This month our Quiz questions address the themes of Innovation, Productivity & Quality and relate to the feature articles, videos and CMC Toolkit elements.

Q1 – Which of the following approaches have you used/seen to lead to the most significant innovation impact in organizations?

  1. Communities of Practice regular gatherings – designed specifically to share what the members are working upon and get feedback from their colleagues.
  2. Customer Surveys as to their biggest challenges, needs, frustrations. Then creation of task teams to solve those challenges.
  3. Creativity Workshops – with artists, musicians, improv acting – to better understand and ‘pump-up’ creative generation in your workplace.
  4. Team-building outdoor/indoor challenges to inspire improved collaboration and problem solving in work teams.
  5. Basic or Applied Research initiatives.

Checkout this month’s Feature Article on Innovation, Productivity & Quality Competitiveness.

Q2 – Have you entered Awards competitions – submitting samples of your consulting work or featuring a special leadership/management success? If so, how have you used this to stimulate improved internal processes across your organization?

  1. Attendance at Awards presentations by colleagues – win or lose – all colleagues get to  see great examples of what is possible and examples of consulting/operational excellence.
  2. Internal Awards or internal competitions to decide what projects get submitted to external competitions. Builds pride within teams and reflection on works of excellence to be recognized and celebrated.
  3. Writing up and submitting an application to an Award, forces you/team members to reflect on your work, identify areas of excellence, debrief and enunciate why excellence happened – knowledge management in action!
  4. Past Award winners can be used to mentor younger consultants/staff to develop their own project reviews and award submissions.
  5. Awardees and even being part of the finalists of an award process builds pride in your profession and team success.

Check-out this month’s feature article on Entering the Constantinus Award  for 2019!

Q3 – How Productive and Competitive is your organization/client’s organization what are some of the key factors that are discussed and/or intentionally developed so as to improve productivity/competitiveness? 

  1. Higher education and training.
  2. Goods to market efficiency & environmental impact attention.
  3. Technological advancement.
  4. Labour & operational process efficiency (Six Sigma, cycle time/step improvement, etc.).
  5. Market leverage to similar industries or new territories.
  6. “Business” sophistication advancement.

Have a look at the Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other reports in the CMC Toolkit or Videos sections for more information behind these factors.

Q4 – Shifting dynamics in both manufacturing and services provision are entering what is being called the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). Which of the following strategies are you involved in or have explored for your clients?

  1. Advanced, “smart” manufacturing or “mass customization” technologies.
  2. Regional/virtual clusters of supply chain or service partners.
  3. Talent supremacy – recruitment, mentoring, training commitment
  4. Productivity – annual or each-cycle improvement initiatives.
  5. Cost/Value/Customization Competitiveness.

Look for the information and insights provided in the Deloitte 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index – in the CMC Toolkit column – and Top 10 Predictions for Global Manufacturing 2018 video – in the Video column.

Q5 – Improving access around the world to sustainable energy is becoming a significant challenge – with estimates of a requirement for 30% more energy than is available today, needed by 2040. Which of the following issues do you consider most critical? 

  1. Innovation has a key role in meeting increasing global energy demand.
  2. Energy innovations are happening, but objectives differ across countries, diffusing effectiveness.
  3. New energy innovation systems need to emerge with efforts along all stages including clean energy generation, efficient distribution and low-loss storage.
  4. Obstacles to adoption and diffusion of energy solutions remain numerous to overcome.
  5. Public Policy plays a central role in driving energy transition and needs to advance.

The Global Innovation Index 2018 – Energizing the World with Innovation has some compelling ideas and observations on how to improve global access to energy in the coming decades. Check it out in the CMC Toolkit column and also a video in the Video Column.