Business Acumen Training: Advancing Business Sense in El Paso, TX

How does it work?

Our Leading in Business Training focuses on Business Acumen Skills through experiential learning opportunities (better than business simulation training), customized cohort work projects, the collaboration between peers and mentors, business case development and capstone project presentations (a la Shark Tank presentations).

Note: Our programs are facilitated on or off-site for organizations. We do not offer public seminars at this time. While we have speakers and trainers that are available to facilitate and speak at public engagements, we do not offer public seminars.

Objectives

The learning objectives for the program include:

Organizational

• Strategic human resource development
• Align development with the Mission, Vision, and Values
• Increased competency
• Business competency development designed to impact the bottom-line
• Team projects with tangible strategic impact on the business
• Direct observational opportunities between executives, board members, and high-potential employees in support of future leader identification and succession planning
• Development aligned with strategic priorities

At the Cohort Level

• Encourage participants to routinize the sharing of best management practices
• Expose leaders to cross-functional problem solving with minimal risk to the business
• Build alliances across functions that can develop into concrete linkages for future collaboration
• Healthy competition and collaboration, a la “Shark Tank” type challenge and capstone projects

At the Individual Level

The program delivers a business simulation experience with real-work projects for a holistic and immersive, active-learning program. Participant learning objectives include:

• Develop strategic and critical thinking skills
• Develop quality decision-making skills
• Learn how to make a business case
• Gain an understanding of all areas of a business’ operations
• Ensure foundational confidence in financial analysis competency
• Comprehend the importance of strategic agility
• Build financial acumen and budgeting skills
• Develop the ability to ask questions that generate new thinking and solutions
• Set effective team goals
• Practice negotiation and influence skills
• Develop insight into the interconnectedness of business functions and operations
• Collaborate with their team to establish plans
• Presentation skills development
• Evaluate and Improve work processes
• Align organizational systems
• Engage in systems thinking and a continuous improvement focus
• Develop risk management skills
• Understand the builder mindset vs. the protector mindset

While most employees understand their technical and tactical job, studies have shown they fail to understand the business of the business. It's critical employees develop the ability to see the big picture, understand business drivers, understand how the work they do and the decisions they make impact the bottom-line, and be equipped to make decisions aligned with the strategic goals of the company.

Leaders must be able to piece together, quickly, complex factors, some, to the untrained eye, may even seem insignificant, to craft a composite perspective. Critical thinking skills enable the leader to consider the economic, environmental, regulatory, historical, competitive, financial, and other factors influencing the business. The ability to understand the compound effect of disparate factors and not get bogged down in a sea of ambiguity is a skill that can be developed. It's a difficult prospect for many, to make quality decisions and make them quickly, without knowing, with certainty, all the facts. However, there will never be a time when a leader has a crystal ball and thus, they must be able to quickly and strategically think through options and with well-trained instincts make wise decisions.

Leaders who have developed business acumen will be more efficient and effective, as they notice the connections within the workplace and the way different factors affect the success of the whole. Sound business acumen enables leaders to provide a more coordinated and logical response to threats and opportunities as the process of thinking strategically, on a consistent basis, enables them to be nimble, assess quickly, and be less likely to panic in the face of difficulties.

When it comes to developing strong business acumen, a quality training program includes learning opportunities that will expose participants to their own thought process as well as how highly-effective leaders think and manage. A solid strategy for managers' workshop will also provide practice situations to improve their business knowledge, and gain an understanding of the different decision-making styles and thus, enhance their overall management and leadership skills simultaneously.

A better understanding of one's thought processes is essential, as business acumen is heavily focused on thinking and analyzing. High competency includes the ability to understand how the frameworks in which businesses operate. Additionally, having self-awareness about one's decision-making process can boost comprehension of these complex frameworks and how they relate to each other. For example, the ability to think broadly regarding the impact of work processes while consistently looking to build efficiencies, eliminate redundancies, and make work easier for employees, is one of the finer aspects of business acumen competency.