A recent article written for assemblymag.com by Harry Moser of the Reshoring Initative® points out some key insights on how innovation will be a crucial building block for Manufacturing and Workforce Development. As presented in his article, Harry describes some of the macro factors driving the importance of innovation in the workforce.
“Industry 4.0 is transforming work at an unparalleled pace due to rapidly changing technologies like artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, cognitive automation, advanced analytics, and the Internet of things (IoT). Enhancing capabilities through innovative technologies will increase efficiency and narrow the manufacturing cost gap with foreign competitors, thus boosting global competitiveness and enabling reshoring.
This is good news, but a global survey reveals that 57 percent of manufacturing leaders say their organization lacks skilled workers to support digitization initiatives. A Brookings study found that although 44 percent of U.S. jobs required medium-high digital skill levels in 2002, by 2016, it was essential for 70 percent of jobs. To realize the full potential of investments in innovation, manufacturers will need skilled workers for new jobs.”
With this foundation, we can frame the current state discussion for Innovation & Growth Mindset Skills around just a single question.
Should your organization make meaningful strategic decisions regarding Innovation before building up foundational skills?
This question will manifest itself in many ways, with a clients’ efforts toward building their internal innovation & growth systems. The macro global and megatrends factors affecting every organization can be identified as education, technology, tax, and trade. You are focusing your strategy on the education of your team, the technology that your team uses, the tax impacts on your organization, and the trade policies that may affect your organization. In a unique formula blended for each organization, these four factors represent a path forward, for not just survival, but for an Innovation & Growth Mindset System for growth during crisis.
Although each journey is unique, a common element is that each client leadership team realizes the importance of innovation as a critical strategic pillar. Then, the leadership team sets out with a volunteer team on what becomes the first steps of a long-term and never-ending education and transformational journey. This transformation occurs at the individual level first, then manifests in the knowledge base in the behaviors and interactions of ever-expanding teams. The high-level mission of the early volunteers is to simply influence by deed and action to change the structure and mindset of the organization, to think differently.
In short, just like the image of this post, we see the most long-term effectiveness in building the bridge to innovation and growth mindset transformation as your team is actively walking on and building the bridge.
To provide context and the reasons for innovation, we can illustrate with our clients’ innovation activities. A recent Innovation & Growth Systems Cohort global client team worked a case-story narrative on the current supply chain crisis. This narrative became the final cohort application case story. The case assignment for the teams was to work together to figure out how to untie the short-term crisis in the global supply chain.
The client cohort did an excellent job applying their innovation & growth mindset tools to a global problem. The cohort members are not domain experts in the supply chain, but the team identified how to revise very complex systems with foundational innovation skills. Applying simple and unique solutions, the team could design measures that would reduce the supply chain backlog in just 90 days.
Building foundational Innovation & Growth Mindset skills will help your organization’s leadership to ensure your organization can maintain a resilient workforce that you can develop for the long term.
We encourage you to stand up now to get your organization ready to survive the chaos and uncertainty of the next 20 years!
Are you looking to learn more about how to make Innovation & Growth Mindset real for your organization?
Consider attending our upcoming Innovation & Growth Mindset 101 – Live Digital Workshop. This is the perfect program for your early-stage Innovation team members to learn fundamental skills. If you would like to learn more about simple, effective, and detailed approaches that will support your organization and become a game-changer for your organization, attend this Innovation Training Workshop reach out to learn more and schedule a custom program unique for your organization.
In our Innovation Training Workshops, we discuss insights, offer tools, and practice real-world case application skills to build your organization’s Innovation & Growth Mindset foundation to be effective in today’s environment.
These skills will, most importantly, future-proof your long-term growth.
We help organizations grow!
We provide world-class education, tools, technology, and expert consulting in change management for strategy, innovation & supply chain.
We build strategy. We build ideas and coach the innovation capability of teams. We design products, services and supply chains. We guide leaders from non-profit, government, startups and the Global Fortune 500 to intentionally self-disrupt their offerings and organizations.
To learn more, visit us here, check out our calendar of events, or reach out to us to discuss a private program for your organization.
Photo Credit: http://historyinphotos.blogspot.com/2012/06/golden-gate-bridge.html