Increase Process Thinking Capability
for Individuals and Organizations

What’s the pain point?
What’s the payoff?
What’s the approach?
“Try it on”
Think about
how long it would take you
to name four things
about your shoes
Now think about
how long it would take you
to tie a pair of shoe laces
Now think about
how long it would take you
to describe how
to tie a pair of shoe laces
That’s “Fact Knowledge”
That’s “Process Knowledge”
That’s “Process Thinking”

 

Process Knowledge

Process knowledge is:

– knowing how to do things
– knowing how things work

Process Knowledge consists of mental models of:
– how to perform a process
– its workflow design
– the values it produces
– who its stakeholders are, and
– the stakeholders’ interests 

Mental Models 

are (in our minds):
– pictures
– words

– feelings

– phrases 
– stories and
– “internal movies”

that we use to describe situations; for example, past, present and future processes

Process knowledge is the most valuable resource on the planet, because all other resources depend on process knowledge to be useful 
All human work
requires process knowledge

The production of all economic value depends on process knowledge

Greater process knowledge generally means 

greater organizational and individual capacity to produce value
However, the thing that
makes process knowledge
even more valuable is:

Process Thinking

Process Thinking

is the activity of:
– learning
– applying 
– changing
– sharing 
process knowledge

Process Thinking is used in  
– analysis

– design
– planning
– decision making

– training 

and many other activities

Greater process thinking ability
means greater ability
to make use of process knowledge

All intentional, constructive
 process change
requires process thinking
All innovation requires
process change, and so
all innovation depends on
process thinking
The Heart of Process Thinking
is seeing situations

 

as networks of causes and effects…

 

that can be extended as much as you want…
and sub-divided as much as you want
Why is that useful?

 

Because it helps you
better understand anything you encounter
in any aspect of work, education and everyday life

Process Thinking Capbility
 

is the overall capability of an organization or individual
to produce process thinking results.

Increased process thinking capability
is strongly related to:
Increased competitive
advantage for organizations

 

and increased income
and broader career opportunities
for individuals

and what is more:

 

Process Thinking Capbility can be increased

through training, tools, teamwork, facilitation,
supportive culture and many other means.

What are the benefits of
increased process thinking capability?
How can ActionMap make a difference?

What are the specific benefits?

Here are a few of them:

How does increased process thinking capability
increase competitive advantage? 

While there are other ways to fulfill

changing stakeholder interests, including through

mergers, acquisitions, licensing, and partnerships, 

increased process thinking capability

provides the “glue” to help those other approaches succeed

How can process thinking capability be increased?

 

Start with: what is process thinking capability based on?

 

Several major elements

Among these elements,

which is the best action point for 

increasing process thinking capability?

 

Trained process thinking skills

Why?

 

Because the other elements

cannot be easily or quickly changed

 

and there are many ways
to acquire trained process thinking skills

What is the best way to develop trained process thinking skills?

 

Learning a process thinking language

Why?
 

Because all specialized types of thinking

are supported by specialized languages:
accounting, music, engineering, sports etc.

Having the right language

makes a very big difference

in the ability to perform specialized thinking

You cannot write music with bookkeeping,
and you cannot build bridges with play diagrams.

Process thinking methods
provide process thinking languages

What is a simple, effective, widely usable method

for supporting process thinking?

What is the ActionMap Toolkit?

Major Features of the ActionMap Toolkit

Method Overview

The software provides a workspace in which stakeholders can quickly:

  • combine their knowledge of how the process works

  • share their interests and priorities with respect to process change

  • exchange ideas and insights for process improvement

  • think through all but the most technical aspects of the physical/digital workflow

  • create understanding, agreement and commitment, supported by process maps, evaluations and actions plans

while staying focused, energized and engaged

All on a single page layout

with easy to follow formats and familiar controls

The method has been proven in hundreds of flipchart-based meetings including with HP, Chevron, Target, ConAgra, PG&E and Kaiser

It is now available as a SaaS application for $10 per user per month

How does the ActionMap Toolkit

increase process thinking capability? 

Thinking Skills and Langauges

 

Thinking skills are supported by languages that are specialized for that type of thinking, e.g. accounting, music, engineering, economics, etc. 

■  What specialized languages are used in your organization today?

Most people rely on conventional verbal thought and speech and general business illustration tools to support process thinking; these provide little specific benefit. 

â–  How are processes discussed and thought about at meetings in you organization today?

Existing process modeling, management and improvement methods are insuffiently simple, efficient and effective to serve as a widely distributed process thinking language. 

■  How widely used are the process methods that you know about?

 

A proven way to collaborate about processes

 

The ActionMap Toolkit uses a method that has been proven in hundreds of high energy flipchart-based meetings covering a wide range of process change situations.

 

The ActionMap method balances simplicity with analytic power to create strong participant engagement and rapid creation of collaboration results.

Built in training for use outside the software

 

The Toolkit also teaches people how to use the method independently of the software, on paper, flipcharts, whiteboards and in office automation tools. 

■ This supports both ad-hoc conversations and extended orgnizational initiatives. 

Reinforcement of Natural Process Thinking Abilities

 

The Tookit method is designed to enhance the way people naturally think about processes.  Repeated use of the Toolkit structures and reinforces those natural abilities.

â–  Every person with a minimum level of mental capacity has a strong built in capability to create, manipulate and apply mental models of processes.

â–  Skill with a process thinking language is a major factor in why people have different process thinking capabilities.

Skills amplifier

 

The Toolkit enhances basic process thinking skills including learning, problem solving, planning, decision-making and communication.

Wide application

 

The Toolkit method can be applied to essentially any area of activity that people typically think of as a process.

â–  This includes organizational functions, technology operations, natural world systems, and individual life-style and life-management activities.

Broad areas for practice and improvement

 

This provides a broad range of activities in which people can continuously apply and improve their process thinking abilities based on the methods of the ActionMap Toolkit.

â–  Where do you encounter situations that require thinking about a complex process?

What are your goals for increased process thinking capability?

Click for more information on:

ActionMap Inc. delivers

projects, facilitation, training and software

based on the ActionMap® Toolkit

Extensive experience with

large-scale change initiatives

For more information
please connect via our Contact Page

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