ActionMap provides a consulting, training and software based on the ActionMap Toolkit.  The Toolkit is a manual method and SaaS application that supports high-engagement workshops for problem solving, consensus building and action planning. 

Jim Johnson, the ActionMap principal consultant, has delivered over 100 of these workshops to organizations including:

These workshops have covered a wide range of situations, including those shown below:

The key to the ActionMap method is the ability to quickly capture business process information at the major transaction level….

…while also capturing stakeholders concerns, ideas and interests with respect to those transactions…

…which creates understanding, energy and engagement used in a compact improvement cycle, creating strong consensus on detailed action items.

ActionMap and Small Business Succession Planning

One of ActionMap’s current market focus areas is Small Business Succession Planning.

ActionMap’s perspective is that:

The “Silver Tsunami” of retirements among Baby Boomer small business owners can potentially have strong negative impacts, including: 
– sale values for owners that are disappointing or reduce retirement quality-of-life
– loss of value to communities in terms of jobs, spending, services and potentially tax revenues.

Small business succession is “process intensive”, including in the following areas:
– initial business assessment
– knowledge transfer among seller, buyer, employees, customers and suppliers
– process improvement to increase free cash flow for both the seller and the buyer
– detailed planning and coordination of the overall succession plan.

Small business succession can benefit from process methods.
– Process methods can increase the speed, accuracy and completeness of all of the process activities listed above
– This can reduce the risk of succession failure and increase the probability of satisfactory and successful sale and transition for the business seller, buyer and community.

Process method skills are not widely distributed.
– People with process expertise are primarily focused on large organizations and projects.
– There is a current and worsening worldwide shortfall in process related skills.
– Small local consultancies, who may be best positioned to assist with small business successions, may not have process method skills.

ActionMap software can distribute process method skills at the speed and scale that will be required to address the expected volume of small business retirements.  These skills can be distributed to:
– small consultancies and management coaches
– business sellers and their staff
– business buyers

The distribution (not necessarily the direct use) of these skills is expected to be of interest to: 
– small consultancies and management coaches
– business sellers and their staff
– business buyers
– financial and legal advisors to small businesses
– local government economic development departments and agencies.

ActionMap is looking for opportunities to network with other organizations to develop and deliver support for small business successions.
Please connect with us via our contact page, here, for a conversation about this.