Business Acumen Training & Strategy for Managers in Milwaukee, WI

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

Having business-savvy leaders (and managers) who understand business metrics, including top-line growth, margins, and cash flow, risk analysis, and how to best execute the company's strategies are key differentiators in achieving the organizational targets. A strong management mindset - the ability to see the whole picture, to analyze reports and make quality financial decisions; to analyze quickly and be decisive, to fully realize and understand the goals and to visualize what must be done are business acumen competencies that the leaders and managers in your company or organization must possess to optimally contribute to your company's success.

While the language of "growth" and "profitability" may change for various business structures, business acumen competency is still a critical skill set required across all for-profit, non-profit, benefit corporations and public sector organizations.
As you look across your organization, you'll no doubt, observe some leaders who have a more natural talent for thinking strategically than others. However, because many organizations fail to encourage a business mindset at all levels, we find that mid-level and frontline managers' business acumen skills atrophy without use and development.

Most managers have not been expected to think critically or analyze the processes, metrics, financial indicators, etc. in order to contribute more deliberately to the organization's goals. Let's think about this for a minute. What are the consequences when a manager is unaware of how their decisions impact the bottom-line? What happens when a leader recognizes an opportunity to improve a process or has an innovative idea that would address a business problem, but ignores their instincts because all the decisions are made top-down?

When an organization ignores business acumen skill development, or haphazardly expects managers to get "on-the-job" experiences related to driving business value, the results are lackluster at best. On the other hand, developing critical thinking skills via a strategy for managers training, for example, can help leaders gain strategic thinking and financial acumen confidence. In fact, the simple act of discussing business acumen with employees fosters self-initiation and encourages managers to be courageous in sharing their ideas and bold in implementing solutions.

Imagine a culture where your employees are inspired and encouraged to think strategically and self-initiate improvements - a deliberately cultivated "Kaizen" state of mind. Kaizen is a Sino-Japanese word meaning improvement and business kaizen is about cross-organizational, employee-driven continuous improvement. A Kaizen culture encourages process and business improvements from the C-Suite to the frontline, by expecting all employees to think critically and thoughtfully about the business and their role in contributing to the business results.

When managers are provided opportunities to develop their critical thinking, strategic thinking, and business and financial acumen skills, they engage more passionately with their peers and commit more fully to the business goals.
Let's gain some clarity around how a leader who is unskilled in the competency of business acumen demonstrates their business acumen gap. Watch carefully and you'll find clues that they do not understand how businesses work or they are not up-to-date on the industry trends, technology, and the mission or priorities. Perhaps they ignore or do not know who the competition is or lack interest in process improvement or general business metrics or they are so dedicated as a functional or professional expert, but all critical thinking is reserved for functional application only.

The bottom line is business acumen and strategy for managers training programs ensure a strong competitive advantage, employees that are eager to contribute, as they understand the bigger vision, and enables your team to meet or exceed your company's goals.