Rapidly create powerful activity maps for more, better & faster positive impact
Overview of the ActionMap method
More detail and target results
Let’s do some quick qualification to make good use of your time
Qualification #1: Does ActionMap support your purpose?
Are you, your clients or the people you care about engaged in a complex activity, including a:
- job
- project
- organization
- movement or
- system?
Are you and/or they:
- ambitious
- determined
- feeling overloaded and stressed
- frustrated with attempts to improve
- AND
- open to new approaches?
Do you and/or they want a more clear and detailed understanding of:
- what is happening in the activity?
- who are ALL the stakeholders?
- how does the activity impact the stakeholders’ interests?
- what can be done to change the activity toward an optimal positive impact?
Would it support your purpose to achieve that clear detailed understanding for yourself and others with documented support in hours and days instead of weeks and months?
Qualification #2: Does the map format look interesting?
■ The strongest unique feature of the ActionMap method is the map format.
■ We have found from hundreds of business development that people either find the map format interesting or they don’t.
■ We have theories about this, involving visual intelligence, logical thinking, learning patterns, interest in control, and so on. However the theories do not matter because by themselves they will rarely encourage people to engage with the method.
➔ Please note this refers to business development contacts; in hundreds of live client work sessions everyone has paid close attention to the maps, partly because the maps are about an actitivity they care about, and partly because there’s an energy in building them.
■ So the best thing for us to do at this point is to just show you the format, and let you decide whether you want to learn more about ActionMap. Starting examples are shown below.
Very simple introductory example map
“Make Pizza Dinner”
A moderately complex example map
“Operate Pizza Parlor”
Please note, the above maps were created in the ActionMap software and exported to PowerPoint, and then treated with wavy lines and a casual font to create a “friendly” initial impression.
This is also closer to what the maps look like when created with pencil and paper or on flipcharts and white boards.
In working sessions with the software, we don’t recall anyone ever commenting on these visual features; people just focus on the evolving content of the map.
More examples are shown below, including full job maps
Qualification #3: Evidence of effectivness
Who has used ActionMap?
ActionMap® workshops have been used in over 100 engagements, with organizations including these:
What has ActionMap been used for?
ActionMap® workshops have been used for many purposes, including those shown here:
More evidence of effectiveness
Testimonials and use cases about the value of the ActionMap method are provided at https://actionmap.com/testimonials
Call to Action
Option 1: Map your job or an activity you care about
Detailed instructions for uncovering insights and action items starting in about an hour using just pencil and paper and what you know now, at this link, actionmap.com/howtomapajob
Option 2: Let’s talk!
For a free consultation on your current focus activity, please schedule a time at
30 minute Zoom meeting
or contact me via our contact page.
Wait…too early for “Call to Action”?
Ok, more information below
The “More Information” Section
What is ActionMap?
The ActionMap® Toolkit™ (ActionMap)
ActionMap is a fast, versatile and reliable set of
■ text and graphic procedures
■ for rapidly creating and sharing
■ detailed models, evaluations and action plans
for complex activities.
■ The ActionMap method is extensively automated in an economical SaaS application for in-person and remote work sessions, including with a no-credit-card free trial.
■ Also works with pencil-and-paper, flip charts and white boards.
Free easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions are available at this link page for using the method with pencil-and-paper, flip charts and white boards, and other software applications like PowerPoint and Excel.
■ The instructions can be used as a one-off procedure for quickly mapping a single job or activity with pencil and paper.
■ A powerful thinking and comunication skill
With further use the method can be internalized as a powerful visual process thinking and communication skill for broad professional use.
ActioMap is a strong starting point or addition to your process modeling toolset
Who can use ActionMap, and for what puposes?
For Job Holders
- ✅ Increased Job satisfaction
- ✅ Reduced job stress
- ✅ More awareness of personal capability
- ✅ Greater ability to communicate the value of the job
For Job Seekers
- ✅ Better preparation for internal advancement
- ✅ Better understanding of outside job opportunities
- ✅ Better preparation for interviews
For Coaches
- ✅ Deeper, faster discovery
- ✅ Earlier experience of insights
- ✅ Increased mutual confidence and objectivity
- ✅ Clearer focus on doable actions
For Managers
- ✅ Clearer expection setting
- ✅ More focused performance coaching
- ✅ Better collaborative process improvement
- ✅ Stronger team coordination
- ✅ Better use of supporting tools
For Founders
- ✅ Faster process development
- ✅ Greater team alignment
- ✅ Stronger stakeholder engagement
- ✅ Better use of runway
For Consultants
- Better Faster:
- ✅ Full cycle process development and improvement
- ✅ Organizational development
- ✅ Business planning
- ✅ Executive alignment
- ✅ Decision support
For HR
- ✅ Better recruiting, onboarding, and training
- ✅ Clearer communication of assignments and expectations
- ✅ Greater engagement and productivity
Which of these purposes are important to you and your clients?
“Make and Ship Product”
“Senior Software Engineer”
“Corporate Recruiting Team”
Many more examples, including maps and evaluations, can be found at actionmap.com/examples
Think about an activity of interest to you now, and imagine it being quickly and reliably mapped into this format.
Free training on how to do that using pencil and paper or with a free trial of the software is provided at our “How to Map a Job” page.
How can ActionMap support all these things?
Why mapping makes a difference
➔ Mapping a job creates much greater understanding of the job for people both outside the job and the job holder.
➔ That’s because most “job knowledge” is performance knowledge, not descriptive knowledge.
➔ A person might have learned the job through training, trial and error and practice, without ever having to describe the job in detail.
➔ It’s the difference between tying a pair of shoelaces and describing how to tie a pair of shoelaces.
➔ Expand that difference to the complexity of a contemporary knowledge work job.
➔ The knowledge is in there, it just hasn’t been expressed in an integrated description.
➔ Mapping a job captures, organizes and shares that performance knowledge.
Why does that matter?
It matters because you cannot make effective changes around a job or activity without having a clear description, and related understanding, of the job or activity.
What is the result of not having clear descriptions of the job or activity?
Lack of clear descriptions harms:
■ Communication ❌
■ Coordination ❌
■ Collaboration ❌
Think about your personal experience when there has been a lack of clear description, and thus shared understanding, of a job or activity.
What was lost?
- ■ Increased job satisfaction ❌
- ■ Reduced job stress ❌
- ■ More awareness of personal capability ❌
- ■ Greater understanding of the value being created and how to communicate it ❌
- ■ Better preparation for internal advancement ❌
- ■ Better understanding of outside job opportunities ❌
- ■ Better preparation for interviews ❌
- ■ Better recruiting, onboarding, and training ❌
- ■ Greater engagement and productivity ❌
- ■ Clearer communication between management and staff ❌
- ■ Better performance coaching ❌
- ■ Better executive coaching ❌
- ■ Better collaborative process improvement ❌
- ■ Better use of supporting tools and functions ❌
Call to Action (ok, this time for real)
Option 1: Map your job or an activity you care about
Detailed instructions for uncovering insights and action items starting in about an hour using just pencil and paper and what you know now, at this link, actionmap.com/howtomapajob
Option 2: Let’s talk!
For a free consultation on your current focus activity, please schedule a time at
30 minute Zoom meeting
or contact me via our contact page.
