Consultant and Client Value Accelerator
Additional Information
Jim Johnson, Co-Founder, ActionMap Inc.
My goal is to increase your consulting revenue
by providing you with a tool and skill
that expands your capability
to add value to your client’s business operations.
Contents
▪ Overview
This takes you to the ActionMap Support System page that is used in starting ActionMap online workshops.
Accelerating Client Value
The ActionMap Solution
The ActionMap multi-purpose “utility service”
is based on a “process workshop in-a-box”
SaaS application, the ActionMap Toolkit.
The ActionMap Toolkit delivers fast, reliable, high value on-line process modeling, evaluation and action planning workshops, with wide application, low administrative overhead and short startup time.
ActionMap workshops rapidly produce CLARITY about the current situation and stakeholder goals and interests.
The workshops quickly diagram and share all the major players, interactions and transactions in the situation and while capturing and sharing all stakeholder goals, issues and ideas associated with those interactions.
This gives the client (and the consultant!) a clear structured understanding of the situation they are in and the issues and opportunities in front of them.
The workshops are FAST to set up and operate.
The workshops can typically cover a major business function and even an entire small organization in 2 to 4 hours of online meeting.
Workshops require no prior knowledge of the content by the consultant and no prior training for the participants.
ActionMap workshops produce STRONG, LASTING IMPACT.
Using strong analytic techniques combined with the collective intelligence of the workshop participants, the workshops quickly uncover core issues and opportunities for improvement while developing strong understanding about them. This strong shared understanding is “not un-knowable” and is the basis for clear commitment to take positive action.
The workshops deliver CAPABILITY to ongoing client operations.
The workshops capture and share “can’t unknow” knowledge, ideas and insights about the client business and stakeholder interests, supported by the downloaded process maps, evaluations and action plans. The maps can serve as starting points for procedure documentation, and the workshop experience as a whole gives the participants initial training in how to think in terms of processes.
ActionMap workshops create strong stakeholder ENGAGEMENT.
– The workshops cross-share stakeholder tasks, value, ideas and plans. This holds great mutual interest for both contributors and observers in the workshops.
– The combination of process mapping and evaluation has a strong attractive effect on participants’ attention, as both a personal and combined group learning experience.
– Meeting participants contribute to the resulting change plans, giving them ownership and sense of responsibility for the outcomes.
Specific Values Produced in ActionMap Workshops
- Uncover many small opportunities for improvement.
- Show relationships between tasks that reveal medium-sized opportunities for improvement.
- Create a base of information for implementing large-scale improvement programs.
- Analyze and discover steps to resolve specific problems.
- Surface areas of disagreement and identify common ground.
- Create strong shared understanding for project launches.
- Support teamwork by cross sharing knowledge of tasks, concerns and interests
- Support engagement by showing people how their work contributes to the overall production of value.
- Support engagement by sharing information and encouraging contribution of ideas.
- Identify and assign detailed action items.
- Discover and understand detailed needs that can be addressed by product and service offerings.
- Create detailed understanding of the steps and benefits of proposed product and service solutions.
- Create a base of information for use in other methods.
- Establish that the consultant knows about and is interested in the client’s situation.
- Demonstrate consultant’s ability to produce value (through all of the above
Do all the above while having the virtues of being:
- Broadly applicable
- Reliable
- Repeatable
- Scalable
And requiring:
- Minimal preparation other than identifying and scheduling participants
- No prior knowledge of the meeting content for the consultant
- No prior training in the method for the workshop participants
Key values of the software
The ActionMap Toolkit software application addresses the market for process services with the following features:
– requires no advanced training for workshop participants,
– requires no advanced knowledge of client content for the workshop leader,
– includes step-by-step real-time guidance for leading a group session through a compact process improvement cycle,
– provides highly-automated process mapping, which reduces the need for graphic diagramming skills,
– features rapid capture and organization of structured discussion comments for faster-paced meetings,
– supports online delivery for flexible scheduling,
– is powerful enough to serve as an “on-ramp” to more comprehensive process approaches, e.g. Lean, Design Thinking, Systems Engineering,
– is sufficiently nimble that it can add process review and improvement capabilities to standard business meetings.
Built-in methods training
In addition the application provides detailed training in how to use the method without the software, for example on flip charts or in office automation tools, for offline and informal situations.
ActionMap User Support
ActionMap adds value for software users in following ways:
– Extensive online training and help
– An online community around the software and its uses
– Training to consultants in our network
– Starting with the free, online self-training to learn the software mechanics in about an hour, with suggestions for follow-on confidence-building practice exercises
– Including a fixed price Training and Coaching Package (see below)
– Initial client workshops with network members to accelerate training and use with the method, as requested
A Clear Path for Getting Started
Below are steps you can take to develop your skills and relationships toward increasing your consulting revenue.
Free Online Training
– Gain capability to use the mechanics of the software in about an hour.
(Optional) ActionMap Training and Coaching Sessions
– Jump start your full capabilities within training and coaching session, in the program described below.
Informal Workshops with Family and Friends
– Practice facilitations using the software with familiar audiences.
Pro Bono Workshops with Local Non-Profits and Community Organizations
– These workshops are welcome, personally rewarding, value producing and an effective way to polish your capabilities.
Free Demonstrations as Part of Business Development
– ActionMap workshops are powerful “door opener” offerings in new business development.
– They rapidly and reliably generate interest and create trust.
– They are inexpensive in terms of time and overhead to deliver free or with significant discounts
Free or Discounted Introductory Workshops as Part of Relationship Building
– ActionMap workshops can produce a large amount of value for your clients in two hours.
– This short time requirement gives you flexibility to charge less for your time as an introductory offering.
Value Accelerator – Frequently Asked Questions
How does ActionMap relate to other methods?
See this page for a description of how ActionMap relates to other methods.
Where are more details about the software operations?
Visit the ActionMap
– help pages, and
– training pages
for more detailed descriptions of software operations.
How can I get more support from ActionMap if I need it?
Send an email to support@actionmap.org
What other services does ActionMap provide?
In addition to software subscriptions and training, ActionMap also conducts workshops based on the ActionMap software and method, supported by Jim Johnson’s 40+ of experience in business and technology (see About Us for more on that experience.
Links to more information: