By John Sheridan, Manufacturing Toolbox founder >>

REGIONS have to collaborate. Few have the resources to go it alone. And it is an illusion to imagine otherwise.

In this digital revolution, we are all driven individually towards more connection, more collaboration and more integration. It affects what we do, how we do it and it changes our attitude towards others. Power has shifted to the informed customer permanently. And what affects and impacts individuals, impacts the regions they live in.

There is strength in regional collaboration and sharing, Collectively and collaboratively we can achieve far more than we dream of as individuals or single organisations. 

And it is that simple fact that led to the Toolbox project.

It was first sparked by the widely published commentary from Canberra two years ago, that “Manufacturing is dead in Australia and we are now a services economy”. 

That statement, prompted by the final decision on withdrawal by the major carmakers, and followed by problems in supply chain industries, refineries and steel works, stimulated a lot of discussion and debate about the future of manufacturing.

But not everybody agreed that we could or should no longer make things, invent things and export things in Australia.

Dissension flourished on Linkedin, on phone calls and in coffee shops, and lots of successful Australian manufacturers were identified and promoted as examples but only within the manufacturing forums, not with the general public at large.

So the public began to believe that manufacturing had no future.

Which stimulated the question, “How can we show people that Australia’s manufacturing industry may be under stress and transition in some regions, but is alive and well in others?”

So, working with partners, we created the Manufacturing Toolbox focused on the main issues that manufacturing faced – export, management and workforce skills, R&D and collaboration. 

It was a platform built to enable the founding partners – CSIRO, ACS, QMI Solutions, State Library, TIQ, Outsource Institute, RDA Brisbane and others to support and engage with manufacturing industry.

Then a new question arose, “How can we demonstrate to people which Australian manufacturers are still successful? We need a showcase.” 

And we were pointed to the Taiwan Trade portal as an example of how to showcase a nation’s manufacturers to the world, which led to “we can do that”, and that led to the Manufacturing Showcase, which includes 4,500 of Australia’s leading, exporting manufacturers and producers.

And the showcase grows day by day.

Development was collaborative. The way forward was by decided by consensus and partner feedback.

And it led to new things. New comments such as, “If we can showcase Australian manufacturers to the world, then surely we can showcase local manufacturers to our region = buy local.”

To which, the answer was, “yes”.

Or, “Could you showcase all the 21st century solutions for the agricultural sector – the drones, robots, precision agricultural solutions, tags, weighing systems, weather solutions, farm machinery, farm management systems, GIS, crop chemicals etc?”

“Yes.”

“Could you showcase the Australian manufacturers that are of interest to Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, India, UAE, Japan, Thailand, Europe and so on?”

“Yes.”

“What about indigenous artists? Or furniture manufacturers?”

And so on. There are many other suggestions and ideas now in consideration. And the door is open for more.

Not everybody found it easy to visualise and imagine what might be possible, but every time we demonstrated the manufacturing showcase to people … the penny dropped, and “what if,” “what about?” and “could we do this?” became the questions of the day.

And the thing these suggestions have in common is that they are all driven by real world needs, real world suggestions and ideas.

They haven’t come from a policy group in Canberra.

They come from people facing local problems and real issues, frustrated but with a desire to do something about them.

The development has been collaborative. Potential on one side meeting ideas on the other side and generating a new solution and a fresh version of the toolbox.

And it has only just begun. The toolbox has been live for three weeks and it is still developing.

The process is akin to gardening not architecture. A response to whatever pops up that might grow and evolve, not “we’re going to build this in this way” because that is what’s on the plan.

Gardening is a responsive relationship, which continues through the whole life of a garden. Architecture is a responsive relationship at the creation of the plan.

Digital technology provides the option of ongoing, agile responses to human and regional needs as they evolve. It offers the option of collaborative development.

MORE TOOLBOXES OPEN

The Manufacturing Toolbox will now be cloned and configured for other sectors. It is happening now. More toolboxes with more tools.

It will be cloned and configured for regions. It will be configured for issues.

But all versions join up. All platforms can share, if appropriate. Publicly or privately, if desired. All platforms are connected and that connectivity can deliver new value to partners, if that is what is wanted.

So far everybody has wanted what is in common (eg, the showcase, resources, news, events), but also then wanted something specifically for themselves (local services, their own ‘shop windows’, private forums, specific courseware).

That is the intrigue of the project. Where it goes next is anybody’s guess. It depends on who puts their hand up. It depends on which shoot bursts through the soil next, and in which part of the garden.

This is an iterative process. It is holistic. It is fascinating.

The project has been inspired and supported by many individuals – in government, in academia, in not-for-profits, in commerce, in small business, but the sum is greater than the parts. And the project is not subject to whim, elections or changes of government.

It is simply a way of doing more with less.

It is part of a new breed of ‘grass roots’ driven actions, energised by frustration, imagination and unwillingness to wait any longer, bridging divides, silos and departmental walls, and driven by the question “what if?”

Manufacturing in Australia isn’t dead. Nor is any creative or productive industry where individuals can innovate, invent, create and try, try and try again.

There are a lot of tools in the toolbox and there will soon be many more. Each project delivers some value to other projects. Not everybody wants to use all the tools. And now some regions want their own toolboxes.

And a manufacturer can promote their business locally, regionally or overseas. A manufacturer can engage with others, with email news, capability building programs and find help and advice.

Digital technology, leveraging email, content management, learning management, apps and collaboration tools can be used for more than just “my business” or “my region” or “my sector”.

Digital technology can also connect and create opportunities for new relationships and ideas, where 1 + 1 = 11 not just 2.

TURBO-CHARGING REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

That is why this project has been hard for some people to get their heads around. It is a result of joined up thinking. And joined up listening. A result of many ideas. Many seeds, but one garden.

It is open source in many different ways and on many levels, delivering results far beyond the basic tools and technologies applied.

And not everybody is comfortable with that. Collaboration and ‘command and control’ don’t sit together happily in the 21st century, that’s for sure.

But the digital revolution demands shared value, so the choice is clear for most people. But will never be clear for all.

Collaboration is the only effective, affordable, responsible way forwards.

Farmers, the best ones – and that is the majority – have always understood what the miners don’t. Everything is connected and you can’t steal from the farm what you then expect to sustain you for generations to come. Farmers add value to the soil. Year in and year out, or there is no farm. There is a message there.

We should listen harder to what Australian farmers have to teach us.

We are good at team sports in Australia. Always have been. We now need to become good at team economic development.

http://manufacturing.digitaltoolbox.org

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Digital Business insights by John Sheridan >>

ONE THING I have noticed over years of looking at digital strategies and regional economic development strategies is that they are all the same.

Change the name and the pictures and a few words, and bingo – another strategy saying exactly the same as the last one.

Sometimes they ARE exactly the same as the last one – the consultancy involved failing to change all the locational names properly when delivering the cookie cutter report to the next government customer. 

So why do councils pay large amounts for strategies they could create themselves?

Is it laziness? Or fear? Lack of confidence? Stamp of approval?

Why not download the digital or economic strategy from another region and just change the names. It would be cheaper and the outcomes will be the same. 

I noticed this first about 10 years ago. There was a common structure to all the economic development strategies that I read. Nothing has changed.

The first section was full of research, the information that defined the uniqueness of the region. The next section was full of reviews of what was changing, how the region compared with others, and what the future trends seemed to suggest. These sections were where all the hard analysis and thinking were being done.

The last section was where the cookie cutter came into action – future plans, the strategy for action and investment. This section was where hard analysis and thinking and uniqueness went out the window. Because this section required imagination and creativity which traditional planners are not trained to deliver.

So they fall back on platitudes and generalities often plundered from other economic development strategies from around the world. And the uniqueness of the region flies out the window with the rest of it.

What was intriguing to me as I reviewed strategy after strategy was that when it came to objectives, there was universal agreement.

They were always “We want things to be better”. Which is hard to argue with.

More jobs, more social amenities, more tourism, more large businesses moving into the area, more housing, better roads, better aged care, better schooling and so on.

We want to be leaders in…(insert an issue here).

You name it and put it in. That is what most economic development departments do. But there is never much detail on how all these things are going to be achieved … just a long list of wishes and dreams wrapped up in a professionally designed brochure, which the Mayor can be proud of. 

Because thinking about the future is tough stuff.

Looking back is easy. Even pulling together all the statistics, tables and charts is achievable given enough time.

Looking forwards is very hard. And invariably wrong. Especially today with so many externalities shifting the solid ground we used to rely on. 

Creating new solutions to old problems is even harder. It requires a different mindset.

And the two mindsets of deep analysis and insightful creativity rarely go together. That is why advertising creatives who have to do this to a brief, day after day are paid such large amounts of money and always have been. 

Limited supply. And lots of burn out because of the stress.

And you won’t find these creative people in economic planning departments, or government or even large planning companies. Can’t afford them. And couldn’t attract them anyway.

Hence the cookie cutter approach to regional, digital and economic strategy.

Which is a problem for us all.

We actually need fresh creative thinking on regional, digital and economic strategy now like never before.

Because the world is changing swiftly and radically around us as a result of the digital revolution in a way that is largely invisible to most people.

And I hear all the time people saying, “Yes, I understand that – digital disruption isn’t it?” when in fact they don’t.

Because if they did…there would be more evidence.

There would be evidence in their strategies. There would be evidence in their actions. There would be evidence in the surety of direction.

But the evidence is largely in inactions, and “waiting to see”, and looking everywhere around the world for some sort of clue as to “what should we do?”

In the old days, cities had walls and when danger threatened, the drawbridge would go up, the gates would be shut, the soldiers would line the ramparts and the citizens would get ready for a siege.

The citizens and their leaders would hope they had enough water and food to wait out the invader. The strategy was “wait and see”.

Close the gates and agility, vision and mobility disappear for a while. In some cases this strategy worked well, but over many years invaders learned, and brought with them the tools – siege engines, cannons and mortars to defeat the people with “siege mentality” and walled cities fell out of favour.

Today we are seeing the same phenomenon repeated in response to the digital invader.

Walled cities. And the siege mentality that goes with it.

Once again we have surrendered maneuverability, agility, vision and responsibility (our ability to respond).

These are all useful attributes of the digital revolution. And we need them all. 

The three major powerful currents of digital change – more connection, more collaboration and more integration are disruptive, provocative and remorseless.

They cannot be stopped. 

They cannot be avoided.

Inaction is not a viable option. Nor is failure to recognise that walls don’t work any more.

Here is our digital strategy.

It is the digital strategy for my corporation, for Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, for Gold Coast, for Sydney, for Queensland, for NSW. For anywhere and everyone.

And it is meaningless. Because the drivers for digital change are not constrained by the borders or boundaries of any city. And the citizens who live there – the individuals, the businesses and the not-for-profits are not constrained either.

Where is the knowledge economy? Where is the digital economy?

It is not in a place. It is in cyberspace.

Where are the borders? Where are the boundaries? Where are the walls? Where are the gates?

They exist only in the attitudes, the siloed thinking, and limited understanding of CEOs and decision makers who have not yet woken up to the real implications of this ongoing digital change. It needs joined up thinking.

It isn’t something that was dealt with last year and now we can shift the focus to innovation. Or jobs.

“We’ve done digital, now we are doing innovation”. I have heard that as well.

Guess what? You haven’t done digital or innovation or jobs. It all joins up.

“We will be the smartest city in the world”. We will attract the smartest individuals, smartest businesses and large corporates to our city.”

Dream on. 

Every city will be the smartest city. Every obvious technological possibility will be milked by everybody … at slightly different speeds, but by everybody.

And in many cases the followers will become leaders, milking the technological possibilities more quickly because they carry no baggage and leapfrog the smug.

The real strengths of any region are what they have always been.

Its industries. Its people. The climate. Water. Culture. Access to the ports and airports. The interesting things to see and do.

Technology does not bestow unique advantage, but it can magnify and catalyse advantages that already exist.

That which is common to all is not a strength. But that which is unique could be. 

The fundamentals haven’t changed. Technology is just an enabler. But a powerful and disruptive one like nothing we have ever seen before.

So cities, regions and states have to accept something has changed forever.

There are no edges any more (the city boundaries and city walls). The influence of geography is diminished. The power of the media is fragmented. Information is instantly accessible. The customer is informed and empowered.

That is confronting for political leaders – Mayors, Premiers, Prime Ministers – because their relevance is threatened. 

But the digital revolution is much more than a threat, it is a promise, because these 19th century roles are steadily and remorselessly becoming less relevant.

It is no accident that politicians are nearly rock bottom when it comes to trust, along with insurance salespeople, real estate agents and talkback radio hosts.

In a digital environment where any statement or commentary is checkable and discussible … honesty and authenticity is mandatory. 

So strategies of all kinds – social, political, economic, environmental and digital – have to align with the new reality to be useful and have to be rewritten to recognise the reality of the change.

'Maginot Line' thinking is a waste of time and money. Google 'Maginot Line' if you don’t understand the reference. 

Connected. Collaborative. Integrated. There is a lot in these three words.

There are 55 RDA [Regional Development Australia] regions in Australia. Which is arguably as good a way as any to divide Australia.

Integrated regional strategies, not city or council strategies should be the first step. And not isolated regional strategies…but interconnected – vertically and horizontally. With the ultimate outcome being one interconnected, Australian strategy for every aspect of what we do. Joined up thinking.

Now, that is a step too far for our 19th century planners and policy officers at this time. It shouldn’t be … but it is. 

Because we are still tied to outdated thinking that makes that practically impossible. “How would we do it?” “Who would do it?” “Who would pay?” “Who would decide to do it?” “Which minister would own it?”

But guess what? There are lots of examples of individuals and groups in Australia working on “joined up thinking” out of frustration with the obvious lack of big picture vision at the top, on many positive initiatives, using the internet to network and collaborate.

And if the digital revolution continues (ie no nuclear wars) we will all have to walk in this direction anyway. The digital revolution demands it.

19th century thinking in a 21st century digital revolution is where we mostly live today.

Like it or not, we have to start thinking in a different way.

That means collaboration and that means shared value – Google 'Professor Porter' on this.

In many ways it doesn’t matter what entities we use as the basis for collaboration. We can use those that already exist – councils, states and territories, corporates and individuals.

What does matter is the required “joined up” thinking and vision, and as a result the “joined up” strategies to reach the “joined up" goals. 

We have to still do local. But we have to think global. Both at the same time.

Connected and collaborative strategies should recognise and incorporate the existing unique characteristics of a region, but all “future” plans and actions should be aligned with the characteristics of a “joined up” world.

These connected, integrated and collaborative realities must become second nature to our reinvented economic development thinkers. Are they up to it?

Cost sharing and value sharing are key parts of the methodology. Not easy. Who pays? Who profits? But even this can be worked out and agreed. If we can go to the moon in 1969, we can work out how to collaborate in 2016.

We are all heroes in the digital revolution. We have to be a 21st century team of collaborative but independent thinkers. Joined up thinkers.

Only by pushing personal or party glory into the background can consideration be given to greater good, longer-term plans and possibilities. We used to call that vision and it has been missing for a while.

So our focus has to shift towards shared value collaboration so we can all benefit in our much bigger competition with the rest of the world. In the digital revolution no man is an island and no island is an island either, no matter how big it is.

If there are no existing mechanisms for effective collaboration we have to invent them and quickly. COAG, councils of Mayors, RDA network, whatever grouping is most useful … need to evolve swiftly into real platforms for action.

The digital revolution takes no prisoners.

And the countries that move fastest to reorganise will be the winners.

John Sheridan is CEO of Digital Business insights, an organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, which focuses on helping businesses and communities adapt to, and flourish in, the new digital world. He is the author of Connecting the Dots and getting more out of the digital revolution. Digital Business insights has been researching and analysing the digital revolution for more than 15 years and has surveyed more than 50,000 businesses, conducting in-depth case study analysis on more than 350 organisations and digital entrepreneurs. Now DBi is turning that research into action through a series of digital business development platforms, the first of which launched this month: the Manufacturing Toolbox.

http://www.db-insights.com/

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Digital Business insights by John Sheridan >>

WE LIVE in digital revolutionary times. The world is changing. The evidence is everywhere. And it impacts everything we do. So why do we act surprised when the digital revolution impacts politics?

The revolution has shifted power from 'vendors' to 'customers'. Permanently.

Simply replace 'vendors' with politicians and 'customers' with voters.

The politicians use digital tools to leverage what they have always done - for research, for marketing and communication, to push political messages through a range of digital media but they haven’t really understood what digital has done to change their customers. 

The customers have changed. They are better informed. They are more collaborative. They are more knowledgeable. They are less engaged. They share their views with others. They complain. They make their own decisions.

Meanwhile, the pundits still view the 21st century with the eyes of the 20th century. The digital revolution is over here and politics is over here … quite separate.

Wrong. 

You can’t have a digital revolution that doesn’t affect EVERYTHING. It all joins up.

And more and more people are waking up to this shift of power. Our traditional political leaders aren’t leading. They aren’t listening. And most are professional politicians, only interested in their reflection, reelection and superannuation.

Collaboration and shared decision making is the bread and butter of the 21st century. The digital revolution has delivered connection, information and collaboration to everybody.

Propaganda doesn’t work so well any more. The messages cannot be controlled in the way they could last century. A third of the people just voted for somebody other than the two main political parties.

The new world is not meeting expectations.

Is this a bad thing?

Not really. Because it opens the door for fresh ideas, opinions and independents, just when we need them to address the most disruptive issues that we have ever faced as a country.

This is what happens in every enlightened management team in the world. The more informed voices in the conversation the better.

Worldwide we have created a phalanx of professional politicians with little or no real world experience. And this has happened at the worse possible time. Brexit. US election. Australian election.

All slap bang in the middle of the biggest revolution that we will see in our lifetimes. The digital revolution.

Not to mention the chronic problems of a broken financial system, pollution, inequity, terrorism, underemployment and unemployment and lack of insightful leadership worldwide.

This is not the time for professional, political party leadership. This is the time for open door collaboration bringing the best minds into every discussion.

There is no real choice anyway. The major currents of digital change push relentlessly towards more connection, more collaboration and more integration. Not towards conflict, separation and domination of one extreme.

Good ideas can come from anywhere. And they do. From garages and dark rooms, and farms and forums and forests.

The old world way of running countries is broken.

Luckily for us, the digital revolution connects minds and bodies like an enormous electronic 'band aid' offering a new mechanism for collaboration and engagement, discussion and decision.

So the real issues and problems we face can be creatively discussed online, because they don’t get discussed in parliament.

Never underestimate human beings. We are here only because we have adapted to change effectively over tens of thousands of years. We have evolved and we have learned to evolve and grow.

And the networks and connections of the digital revolution now spark and catalyse that change.

The three major communication channels of the 20th century have split into thousands of communication streams, rivulets, capillaries and networks of connections between individuals, bypassing the control of the media barons.

The power of information distribution has shifted from the few to the many. Commentary has become a creative commons.

We have learned to avoid advertising messages on television, radio and online. We have learned to avoid propaganda in much the same way. There are now many more sources of information than Rupert Murdoch.

And the digital revolution has made them accessible. And shared.

We must learn to trust the collective wisdom of human beings.

Messages will resonate or they will fail.

Election slogans have become meaningless.

What does “jobs and growth” mean at a time when we know 47 percent of jobs will disappear over the next 15 years due to increasing automation, robotisation and computerisation.

“Jobs and growth” How?

Tax cuts for large businesses will not solve this conundrum. Big business employs in the good times and fires in the bad times.

Jobs and growth has to come from a different, more diversified direction. And any strategy has to take big picture causes (globalisation, tax havens, digital revolution, climate change, education) properly into account or be judged meaningless.

It is not about this election, next election or any election…it is about the need for long-term thinking about our collective future.

Where is the plan that addresses the hollowing out of the well-paid, administrative jobs that provide the dollars for most Australians to buy goods and pay for services?

There is a big picture here that both parties seem to have ignored.

Unemployment is high but underemployment and part time employment is much, much higher. Trumpeting ABS figures on the employed while ignoring the underemployed misses the point.

Lipstick on the pig.

Real unemployment and underemployment is draining the lifeblood from Australia. Unemployed and underemployed people have fewer dollars to buy goods and pay for services, which impacts everyone.

And so it goes.

It all joins up.

And people know that the two party system isn’t working. So let’s try something else.

Greens. Independents. People with fresh points of view. People who will speak their own minds and not just parrot a media minder's crib sheet.

The hung parliament and the increased number of fresh minds in the Senate is a good result not a bad result. Fertility not sterility. It will provide more ideas, more points of view, more thoughts and strategies and demand more discussion and negotiation for the best ideas to see the light of day.

When the world is as disrupted as it is today, we need a more flexible management system to deal with issues as they arise. By good fortune, now we have got it.

This isn’t a problem just facing government. It faces all organisations big and small. Every organisation has to become more responsive, more agile, more innovative or decline and fall.

Observation. Insight. Discussion. Negotiation. Collaboration. Action.

That is your digital strategy. That is your political strategy. That is your business strategy in a digital revolution that is changing the world.

Fixed ideology might have worked in the relative stability of the late 20th century world. It doesn't work so well in a world that shifts, pivots and changes from day to day. 

We need the very best ideas from both sides of politics. And the best ideas don’t belong to one party alone. We need the best ideas from the members in the senate. We need the best ideas from the independents.

And we now have the mechanism to get good ideas discussed, debated and deliberated. That is a good thing not a bad thing.

Respect. Trust. And negotiation.

The world won’t return to the way it used to be. Dream on. The Labor Party needs to think again. The LNP has to do the same thing. Review, modify and reinvent.

The 21st century is a world where collaboration and shared value are the only way to deliver success. And there are some pretty big implications in that statement.

Back to Professor Porter…

Businesses are perceived to prosper at the expense of society – “the 1%”. Governments are perceived to be doing nothing about this.

Businesses are seen as the major cause of social, environmental and economic problems. Governments are seen as doing nothing about this either. So what is government for?

That is a question being asked in every democracy on the planet.

There is an opportunity to transform thinking about the role of business and government in society.

Shared value offers broader and more inclusive approaches to economic value creation. Shared value will drive innovation, productivity and growth.

Business has a big role to play in creating shared value.

Government has a big role to play in setting an agenda, creating a vision, and establishing goals.

And we all have a big role to play in making this happen through our own initiatives, networks, connections and projects.

And we actually have more chance of doing this now with a hung parliament, expanded senate and a collaborative approach to government than we did before.

 The digital revolution has changed the conditions. The power (information and knowledge) has shifted from vendors to customers.

What that means to a political party in this new condition of diminished power is something they have to work out.

Collaboratively.

The new operational environment has few reference points.

Is it threatening? You bet.

But we are not without tools. We have dealt with the unknown before in a previous time and in a different space, but many of the factors are familiar.

We now need to regenerate and find courage and become merchant venturers and explorers again - willing to take intelligent risks - using the skills we have gained.

Australia has voted. And we can all be winners.

John Sheridan is CEO of Digital Business insights, an organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, which focuses on helping businesses and communities adapt to, and flourish in, the new digital world. He is the author of Connecting the Dots and getting more out of the digital revolution. Digital Business insights has been researching and analysing the digital revolution for more than 15 years and has surveyed more than 50,000 businesses, conducting in-depth case study analysis on more than 350 organisations and digital entrepreneurs. Now DBi is turnign that research into action through a series of digital business development platforms, the first of which is about to launch: the Manufacturing Toolbox.

http://www.db-insights.com/

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