further branches to 'Name tags' and 'Buddy system'. Stop when the timer sounds.

### 2. First pass to the right (6 minutes)

Each participant hands their sheet to the person on their right and switches to their second marker color. Everyone reads the branches already written and adds new offshoots, questions, or associations. Stop when the timer sounds.

### 3. Second pass to the right (5 minutes)

Participants pass the paper to the right once more within their table circle. Using their second marker, they continue building new branches or drawing cross-links between distant ideas. When time ends, return each sheet to its original owner.

### 4. Review and table debrief (8 minutes)

Original owners take two minutes to silently review the new branches added to their sheets. For the remaining six minutes, each table discusses the additions using the debrief prompts. Members share one surprising branch or pass if they prefer.


## Debrief questions

- Which addition from another person took your map in an unexpected direction?
- Where did you see clusters of ideas form that you did not anticipate at the start?
- What is one branch on your sheet that deserves more exploration?

**Finished output:** A set of completed, multi-contributor mind maps containing direct and cross-linked ideas for the central prompt.

## Remote

Set up a shared digital whiteboard with numbered frames (Frame 1 to Frame N) corresponding to each participant. Participants claim a frame and write the central prompt in the center. In step 1 (6 minutes), everyone branches ideas in their own frame. In step 2 (6 minutes), participants shift to the next higher numbered frame (the highest number loops to Frame 1) and add new branches using a different digital sticky note color. In step 3 (5 minutes), participants shift one frame forward again to add further branches and cross-links. In step 4 (8 minutes), participants return to their original frame for 2 minutes of silent review, then spend 6 minutes discussing the debrief questions in breakout rooms of 3 to 4 people.

## Hybrid

Run physical circles for in-person participants and a parallel digital whiteboard breakout for remote participants. In-person attendees pass physical sheets to their right; remote attendees rotate through numbered frames on the digital whiteboard. Do not mix physical and digital passing across environments. During step 4, remote participants conduct their debrief in their breakout room while in-person participants debrief within their physical table clusters.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may use single words, short phrases, sketches, or simple icons instead of full sentences.
- Anyone may choose to silently review a neighbor's sheet during passing rounds without writing additions, or pass their speaking turn during table sharing.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants say they are stuck and cannot think of anything to add to a neighbor's map.**

Invite them to pick any branch and add a 'Why?', an obstacle that could stop it, or an extreme exaggerated version of that idea.

**A table group has an odd number of people.**

Passing to the right works in any circular group of 3 or more people regardless of odd or even counts. Ensure everyone passes in the same direction.


## Terms used here

- Divergent thinking: The process of generating many varied ideas and connections from a single starting point.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Relationship Makers Handbook (pages 142-143), which describes 'Divergent Thinking Mind Map Style' as a brainstorming technique using branching maps and passing to the right.

Retained the core mechanics from Relationship Makers Handbook: starting with a circled central topic, radiating branches outward, passing to the right to build on other people's maps, and sharing discoveries. UWT standardized the session length to 25 minutes, established an explicit two-pass rotation structure with color switching, aligned the remote whiteboard rotation to match the two-pass physical format exactly, and structured the table-level debrief.

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/divergent-thinking-mind-map-style/