Mood Wall Ice Breaker

Mood Wall GroupMap with names as an icebreaker

What is a Mood Wall?

A Mood Wall is a simple tool that allows people to share their current emotional state or mood by placing their name on a board that displays a range of emoticons.

Start a Mood Wall in GroupMap

This is a powerful way to build empathy and get a sense of the energy and mindset of the people in the room.

Using a Mood Wall requires minimal setup. You can choose a range of emotions and simply have people add their names on the Wall. You can go the extra step by having them comment on why they feel that way. 

A Mood Wall can be a fun icebreaker that sets the tone for a collaborative and empathy-focused meeting.

Why use a Mood Wall?

Besides being a really simple way of getting everyone to check in and be present for the meeting, a Mood Wall can:

  • Encourage self reflection. Having people check in on their own feelings helps them become aware of their own emotional state as they start the meeting.
  • Encourages communication. People can share a single feeling and reason for their choice; this helps to break down barriers.
  • Builds empathy and understanding. By being aware of how the team is feeling, this can help people work better together.

When Should I Use a Mood Wall?

A Mood Wall can be used by meeting or workshop facilitators. It can also be used by teachers and lecturers. They are useful for:

  • Company meetings to encourage openness and collaboration.
  • Market research sessions for people to add their reactions.
  • Counselling or design thinking sessions to practice empathy.
  • Team building events to kick off a big workshop.
Related templates
Tips for your Mood Wall Ice Breaker
  • Set expectations and boundaries. Explain the Mood Wall and ask for people to be genuine.
  • Create a safe and supportive environment. Be explicit that all feelings are valid and that it is important to honour all of them.
  • Give people time to think and consider. You might even want to try a short guided meditation.
  • Encourage active listening. Have people demonstrate empathy and reflect on what is being said.
  • Reflect on the activity. After the discussion, ask people to share their thoughts about how they might impact your meeting or workshop.
References

Mood Wall Template

groupmap-template-moodwall-with emotions-img

How to Run a Mood Wall

Draw, print or write different emoticons on a large whiteboard or wall and hand out sticky notes to each person who can then add their names to the wall. Then invite each person to add their name to the emoticon that best reflects how they feel.

Alternatively, you can use an online brainstorming tool like GroupMap for both real-time and remote sessions. It can also be set up so that people add their names independently and are therefore not influenced by other people’s responses. You can then reveal the results in total to the whole group. This will reduce bias and anchoring.

Create the Mood Wall

Use the template to choose your emoticons.

Brainstorm

People add their names to the relevant emoticon.

Discuss

Get people to share why they are feeling that way today.

Start a Mood Wall in GroupMap
Cross Device Compatibility

Save effort, time and money with GroupMap

Whether you have your best minds together in the same room, or distributed around the world, GroupMap’s unique technology allows groups of up to 2000 to submit ideas independently at separate times, from different places, in different timezones. Prevent dominant personalities swaying the group, drowning out the opinions of others – GroupMap allows everyone to brainstorm independently then effortlessly combines that information to reveal the full spectrum of ideas. GroupMap templates keep the objective front and center throughout the session, keeping everyone on task. This ensures the activity identifies actionable issues rather than becoming just a discussion on ideas. GroupMap gives you all the group decision making tools you need to prioritize, decide and take action.

Create your first map and invite people in to start sharing their thoughts right NOW. Experience the power of GroupMap with our 14-day, no risk, FREE trial. You don’t even need to provide your credit card details to access to all of our features, including the entire suite of templates, for a full 14 days.

Start your 14-day free trial
Enquire now

PEST Analysis

What is a PEST Analysis?

A PEST analysis is a strategic business tool used by organizations to discover, evaluate, organize, and track macro-economic factors which can impact on their business now and in the future. 

The framework examines opportunities and threats due to Political, Economic, Social, and Technological forces. Outputs from the analysis inform strategic planning processes and contribute to market research.

Start a PEST analysis in GroupMap

The output from a PEST analysis is useful for informing other business management processes such as SWOT analysis, SOAR analysis, risk analysis, or a Business Model Canvas.

There are many variations of this framework, which look at different external factors, depending on which industry or market the organization operates in. Examples include PESTLE, STEEPLE, STEER, and STEEP.

Why do a PEST Analysis?

  • Helps to evaluate how your strategy fits into the broader environment and encourages strategic thinking
  • Provides an overview of all the crucial external influences on the organization
  • Supports more decisive and knowledgeable decision making
  • Assists planning, marketing, organizational change initiatives, business and product development, project management, and research papers

Who should use a PEST Analysis?

A PEST analysis is useful for any organization that needs to gauge current and future markets. Predominantly, this is conducted by senior management, C-levels for strategic planning purposes. External agencies, bodies, stakeholders and decision makers who may have perspectives as well as consultants and parters can also offer valuable insights into the PEST analysis.

The significance of each area in PEST Analysis will vary for different industry sectors. For example, there is likely to be a different emphasis on the technology element for IT organizations compared with those involved in health, tourism, mining, defense, and banking.

Related templates
Facilitation tips in conducing a PEST Analysis
  • Carefully select participants to provide expert knowledge but also a fresh perspective.
  • A PEST analysis is not just about listing down political, economic, social and technological factors that you simply know or have heard of. It is also important to validate them with suitable information and rate its impact on your organization.
  • Rating the impact of each factor lets you identify the most important issues.
  • For complex organisations and where they are servicing multiple locations, there may need to be a PEST analysis for each environment.
  • Use quantitative data where possible to focus on the crux of the issue.
  • Provide adequate time in the session to rank and prioritize ideas.
  • You can also have people vote or colour code factors that are temporary, long term or should be monitored over time.
  • Try to keep factors relatively high level and avoid getting bogged down in analysis paralysis.
References

PEST Analysis Template

Political

Political or politically motivated factors that could impact the organization.

Examples include:

Government policy, political stability or instability, bureaucracy, corruption, competition regulation, foreign trade policy, tax policy, trade restrictions, labor/environmental/copyright/consumer protection laws, funding grants & initiatives, etc.

Questions to ask:

  • What government policies or political groups could be beneficial or detrimental to our success?
  • Is the political environment stable or likely to change?

Social

Social attitudes, behaviors, and trends that impact on your organization and target market.

Examples include:

Attitudes and shared beliefs about a range of factors including money, customer service, imports, religion, cultural taboos, health, work, leisure, the environment; population growth and demographics, immigration/emigration, family size/structure, lifestyle trends, etc.

Questions to ask

  • How do our customer’s beliefs and values influence their buying habits?
  • How do cultural trends and human behavior play a role in our business?

Economic

Overall economic forces that could impact on your success.

Examples include:

Economic trends, growth rates, industry growth, seasonal factors, international exchange rates, International trade, labor costs, consumer disposable income, unemployment rates, taxation, inflation, interest rates, availability of credit, monetary policies, raw material costs, etc.

Questions to ask:

  • What economic factors will affect us moving forward?
  • How does the performance of the economy affect us at the moment?
  • How are our pricing, revenues, and costs impacted by each economic factor?

Technological

Technology that can affect the way you make, distribute, and market your products and services.

Examples include:

Technology and communications infrastructure, legislation around technology, consumer access to technology, competitor technology and development, emerging technologies, automation, research and innovation, intellectual property regulation, technology incentives, etc.

Questions to ask:

  • What technological advancements and innovations are available on the horizon?
  • How will this technology impact on our operations?

How to Do a PEST Analysis

Analyze and consider both the current status of factors in the PEST template and how potential changes might affect the organization in the future.

Tip To get the most from the PEST technique, gather input from the participants with different perspectives. When you’re working with a large or distributed team, getting everyone together at the same time can be difficult, inconvenient, and costly. Using different technologies like video conferencing, online forms, and collaborative brainstorming software such as GroupMap can help overcome these challenges.

Brainstorm

Brainstorm ideas for each area of the PEST analysis template

Group

Review responses, and collate ideas.

Rate

Rate the ideas according to likely impact on the organization.

Share

Share the outcomes of the session to relevant stakeholders.

Start a PEST Analysis in GroupMap
Cross Device Compatibility

Save effort, time and money with GroupMap

Whether you have your best minds together in the same room, or distributed around the world, GroupMap’s unique technology allows groups of up to 2000 to submit ideas independently at separate times, from different places, in different timezones. Prevent dominant personalities swaying the group, drowning out the opinions of others – GroupMap allows everyone to brainstorm independently then effortlessly combines that information to reveal the full spectrum of ideas. GroupMap templates keep the objective front and center throughout the session, keeping everyone on task. This ensures the activity identifies actionable issues rather than becoming just a discussion on ideas. GroupMap gives you all the group decision making tools you need to prioritize, decide and take action.

Create your first map and invite people in to start sharing their thoughts right NOW. Experience the power of GroupMap with our 14-day, no risk, FREE trial. You don’t even need to provide your credit card details to access to all of our features, including the entire suite of templates, for a full 14 days.

Start your 14-day free trial
Enquire now

Character Traits Analysis

character-map

What is the Character Trait Map?

A CHARACTER MAP is a graphic organizer that helps students unpack a character in a piece of literature, film or play and how they impact or is impacted by the other characters. It helps to explore the character from various aspects and allows the student to self reflect on how that character is portrayed and the impact on the reader.
 
Students analyse the character and their traits in a more organized way by using clues and information from the text, including the plot,  to make inferences.  This helps them better appreciate how their character adds to the story and their role in delivering a message.
character-map

Easily create a Character Map

Characters can be deeply unique and complex beings, in many ways similar to real life people. This template provides a way to flesh out and understand what drives a character. Does the character have any interesting mannerisms? Do others cower away or embrace the character?

By having guiding questions that help to prompt thinking and to allow people to independently or collaboratively brainstorm their ideas, this provides an in-depth analysis that gives everyone a broader understanding of the factors surrounding the character and their development.

Create a Character Trait Map in GroupMap

How do I create a lesson plan with a character trait analysis map?

Use this simple guide in order to quickly create a character traits template that can be shared.

 

Step 1 – Select the Character Map template, and invite people in via email, Map ID or web link. Explain the purpose of the character trait map elements. Then read or view the text, film or play and start some initial discussion or provide an example.

Step 2 – Have each student brainstorm their ideas under each of the sections, adding pictures, videos, or any other materials that help to best describe the character.

Step 3 – Results will be combined real time. You can click on an idea to see who created it. You can then facilitate the discussion, clarify ideas, challenge assumptions and provide real time feedback.

Hint: Customize the map through the menu settings to choose the headings that best represent the nature of the literature being reviewed.

 
Cross Device Compatibility

Save effort, time and money with GroupMap

Whether you have your best minds together in the same room, or distributed around the world, GroupMap’s unique technology allows groups of up to 2000 to submit ideas independently at separate times, from different places, in different timezones. Prevent dominant personalities swaying the group, drowning out the opinions of others – GroupMap allows everyone to brainstorm independently then effortlessly combines that information to reveal the full spectrum of ideas. GroupMap templates keep the objective front and center throughout the session, keeping everyone on task. This ensures the activity identifies actionable issues rather than becoming just a discussion on ideas. GroupMap gives you all the group decision making tools you need to prioritize, decide and take action.

Create your first map and invite people in to start sharing their thoughts right NOW. Experience the power of GroupMap with our 14-day, no risk, FREE trial. You don’t even need to provide your credit card details to access to all of our features, including the entire suite of templates, for a full 14 days.

Start your 14-day free trial
Enquire now

BCG Matrix

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A BCG Matrix helps to better understand which product lines are bringing in profit, and which are weighing you down. The BGC matrix is the perfect tool for any product analysis.

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KWHLAQ

KWHLAQ template

A KWHLAQ graphic organizer is a great visual tool for people to share what they know, think about what they want to research or learn, and then reflect on what they learned. This helps you create a student engaged learning experience. You can use the information collected to help you create tailored and student specific lesson plans whilst still linking it to your curriculum. This is especially useful for deep exploration of a new topic.

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KWL Chart

KWL Chart

Learn a new topic. People can share what they know, decide on what they want to know then reflect on learning.

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SWOT Analysis

An easy but effective way to create your strategies is to complete the SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Strategic planning template.

SWOT analysis template allows your team to add their responses in real time without hesitation, safely and efficiently. They can see what others have said but without the impact of group-think. Beyond just making a list, GroupMap allows each person rate each factor on the level of impact it has so you know what really matters.

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